I backed a Kickstarter once. It was for a set of Dungeons and Dragons modules(books). The guy had created new character types and everything. I even went overboard because he was making them playable on Fantasy Grounds, which I already owned and would now get to use. Plus, with my pledge, I also was included in one of his “Live Game Campaigns”, where he would have us as players and run through his books. When the Kickstarter ended, he was more than fully funded, and was getting the finishing touches added to the PDF and Hard Copy pieces, and started our live game. We played about 5 sessions (1/week) and then he literally vanished. As if off the face of the Earth. Stopped all of his social media and streaming and just vanished. No more live games, no product ever delivered, nothing. I don’t back many kickstarters any more.
i always ask myself when i think about backing, “how comfortable are you never seeing this money again?” it’s annoying to to lose the cash, but since i’m always starting from an “i could lose this” mentality, it’s not as painful as it could be.
This is exactly how I approach it. It’s a high risk high reward investment.
exactly. if it was no-risk, it wouldn’t be on kickstarter, it would just be an established company’s preorder.
Exactly, and I think I was more upset with the fact that we started the game and never finished than I was that I never got the physical product. I’d have rather just been taken in completely.
They actually make you check at least one, but I think it’s two, different boxes that say a version of “You are backing an idea, there’s no guarantee of anything. This is not a purchase.” because way too many people didn’t read they just saw the cool video and clicked go.
My luck has been good so far. Only one didn’t happen (a bacon food truck, and I was supposed to get a pound of bacon). The rest have delivered, though one the competition was already at market before the OG shipped.
It’s fun, but it’s 100% an investment, just like the stock market, with no guarantee of returns.
right, but unlike the stock market, it’s kind of an “all or nothing” bet. you either get something or you don’t. i mean, sure, there’s some gray area in there (they said it wouldn’t suck but it does), but it’s mostly A or B.
Out of 35 Kickstarter projects I have backed, I only had one fail to deliver and a second one where I asked for a refund after the 5th delay. That second one was for the Glowforge 
I ended up getting a CNC machine instead and later on getting a Glowforge, after they actually started shipping and had a bit of time to work out the kinks.
Yeah I’m amazed it took this long to drag Glowforge for their crowd funding issues.
It wasn’t smooth sailing. I never felt like I wasn’t going to get my unit but it was delayed multiple times and I understood why you backed out when you did. I’m glad you came back though, being able to compare projects in person with you over the years has been one of the most enjoyable aspects of having the Glowforge.
Agreed my friend. Show and Tell has pushed and encouraged me in so many ways. I appreciate it so much.
That was me with Glowforge way back when.
I backed a game that did deliver after 12 years I think. It was a long time. I’ve always been refunded on the Kickstarters that didn’t make it.
I would never back anything on indiegogo though. Too many horror stories from that site.
Glowforge didn’t do Kickstarter, but I get your point. A lot of us waited for a couple years for that delivery.
It was hard to stick it out but the forum helped especially when the beta units went out
to be fair to GF, they did at least SAY they’d refund your money if they didn’t ship. kickstarter doesn’t make that promise.
Not to pick nits, but Glowforge was never on Kickstarter. Their crowdfunding campaign was self-run.
So I showed up at launch and got me a early bird slot. We’ll see where it goes from here. Expecting first shipments in October.
I’ve not received a refund from any of the failed projects I’ve backed on either Kickstarter or Indiegogo. I’ve also had a similar fail rate on both although for awhile it was Indie that had the highest failure rate to the point I stopped backing there but KS has caught up (%wise).
Typically the project owner slows communication and then stops entirely and goes radio silent. Neither Indie nor KS require refunds to be made and you acknowledge that risk whenever you commit to backing something.
I generally only back things now where the creator has a very positive track record or is an established company updating a product or coming out with something new. I’ll take a flier on some projects if the product is interesting and I want to see it come to market but I’m anticipating that everyone of those will fail and I’ll lose my backer money. When it doesn’t, I’m pleasantly surprised and happy.
I know there are a number of drone enthusiasts here:
That is a really cool use of the technology!
Huh. The article says it all.
Pre-regulation shipping lanes (yellow) on top, lightning frequency in red below.
They say it’s a 50% drop since the regs went into effect.
Wow. That’s an impressive drop!
Well, now I’m torn – yay for less pollution, but I really LIKE lightning storms dangit.