Funding The Dream On Kickstarter

Host Richard Bliss and guest Tomas Härenstam talk about Tales from the Loop and gives advice on how to turn small projects into larger projects. Their first project was an art book highlighting the talents of artist Simon StålenhagSimon's art and concepts are now being turned into an Amazon Prime Television production. Tomas shares how he began working with Simon, how their tiny project turned into a series of large one. One of the great things about Tomas is he finds something of interest to one audience and transfers that interest to a totally different audience. Find out more about Tomas HärenstamFree League Publishing http://frialigan.se/en/startpage/Tales from the Loop Kickstarter

Host Richard Bliss and Co-Host John Coveyou discuss five attributes of a great product on Kickstarter.People want to buy the product. While this seems obvious. oftentimes people want a product, but aren't willing to pay for the product. You have to find something that is valuable to your audience.People want to tell others about it. Word of mouth marketing is the best means of attracting fans and backers to your project. You can pay for a crowdfunding promotional company to help you artificially spread the word by paying for placement. But when your backers are excited enough to share their support you are able to grow and attract a wider range of backers than you ever could through paid media.People can't easily get it elsewhere. This may seem counter-intuitive. Table top games, which are the single largest funding category on Kickstarter, can be purchased in a store. But the opportunity to participate on Kickstarter means you will get it sooner (Usually), you will get exclusives (Sometimes) or you

Host Richard Bliss discusses Live Kickstarter project Legends fo Novus with his guest, Bryan Rosander.Bryan dug deep into the Kickstarter project and delivers some great analysis and feedback on ways for Legends of Novus to improve their message, format, and engagement. In addition, Richard Bliss apologizes for the failure of follow through on the Funding the Dream Patreon project. A Facebook Group has been created that discusses each episode. You can find it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2628612933820642/

Host Richard Bliss is joined by co-host, John Coveyou, to discuss 4 unexpected benefits from Kickstarter.     1. Gauge demand before you manufacture.2. Improve your product based on customer feedback.3. Ship products with maximal efficiency.4. Tap into an audience you wouldn't be able to reach otherwise.

You do everything by the book. Follow all the advice, and yet you still fail to attract the numbers you need to successfully fund your Kickstarter campaign. These are the questions Wes Woodbury and I discuss. His project, Legends of Novus, has beautiful art work, great video, beautiful graphics, and an enticing theme, yet is still failing to draw a crowd.The question I ask you, the audience, is WHY? What has Wes done wrong and how can he fix it. If you have an answer, I want to hear from you. I'll have you on the show to discuss Wes' campaign and how he can succeed.Legends of Novus Kickstarter CampaignLegends of Novus WebsiteTake a listen. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Mark Roderick explains the difference between equity-based and rewards-based crowdfunding. Mark Roderick is a corporate and securities lawyer. Since the JOBS Act of 2012, Mark has spent all his time in the Crowdfunding space and is one of the leading Crowdfunding and Fintech lawyers in the United States. He writes a widely-read blog, www.CrowdfundAttny.com, with a wealth of legal and practical information for portals and issuers. Mark also speak at Crowdfunding events across the country, and represents industry participants across the country and around the world 

I'm a big believer in the $1 pledge for any Kickstarter campaign. Alex Goldsmith and Grey Fox Games just wrapped up their Kickstarter campaign, War of the Worlds: The New Wave. What Grey Fox Games did this time, was to create a $5 pledge in addition to the $1 pledge. 181 people took advantage and pledged at that level. I wanted to find out why and what Grey Fox Games hoped to learn from this experiment. Join Alex Goldsmith and I as we discuss the $5 pledge.

Daniel Zayas has launched numerous Kickstarter campaigns. He is listed on Kickstarter's page as one of the experts.He and I discuss how to approach someone to promote your campaign. We discuss the time commitment it takes to run a campaign and the need to understand the numerous details like shipping and manufacturing.

Howard Tayler is creating great stories and great art. And he is publishing not one, but two new books in the Schlock Mercenary Universe. In this episode we discuss the churn, and how Crowdfunding has been changing, continues to change, and what we see coming.We discuss how Howard makes a living as a professional as a Web Cartoonist and how you give something away for free to make a living. He shares the process of creating books and building a story over many years. You can find his Kickstarter campaign here

Jamey Stegmaier has been writing about, talking about, and has been wildly successful on Kickstarter. Three years ago he walked away. As my guest, we discuss what it would take to bring him back and the way Kickstarter has changed over the years.Jamey is the president of Stonemaier games. His Kickstarter projects have raised millions of dollars. Jamey is also the author of "A Crowdfunder’s Strategy Guide: Build a Better Business by Building Community" His blog, Kickstarter Lessons, is considered one of the definitive sources for all things Kickstarter - You can find his blog at https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter/lessons/Jamey has been on the show numerous times over the years and always brings a wealth of knowledge and perspective.

I share 5 keys to creating a successful LinkedIn profile. Not to get a job, but to make a first impression. In today's digital world, it is when I visit your LinkedIn profile that I find out who you are. Use LinkedIn as a means of building your personal brand and to creating a favorable impression with those you wish to influence.

Over the past few years, Wotan Games has cycled through nearly 20 Interns from all over Europe. And has built up a reputation as a go-to experience for new recruits coming into the program. Laurence O'Brien, owner of Wotan Games, shares the success of his interns and the growth of his company. His latest Kickstarter, War of the 9 Realms, is made possible because of his Interns.If you attend UK Expo, you will know Laurence and Wotan Games from the large Double-Decker bus they use as their booth at the convention. Unique and always entertaining, Laurence shares some wisdom on his success. He also shares some thoughts on how to protect yourself against Exchange Rate disasters covered in Ep 285.

Brexit? US Election of Trump? Kickstarter campaign suddenly in jeopardy? Gino Brancazio and I discuss a cautionary tale of using Kickstarter across exchange rates. Gino is based in the UK and ran his Kickstarter campaign in English Pounds. But 90% of his expenses were in US Dollars. When Brexit happened the loss of the Pound to Dollar had Gino lose 9% of the value of his funding overnight. Then the US election dropped it another 10%. Suddenly, a project that had successfully funded was out of money.What do you do at that point? Get creative. And short of selling cookies at a bake sale, Gino and team pull out all the stops to find the money and build a stronger tie with their fans. Great conversation

Cynthia Landon has successfully run 9 Kickstarter campaigns. Small and focused on her space, she delivers a great experience. But what you need to know is that she is in the business of making you more successful with your own board game Kickstarter campaign. Need custom meeples for your cool project. She can do it. With millions of pieces of inventory, she has perfected the ability to create customized experiences for your unique pieces to enhance your project. Don't believe me? Ask Jamey Stegmaier. He uses her company. Bonus Content Available On Patreon

How much money do you need to raise on Kickstarter? That depends. Where does the money go? Marc Specter takes the time to outline where he spent the majority of his money to publish his Kickstarter game. This is great advice for those who are running their Kickstarter campaigns as a hobby as well as those running it as a business. Make a mistake with the money and you may not be able to recover.

There is a flood of people offering Kickstarter advice. Some know what they are doing, but many do not. How to sift through the flood of offers you receive for creating, promoting, and running your Kickstarter campaign? Kickstarter now has certified experts. Daniel Zayas is listed as one of them. He shares some thoughts on how to become an expert, how to get listed, and what to be looking out for when launching a Kickstarter campaign. Great advice from an expert.

Your Kickstarter board game needs to be playtested. There's no better place to play test than an Unpub or Protospiel. But you can't just show up, sit down and expect to be successful. You have to prepare yourself to attend, prepare yourself to know what you want to learn. With this proper preparation, you will find success. Ed Baraf of Pencil First Games shares key ingredients to successful preparation.

JT Smith believes game convention can be made easy. He has launched a site called Tabletop.Events. The site delivers everything you need to know and do to launch your own game convention.This is important to a lot of our listeners who are discovering the need to launch their own game conventions in their area. Whether you are in San Jose, California or Des Moines, Iowa. Being able to put together a local event can help you build your fan base and find new friends and contacts.JT goes through the details of how Tabletop.events makes this easy. There are approximately 10 game conventions EVERY WEEKEND in the US. This is definitely something that has been needed.

Adam Clark created Kicktraq. Now he has built the premier platform for managing your Kickstarter campaign called Pledgemanager. From the smallest details for international shipping to keeping track of all the bits and pieces of your campaign add-ons.And when the campaign is over, Pledgemanner allows your campaign to become an e-commerce site, allowing those who missed the campaign to still pledge after your Kickstarter campaign has ended.Adam has contributed as much to the Kickstarter community as anyone. Take a listen and enjoy our conversation

Three things are necessary for Kickstarter Success. #1 Building the Audience - James tells us how#2 Professional Artists - You can't get by with amateur#3 Pre-marketing - You must invest time to build up to your campaignJames Hudson knows what he is talking about and identifies clearly those three things that you must do to be successful. Ignore his advice at your peril.