Since its launch in 2009, Kickstarter has served as a place to fund your next business idea.
The company opened up its service on Tuesday, introducing new features such as an in-house marketing team to help users make the most of the funds they raise and the option to remain open to more backers after a campaign. announced that it would be provided. finish.
“What we know is that money alone is not enough to bring ideas to life,” Kickstarter CEO Everett Taylor said in a statement Tuesday. “It requires solid marketing to reach and grow your audience, understanding the logistics of fulfillment, ongoing communication with backers, and trusted relationships with distributors and manufacturers.”
Everett Taylor, CEO of Kickstarter. Photo credit: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
One of our most impactful features, Late Pledges, allows creators to earn more money even after their campaign officially ends.
Kickstarter’s previous model didn’t allow campaigns to last forever, so companies were turning to competitors like Indiegogo to keep their projects going..
Kickstarter began testing the feature last month and announced that one user was able to raise 35% more than their original funding goal in two weeks.
Late Pledges is available to all Kickstarter creators worldwide as of Tuesday.
Related: Inside the Kickstarter offices
Another upgrade the company announced Tuesday is an enhancement to its existing research tools that will allow businesses to know upfront exactly how much it will cost to fulfill an order.
Kickstarter also added an in-house marketing team to help creatives promote their campaigns. In early testing, the company said the team helped raise nearly $1 million in donations for selected project groups.
Kickstarter says more creators will have access to the service “as soon as it’s ready.”
Kickstarter has been around for 15 years. During that time, more than 23 million backers have pledged more than $8 billion to creative projects through the site.
The company claims that more than 250,000 projects have successfully raised funds or achieved the goals set by their creators through its service.
The platform has helped entrepreneurs launch multi-million dollar campaigns to fund their ideas, like the AnkerMake M5 3D printer, which raised nearly $9 million in 2022.
Related: 3D printers used by Microsoft, Ford, and NASA are commercialized
