Everything Perry Chen said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Neither Perry Chen nor Yancey Strickler could code when starting Kickstarter
“I cannot code and I couldn't code, but I think I had a sense of what it should feel like. I know what I like, I know what I think feels good when I'm on a site, but from the deep technical stuff, No, that was not my background at all. Yancey probably had been …”
Comedian David Cross was Kickstarter's first investor after a 2006 meeting
“I had a friend of mine, and her cousin is David Cross, the comedian from Arrested Development, and many other, Mr. Show, and great stuff. And so she connected us, and we went and had a drink at a bar, and I talked to him about the idea, and a few months later,…”
Andy Baio joined Kickstarter as CTO because the founders couldn't review code
“One of the people we met was Andy Baio, who really helped us kind of Figure out what kind of technology we should be using, and helped us interview the developers that we would hire, and he eventually became our first CTO. That was tremendously helpful because…”
Kickstarter achieved profitability within 18 months of launching the platform
“I think, you know, the first six months, not at all, no revenue. I think within a year after that, so probably within the first 18 months, we got in the black.”
Kickstarter added 'not a store' warnings and prototype rules to manage risk
“So we said, hey, you need to show where your prototype is at. You need to add the risks and challenges of this project as you see them. In the checkout process, we had Kickstarter is not a store, and we linked to some of our policies to let people know what di…”
Kickstarter surpassed $3 billion in cumulative pledged project funding by 2017
“Recently, we passed the three billion dollar pledge mark.”
Perry Chen stepped completely down from Kickstarter's board in late 2024
“I went from CEO, stayed on as chairman for many years, then was just a board member, brought on a new chairman, and then, really, as of about six months ago, I am now liberated.”
Neither Kickstarter co-founder knew how to code
“Well, I certainly didn't from any technical sense. I cannot code, and I couldn't code. But, I think I Had a sense of what it should feel like. I know what I like, I know what I think feels good when I'm on a site, but from the deep technical stuff, no, that wa…”
Kickstarter raised just $120,000 in seed funding over 18 months
“It took us a year and a half, so from that point, probably from there to early 2008, we raised maybe a 120,000 dollars in a year and a half.”
Kickstarter raised approximately $120,000 across 18 months leading up to 2008
“It took us a year and a half, so from that point, probably from there to early 2008, we raised maybe a 120,000 dollars in a year and a half.”
Chris Sacca invested personal angel money in Kickstarter's early funding rounds
“First of all, with Chris Zaka, it was angel money. It was their personal money.”
Kickstarter took money from only one institutional venture capital investor
“We did have one actual venture capital investor. Again, not that much money.”
Perry Chen
How I Built This 4