Crowdfunding Is Not Even At Its Zenit, Kickstarter

By Edoardo Moreni - March, 3rd 2014

In April 2009 only $3,876 were pledged on Kickstarter, a small startup who had just launched a platform to reinvent the way people raise capital for their projects. Almost five years later, more than $1 billion was pledged on this platform, by making it the most disruptive crowdfunding website ever built. 5.7 million individuals were those who made this dream true. As Kickstarter recalls, more than half of the billion was pledged in the last twelve months.

This means that crowdfunding is not even at the zenit of its success, but it’s just at the beginning. What Kickstarter did was enabling common people to build disruptive ideas by asking to the web for help. If people like what you are offering them and want to contribute by getting something in exchange (sometimes the product itself), they pledge and help you in the early days.

The company has showed a few stats on this remarkable milestone, as they say the pledges come from “224 countries and territories, and all seven continents.” 1,689,979 people have backed more than one project and 15,932 people have backed more than 50 projects. Wednesday was the day were people pledged more and the 13th of March was the day with the most pledges ever, “54,187 backers pledged $4,029,585.45 to 1,985 projects”.

On the 28th of April 2009, the day when Kickstarter launched, “40 people pledged $1,084 to 7 projects”. 5 years later the Co-Founders are smiling thinking about how remarkable those 40 early adopters were and where they have taken them in this journey. Kickstarter launched a movement and a way of thinking. For the first time, common people have been able to use the power of the web, not from an intellectual point of view, as a collaborative brain, but from a “supportive” and financial one.

It’s remarkable to see how good people have replied to the call made by this company. The platform takes a 5% cut on the money raised through the campaigns, which means that in five years they have made $50M. It can’t be comparable to the revenue stream of tech companies in the Valley and it won’t probably arrive at that point. However the power that this company has given to the humankind is much more valuable than any other app or social network.

Thanks to platforms like Kickstarter people from Antartica can pledge projects made in Russia. There is no need for bureaucracy, what it matters is believing in someone and a simple click. This company has also helped many people to find who they really were, entrepreneurs. There are thousands of people who started something on Kickstarter without even considering to launch a company and now are operating with employees and revenues.

There are people such as Piers Rydiard from The Nifty Mini Drive who never thought about starting a company, who had their own job and lived a different life; but suddenly an idea came up to their mind and Kickstarter was there to challenge how good that spark in their heads was and how people might react to it.

The future is about connecting people and collaborating through the internet wether we are learning something or helping other people to achieve their dreams. In a place where we have all this technology, we can’t afford not to connect people and free their creativity. Building products and innovate is what everyone should aim at and that’s why we are congratulating Kickstarter for having passed this milestone.

This is just the beginning of a long journey, which might not even end with Kickstarter. There are other companies out there that are giving us the possibility to express ourselves. Although this might not be good for Kickstarter, it’s good for the human race, which was born with an entrepreneurial mindset, but lost it.