The Ledger
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Kickstarter surpassed $3 billion in cumulative pledged project funding by 2017
“Recently, we passed the three billion dollar pledge mark.”
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.”
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 …”
Kickstarter's core model originated from a canceled New Orleans concert
“I thought, what if the people that, Would want to come to the show could have a say in that. And if enough people could do that before a certain point, then the show could happen. And if not, then it doesn't. So that, that was it. That was the beginning.”
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,…”
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.”
Brent Fersker: GOSO Cookware raised $166,000 CAD on Kickstarter
“We raised a total of a 166,000 Canadian dollars.”
FloorDrobe generated £18,000 in Kickstarter presales against a £4,000 target
“We wanted to pre-sell about 4000 pounds worth, and we sold about 18,000 pounds worth.”
Priority Bicycles Sold 2,000 Bikes in Its First Year
“Yeah, if I remember correctly, we sold about 2000 bikes that year, 1500 in the first month, and then 500 in the next six months that follows.”
Tapaninaho: Ooni raised £17,000 on Kickstarter and sold 200 post-campaign units
“The Kickstarter raised 17,000 pounds, yeah, and This was the kind of funny part of it was that, okay, there was 92 ovens were sold through the campaign, but we sold another 200 on the back of the extra press that happened in the following month.”
Allowing Kickstarter backers to mix and match sheet patterns was a mistake
“We, you know, we wanted to just please the customer, so we had six patterns with our Kickstarter. We said, mix and match, do whatever you want, kind of, and tell us what you want. Huge mistake.”
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.”
Rival crowdfunding platform Indiegogo launched 18 months before Kickstarter went live
“In fact, 18 months before Kickstarter went live, Indiegogo, another crowdfunding site, was launched.”
Kickstarter took money from only one institutional venture capital investor
“We did have one actual venture capital investor. Again, not that much money.”