Funding the Dream on Kickstarter: Recent Episodes
Richard Bliss
Over $1 Billion dollars has been pledged to Kickstarter campaigns since its launch in April of 2009. Traditionally a site for funding Film and Music, Kickstarter has become a great place for anyone with a dream to see them realized. With Kickstarter you don't need a publisher or a big company, just the courage to ask.
In this episode of the podcast, Salvador Briggman interviews Chris O'Neal from Brotherwise Games on his most recent Kickstarter for Overlord: a Boss Monster Adventure.
You'll learn about what goes into building a successful board game company, how to get funded on Kickstarter in 2020, along with some tips and tricks the team has picked up along the way.
Links Mentioned on The Show
- Become a guest on the podacast
- Overlord: a Boss Monster Adventure
- Brotherwise Games
Want to become a podcast sponsor?
Email: sbriggman@crowdcrux.com
Bobby Fiorentino launched the Kickstarter project "This Game Is A Disaster!" and raised $8,420.
He came on the show to share how he was able to do this, along with advice that he has for beginning board game entrepreneurs.
Links
- Become a guest: http://fundingthedreamonkickstarter.com/
- Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boardgameclub/this-game-is-a-disaster
- Coaching w/ Sal: https://www.crowdcrux.com/coaching
- The Board Game Club FB
- Board Game Club FB Group
On this episode of the Funding the Dream on Kickstarter podcast, Salvador Briggman talks with James Takenaka, who has over 25 years of experience in the collectible and tabletop games industry.
Apply to Be on the Show: Funding the Dream on Kickstarter
James started selling at collectibles shows in 1990 and then was a co-owner of the Comix and Cardz Etc. hobby store.
In 2001 he co-founded Hero Factory Inc. to produce licensed trading cards and served as a consultant for Bandai America Inc. in the collectible card game market.
From 2007-2012 James served as Bandai’s Games Division Sales & Marketing Manager, working with hobby game distributors, overseeing their Organized Play Network and co-creating the Star Trek DBG. James joined Hit Point Sales in March 2012.
https://www.hitpointsales.com/about-us
On this episode, you'll learn an effective Kickstarter community-building strategy from Gamedec, a project that attracted 4,911 backers.
In this game, you are a detective who solves crimes inside virtual worlds. Use your wits to gather info from your witnesses and suspects, getting to the bottom of deceptive schemes. The game continually adapts to your decisions and never judges.
Salvador Briggman is the new host of the Funding the Dream on Kickstarter podcast.
Links and Resources Mentioned:
- Become a guest on Funding the Dream on Kickstarter
- Gamedec Kickstarter Campaign
After eight years and more than 330 episodes, it is time to say good-bye on Funding the Dream.
The podcast has been a fantastic way for me to meet some incredible people. It has also been a means for me giving back to a community that I believe in.
In this last episode, I share a little behind the decision and how we got so far.
Thank you to everyone over the years who have been so supportive and contributed their knowledge and experience to help those who listen.
Hopefully, you've been inspired. I know I have.
Thanks for listening, Take Care.
Salvador Briggman has been teaching people about crowdfunding for a long time. He is an author on crowdfunding, he produces a Youtube channel, as well as hosting the successul podcast, DeMystifying Crowdfunding.
He joins as a guest on Funding the Dream to break down the basic elements of being successful before you launch your campaign.
He provides excellent advice and is well worth listening and taking notes.
Here's a link to Demystifying Crowdfunding
With more than 10 successful projects on Kickstarter, you can't always anticipate the sudden failure of a project. But what you can do, is learn and adapt.
Brian Henk is the guest and co-founder of Pull the Plug games. You may also know him as the creator of the hit game, Good Cop/Bad Cop. He shares how a string of successes on Kickstarter suddenly became a short string of failures and how the experience taught him to pivot his expectations, adapt to his new understanding, and to launch again.
It is always beneficial when guests open up about what went wrong. If you were to lose $40,000 on your next Kickstarter project and fail to fund, you would want to share that knowledge so others can avoid a similar fate. Brian does just that, teaching listeners what went wrong and how he adapted to the situation.
His newest Kickstarter is called The ZORRO Dice Game. You can find it here
How do you choose a manufacturing partner in China for your Kickstarter project? You ask Josh Fairbairn.
Josh delivers specific advice to help those looking to work with Chinese manufactures for the first time.
His first piece of advice? Don't make a decision based on pricing. There are other, much more important qualifications rather than pricing.
He qualifies this with an understanding that when you are creating a few thousand units, a few cents of savings is not going to help your project be successful, it will actually contribute to its failure. You will end up creating a bad product and have a bad experience.
Instead, you must focus on four main areas to evaluate a manufacturer:
- Communication, Communication, Communication - Language, Culture, Distance, and Time Zones means the opportunity for misunderstandings are high. Become proficient with WeChat and watch your initial communications carefully for indications on problems that may arise in the future.
- Process - How they make the product and how they work with you to bring it to market are critical
- Quality - This is where price focus can hurt you. Be sure to look for good quality in the early prototypes...if there is a problem with the prototype there will be a problem with the final product
- Quality Control - After you have signed off on everything, keep the communication going to ensure that the quality stays high through the entire manufacturing process.
Josh shares other excellent pieces of wisdom and advice. If you are doing business in China I strongly recommend you reach out and connect. You can find Josh on Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuafairbairn/
And his website is https://www.morphomfg.com/
Jessica Kelly has successfully crowdfunded $22,500 for her company, THR3EFOLD, and has grown her company to be a leader in the ethical fashion space.
Using crowdfunding to first scope her business with a trip to India, then using crowdfunding on iFundWomen.com, she stepped out on her own as a social entrepreneur four years ago and launched Thr3eFold.
She has spent a decade helping hundreds of fashion & lifestyle brands grow their business through marketing, sales, and PR.
She discusses the power of using iFundwomen to crowdfund her business ideas rather a traditional platform like Kickstarter.
Storyblaster, a previous guest on the podcast, was also instrumental in helping her tell her story to a new audience.
www.Thr3efold.com
www.ifundwomen.com
www.storyblaster.com
Guest, Leesa McGregor, is the author of the book, A New Alphabet for Humanity, which is on Kickstarter. It is a beautifully illustrated children's book featuring 26 empowering alphabet words designed to nurture emotional intelligence, activate the potential of our children and create a brighter future for humanity.
A New Alphabet for Humanity teaches children the power of positive words so they can build empathy and compassion, unlock their imagination, and feel empowered to live their dreams.
Leesa shares her passion for shaping the world through social good and shares her insights into how she began to journey to publish this book.
She also introduces us to GenM, a website to hire interns for a three-month project. Many Kickstarter project owners could take advantage of this service.
You can find a link to GenM.com here
Her Kickstarter campaign is here: A New Alphabet for Humanity
Crowdfunding for Social Good is what sets Devin Thorpe apart from many who use Crowdfunding as a means of raising money.
Devin is a deeply optimistic person. He is an author, educator, and speaker; a champion of social good. Through his work, he aspires to help solve some of the world's biggest problems--poverty, disease, and climate change.
His Forbes articles often reach more than 100,000 readers and his books—read over 1 million times—on using money for good, personal finance, crowdfunding and corporate social responsibility draw on his experience as an investment banker, CFO, treasurer and mortgage broker.
He has delivered a keynote speech at the United Nations and spoken in countries from Brazil to Russia and across the US.
Most recently he sat down with Bill Gates and asked him a question, What's Your Superpower?.
You can follow Devin on Twitter @devindthorpe or email at forbes@devinthorpe.com.
You build a crowd by giving before asking. That is the takeaway from our guest, Lucia Fasano. Lucia is a songwriter, actress, and producer of comedy and music. She is in her 2nd Kickstarter campaign and shares how she follows the philosophy of giving to your fans and then asking them for support.
So many do it the opposite, asking for money before building the following. Amanda Palmer is discussed and her fantastic Ted Talk and book called The Art of Asking.
You can find Lucia Kickstarter campaign, Best Friend Forever: Lucia Fasano's Second Album here
Her music is also shared in the opening for this episode of Funding the Dream
Richard Bliss and Bryan Rosander co-host with guest, Laser Malena Webber, member of the band, The DoubleClicks. Laser has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars on Kickstarter and Patreon but focusing on giving away their music and then giving fans a chance to say thank you.
Laser's book is currently on Kickstarter. It is called "Crowdfunding for Musicians" and shares insights and stories on how to be successful in building a following and raising money for your artistic efforts as a musician.
But Laser's advice isn't limited to Musicians. Laser quit their day job and began a life pursuing a dream sustained by their fans.
Laser shares one critical piece of advice on the show. Give away your work for years before you begin asking for money.
That is NOT going to be popular advice for many starting out and looking for a shortcut.
There are no shortcuts. Instead, listen to what Laser has to say and follow their advice.
Maxine Lapiduss is a Golden Globe winning, 4-time Emmy-nominated TV writer and producer. She is also the co-founder of Storyblaster, a software company that helps Crowdfunding project creators learn how to tell their story and build their crowd.
As host Richard Bliss oftentimes says, you don't have a funding problem, you have a crowd problem. Solve the crowd problem first and the money will follow.
An entrepreneur and thought leader, Maxine combines her expertise and experience in fundraising sales, branding, storytelling, and social media campaign strategy into Storyblaster.
On this episode of Funding the Dream, she shares how Storyblaster is able to use experience from more than 300,000 campaigns to craft templates to allow project creators to build their own storyboards and social media campaigns.
If you are a crowdfunding project creator, it is worth your time to listen to Maxine's conversation with host, Richard Bliss. If you are interested in learning more about her company and product, you can visit Storyblaster here
Bobby Fiorentino began building his crowd nearly a year before he even knew what his Kickstarter project was going to be.
He built a following, using Live Stream, Giveaways, and advertising to draw people to his Facebook group where they shared common interests. His group rapidly grew to more than 4,000 members.
He then began using this new crowd to develop ideas and as a sounding board for a Kickstarter project.
Then, with the project beginning to be fleshed out, he identified what the least amount of money would be needed to be successful and how to use GameCrafter to build out his game.
He settled on $500.
That may not seem like a lot of money to start with on Kickstarter, but Bobby's project, called This Game Is A Disaster, leveraged all the right assets, followed all the right steps, and while the goal was modest, his process was exceptional.
This interview with Bobby Fiorentino is well worth your time to listen. If you are a new project creator or even someone who has been Kickstarting for a while, you will find some extremely useful advice from this first timer.
Wes Woodbury, from Fundamental Games, is a returning guest. He relaunched his Kickstarter campaign, Legends of Novus, after appearing as a guest on the show in Episode 293.
With advice from other guests and fans, Wes went back to the drawing board and retooled and relaunched his campaign.
There were three key things he did to increase his chances for success:
1 He worked with Manufacturers to lower is overall production costs by a significant amount. This allowed him to lower his overall goal.
2 Finding alternative methods of adding content without adding costs.
3 Helping others succeed. Wes has been heavily involved in helping other Kickstarter creators put their board games on Tabletop simulator in order to enhance the overall experience.
Wes goes into details on each of these as well as other strategies. This is well worth listening to as he is on his way to having a successful Kickstarter project.
From Singapore to San Jose, this interview spans the globe. Nison Chan is the guest and discusses his retail store, We The People Store, that only sells Kickstarter projects. With stores in Singapore, Malaysia, and St Louis Missouri, Nison shares the idea behind getting your Kickstarter product into retail.
In addition, Nison is part of a Kickstarter conference called For Creators By Creators that was recently on the East Coast, visiting NYC.
As the buyer for the We The People Store, Nison shares the things that are attractive to his customers.
You can find We the People Store here: Take a look and see if one of your favorite projects is found in their store.
Grandpa Beck's Games is one of the most successful game companies you have never heard of. They did over $1 million in revenue last year with their games regularly appearing as a best seller on Amazon.
And their Kickstarter project, Cover Your Kingdom does something completely opposite from where most game publishers go...They took a successful family game and reworked it for the hobby board game industry and released it on Kickstarter.
This is a fascinating conversation. Jeff Beck, my guest, is the second generation of Grandpa Beck's Games. His father, a current airline pilot, started the game company a decade ago as another means of income...Wait! What?
It is this story that makes this episode different in many ways. This is not your average board game publisher.
And wait until you hear what his one piece of advice is to publishers just starting out...It has to do with the Distribution model and you may be surprised by his answer.
Listen in and let us know what you think.
Visit our group on Facebook to discuss this topic and many more:
Funding the Dream on Kickstarter Facebook Group
Brandon Raasch has mastered a means of increasing backer adoption during the lull between launch and the end.
You know that period where backers slow to a trickle and you wonder if the campaign is ever going to pick back up.
Brandon Raasch with Bard Games saw that lull in the middle as an opportunity to increase his backer's commitment. His project is called Fickle, you can find it here on Kickstarter
And sure enough, if you take a look at his project on Kicktraq here you can see two smaller rises in the middle of the campaign. His secret is out and he shares what he did to get the attention to his project.
Brandon's company is called Bard Games and you can find their website here
JT Smith from the GameCrafter is the guest as he shares how their new crowdfunding platform, Crowd Sales, allows you to lower the price for your backers as you overfund.
As JT puts it, rather than adding stretch goals to overfund, Crowd Sales introduces a discount for reaching a certain number of backers.
For example, if the pledge level is $50 at the beginning and then 10 backers support the project, the cost for all backers drops by a few dollars. More backers, more cost drops. This keeps going all the way up to more than 40% discount.
Meaning a $50 game would drop all the way to $30. Crowd Sales is the one that covers the cost reduction which allows the project creator to keep the same amount of money no matter how far the price drops.
Sounds interesting to me. I'll be wanting to hear your take on this novel approach to crowdfunding your next game.
Part 2 How to screw up your Kickstarter project with Fabio Redivo.
As a continuation of our previous conversation, Fabio outlines the other five things he did to contribute to the failure of his Kickstarter campaign.
These are:
6 - Not having a playthrough video
7 - Not having a PNP
8 - Rely on artwork only
9 - A lot of money for the first project
10 - Count on friends and family
**6, 7, 8 - Are in the same bucket. Fabio is a graphic designer and works as a brand director for a digital agency in NYC. He used to be in the comic book industry for 8 years as an artist and did a little bit of everything there. He worked for big companies, and self publish, allowing art and design to become a part of his life.
When he thought of his game, that's where his focus was. Art and design. He confesses that he had ideas for how the game plays, that it was so simple that he put it on the back burner and laser focused on showing his art style for the cards. He didn't bother to explain how to play with the beautiful cards he was designing.**
His lesson learned?: WRONG! A game is a game first, if it's not fun, doesn't play well, doesn't matter how good it looks. Art and design enhance the experience, but it doesn't dictate. How he says he will be writing the ideas, testing his next game, going to Unpub events monthly, playtest, playtest, playtest. Then he'll go draw pretty cards.
9 - H set 15K for his first project. That looks like a lot of money for a first-time game designer. That would cover print and shipping cost plus the fees for Kickstarter. With 15K he would not make money back at all, just a couple hundreds. That is because he only quoted with AD Magik. He went full premium on the cards, 310gsm, linen finish, black core... So it was costly to produce. He wanted to give the backers high quality, no compromise. But you can't give backers anything if you don't get funded. He also was planning to have 300 cards. It's a lot of cards to produce. 300 cards need custom boxes, and those are very pricey. The whole budget was a disaster.
In the other end of the high price, he wanted to sell games + custom cards for $100. He quickly realized that nobody will spend THAT kind of money on a nobody's game.
Lesson: Start small. Have a fun thematic card game that doesn't cost much to print. Quote an MVP and work your way up with stretch goals to make the game better. Be aware of press sheets to reduce the cost of productions. 280gsm blue core is a good start. Have fewer pledges tiers. Keep goal lower than 5k and game price lower than $20.
10 - Friends and family are great, but will not get you far. At all. AT ALL. Many friends and family members didn't even bother to check his page. Or they shared on facebook but didn't donate a buck. Or forgot about it. So counting on pledging and marketing through friends and family was a bust.
Lesson: DON'T count on friends and family. Simple as that!
These are all great lessons for a first-time creator to learn. We are grateful to Fabio for his willingness to share his failure to help others succeed.
It isn't often a guest reaches out to share their spectacular success. But Fabio Redivo wanted to share his mistakes so others can learn from them.
Fabio is a talented artist and graphic designer who decided to create a card game around his artwork. Usually, it is the other way around. A game designer seems to be always looking for a good artist, but seldom is an artist looking for a game.
Fabio shares 10 was he screwed up his Kickstarter campaign.
In this episode we cover the first five:
1 - False first steps
2 - Not have the crowd for crowdfunding
3 - Not being involved in social media and game community
4 - BGG what?
5 - Not having backed many projects
As you listen, see if there are other areas that Fabio could have been better prepared.
How do you find your audience for your Kickstarter campaign?
It is a fluid thing on how to hone in on your core audience.
Always remember it is better to find new products for your current audience rather than attempting to find a new audience for your products or services.
This is why it is always a good idea to start small, to use your beginning as a learning experience and an opportunity to get feedback from your early adopters.
Building a buyer's persona becomes much easier. Then build more products for that core buyer persona.
Much more shared by John and me on how to build your audience.
Richard also recommends reading the book "Crossing the Chasm" to help you identify that core audience.
What's a hearth throb kickstarter campaign? Two years ago thousands of backers were robbed of their money for backing the Evil Dead 2 Kickstarter boardgame. Now, Tommy Gofton is trying to bring it back by having fans and vendors chip in to cover the costs and get all those thousands of people a copy of the game that never was made.
Sounds a bit crazy...No, it sounds a lot crazy...but Tommy may be able to pull it off. Take a listen and determine for yourself if this is a real deal or just some wishful thinking.
Looking forward to hearing your comments.
Richard Bliss Got Married.
Why the two-week hiatus? Because I was busy getting married. I occasionally share personal items in my show, but this episode was all about what is happening in my life.
I also wanted to thank all of you for your support. Recent decisions in my life have made it possible for me to dedicate even more time to make the show a success. And when you, the fans, reach out and share your own stories, it helps keep me motivated to keep going.
In this episode, I also ask a favor...Help spread the show. There are so many great guests with great insights, that it helps when you, the fans share an episode.
Also, take a moment to go to iTunes and write a review of the podcast. This also helps a great deal.
And finally, please continue to support the show through Patreon. Every little bit helps and my new wife is cool with me spending even more time doing this. I want to show that it is having an impact.
There you go, a personal episode to say thank you.
Richard Bliss
You have one week left in your Kickstarter and you're at 85%. What do you do? Laurence O'Brien from Wotan Games discusses actions and steps he is taking to generate the interest and engagement to reach that critical last 15%.
And we ask several questions: Why do people back out before a project is finished and give the excuse that they will come back if the project funds?
Also, if you surpass your goal at week two, but then backers cancel to drop you below your goal, did you fund?
And does Kickstarter prevent you from backing out at the last minute as a backer if it would cause your cancellation to fail a project?
We ask the questions but don't necessarily have the answers.
Maybe you do. Listen and let us know
Comics and Kickstarter with Tyler James on the podcast, ComixLaunch.
Richard Bliss is a guest on Tyler's podcast about Comics and Kickstarter called ComixLaunch. A lengthy conversation about a wide range of topics, and the impact Kickstarter has had on the Comic Book Industry.
Success through Failure on Kickstarter.
Success on Kickstarter can be such a problem when it leads to so many failures. And a good failure can lead to long-lasting success. These are the lessons, Host Richard Bliss, takes away from his conversation with Guest Brad Talton of Level 99 Games.
Brad successfully raised $25,000 on Kickstarter with no business experience and lost about $25,000 on the project. He discusses the three phases Level 99 Games has passed through on their way from success to failure to success.
Brad talks about the his growth from sole proprietor to bad manager to being a failed business owner. And how all of this led to his success as a business owner today.
As a woman in the board game industry, and a successful Kickstarter project creator, Heather O'Neil, President of 9th Level Games hears has become a local resource to new Kickstarter creator, especially for women who are looking to raise money for their projects.
Her advice is usually focused on getting a strong understanding on the financials necessary to create your projects, and it is oftentimes focused on the playtesting angle, making sure they have a strong project.
One question I ask is, "How often are people seeking advice disappointed with your advice"
The first disappointment is when she resets their financial goals. There is a lot more great content.
You can find 9th Level games at 9th Level Games
Co-Host John Coveyou and Guest Marc Specter join Host Richard Bliss to discuss the challenges of non-traditional board games on Kickstarter
John Coveyou, with Genius Games, has launched more than a dozen Kickstarter projects, yet his current campaign, Nerd Words, made some mid-campaign adjustments due to the difficulty of convey the game's experience into a Kickstarter campaign.
While the project has funded, it has not met the bar set by many of John's spectacularly successful hard-science games that have come before.
Marc Specter, with Grand Gamers Guild, has launched Endangered, a game that tackles the many challenges facing today's eco-systems.
This is a significant divergence from Marc's previous successful Kickstarter campaigns and shares strong similarities in the challenges from John's campaign.
Together, John and Marc, discuss how to address the gamers market with group games and educational games without having them carry the negative labels of failed efforts by other projects in this area.
Both are knowledgeable and well-informed.
Host Richard Bliss and Guest Aldo Ghiozzi discuss the merger of his company, Impressions, with Flat River Group.
Flat River Group is one of the largest distributors of board games online through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and even Bed Bath & Beyond.
In addition, Flat River Group is one of the largest fulfillment companies for Kickstarter projects.
Aldo discusses the theory of wholesale and distribution being 60% discounted and you use volume to make up the difference.
Aldo also challenges the assumption that a good showing on Kickstarter translates into good showing in distribution. This is also has become more complex and no longer an easy assumption.
Aldo discusses the sales patterns he sees in the industry and how to predict how well they will do in distribution.
Host Richard Bliss is joined by Narek Vardanyan, founder of The Crowdfunding Formula, a copy focused on helping crowdfunding project owners expand the reach and influence of their campaigns. https://thecrowdfundingformula.com/
Narek shares his insights on what it takes to be a successful campaign on both Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.
What's interesting, is Narek's company is influencing and supporting projects all around the world, while being primarily based out of Armenia. He joins the show from literally the other side of the world.
Host Richard Bliss and Guest Laurence O'Brien from Wotan Games dig deep into Brexit and the mess it has become.
But in this discussion we also talk about Brexit: The Real Deal Kickstarter project. A game about the consequences of Brexit and the break up of the United Kingdom. You can find the project here on Kickstarter: Brexit: The Real Deal
Laurence and Richard have a great time discussing a wide range of projects, Past, Present and Future, as well as if I Richard should spend his honeymoon at UK Games Expo working the Wotan Booth.
Richard and Laurence discuss Richard's book, Stealing the Show and some of the ideas on how to be noticed at conventions. You can find his book on Amazon at Amazon.com/author/RichardBliss
You have to check out the video on Patreon. Laurence appears as a disembodied head during the entire interview.
Patreon account located here: Funding the Dream Patreon
Host Richard Bliss is joined by Luke Gygax, founder of GaryCon and son of Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons.
The conversation is centered on Luke's observations of the emergence of D&D as a streaming experience with fans by the thousands tuning in to watch.
Discussed is Dungeons and Randomness, the previous guest, and the ability to make a living playing D&D.
Luke admits that a little over a decade ago he did not see this aspect of his life developing. But now that it is here, he has embraced it fully, enjoying the surge of interest in D&D and the number of lives it has touched over the years.
Luke was kind enough to stay on after the show to provide some additional conversation for Patreon backers of Funding the Dream. You can find that content here at the Funding the Dream Patreon Page. Become a backer and show your support.
Host Richard Bliss and Guest Jason Massey talk about the coolest job ever! In this episode of Funding the Dream on Kickstarter the topic is how to make a living as a professional Dungeon Master who plays live on his podcast.
Jason Massey quit his day job and dedicated his working career to hosting a podcast called Dungeons And Randomness. In the podcast, he and many of his friends, play D&D in the world of Theria.
What makes this exciting for me, is that Jason is able to support himself off of the generosity of his Patreon backers. Jason's Patreon project generates enough great content and engagement that his fans allow him to make a living playing D&D. You can check out Jason's patreon here: Dungeons and Randomness Patreon
And if you would like to support this podcast, you can visit the Funding The Dream Patreon page here: Funding the Dream on Kickstarter Patreon
Host Richard Bliss discusses with Guest Robert Burke about creating timed stretch goals. These are called Flash Funding Stretch goals.
How do manage a flash funding stretch goal? What happens if you don't hit your goal in the time limit.
Robert talks about moving stretch goals around to respond to customer feedback.
Robert's project is The Silver River, a 4x game. We discuss what makes a 4x game.
Richard backs the project live on this episode and discusses with Robert which pledge level he should be backing.
Richard also shares stories about buying upgraded version of the games as well as his Fiance buying him games early in their dating experience.
You can back Robert's project, The Silver River, here on Kickstarter: The Silver River
Host Richard Bliss and Co-Host John Coveyou are joined by Michael Mindes from Tasty Minstrel Games.
Michael had just launched and cancelled a Kickstarter campaign because he knew he had done something wrong.
Within two hours of launching the Kickstarter campaign, Michael knew they had missed on the offer and needed to take immediate action. Within three days, Michael was close to his funding goal, but knew they needed to pull the plug. If they had crossed the funding goal, he would have felt morally committed to follow through.
He refers to it as a micro-failure. What Michael saw as valuable was not recognized as something people were willing to pay for.
This episode Michael walks through the mistakes made and what they are doing to fix them for the next campaign.
Host Richard Bliss and Co-Host Thomas Umstattd Jr. who hosts the Creative Funding Show podcast, deliver a CrossCast episode to discuss Patreon and the power of the crowd to deliver consistent financial support.
In addition, Richard shares how he let his fans down and apologizes for how he handled the situation ( or failed to handle it), when life happened.
The hosts cover the idea of Patreon and how you can take advantage of it. It is a fun conversation that you will enjoy as much listening to as the hosts enjoyed creating it.
Host Richard Bliss and Guest A.J. Porfirio discuss game books and their live Kickstarter project. They have launched Graphic Novel Adventures Vol 2 on Kickstarter.
A.J. and Richard discuss how to license intellectual property, how to maintain a brand.
Van Ryder Games delivers strong narrative-based games with a solo-play angle. They have expanded into Adventure books because it continues with their brand of playing games that tell a story.
How do you find intellectual property? How do you get a license for a series of books? A.J. is always looking for new content and found the game book called Captive, a solo game book.
He had a personal passion for this kind of game. The key part of the story is that the game was difficult to find. Demand was there but supply was limited. He saw this as an opportunity.
Richard has backed A.J.'s Kickstarter campaign. Here is the link for you to do as well:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/vanrydergames/graphic-novel-adventures-season-2/description
Host Richard Bliss and Guest Eric Price, owner of Japanime games, explain why to bundle three smaller projects/games into a single Kickstarter campaign.
Eric has built a company with Kickstarter and continues to make Kickstarter tightly tied to the growth of their company. Their current Kickstarter project, Three Worlds of Mystery, is a bundle of three different games with a similar theme and artwork that brings them together.
Eric has launched 20 Kickstarter campaigns, using the momentum from each to bring success to the company itself.
Host Richard Bliss and guest Tomas Härenstam talk about Tales from the Loop and gives advice on how to turn small projects into larger projects.
Their first project was an art book highlighting the talents of artist Simon Stålenhag
Simon's art and concepts are now being turned into an Amazon Prime Television production.
Tomas shares how he began working with Simon, how their tiny project turned into a series of large one. One of the great things about Tomas is he finds something of interest to one audience and transfers that interest to a totally different audience.
Find out more about Tomas Härenstam
Free League Publishing http://frialigan.se/en/startpage/
Tales from the Loop Kickstarter
Host Richard Bliss and Co-Host John Coveyou discuss five attributes of a great product on Kickstarter.
- People want to buy the product. While this seems obvious. oftentimes people want a product, but aren't willing to pay for the product. You have to find something that is valuable to your audience.
- People want to tell others about it. Word of mouth marketing is the best means of attracting fans and backers to your project. You can pay for a crowdfunding promotional company to help you artificially spread the word by paying for placement. But when your backers are excited enough to share their support you are able to grow and attract a wider range of backers than you ever could through paid media.
- People can't easily get it elsewhere. This may seem counter-intuitive. Table top games, which are the single largest funding category on Kickstarter, can be purchased in a store. But the opportunity to participate on Kickstarter means you will get it sooner (Usually), you will get exclusives (Sometimes) or you are part of the development process and have an emotional investment. (An experience). All of these are hard to get if you are buying the product from Target.
- It's something tangible and shippable. Selling an emotional experience on Kickstarter can be done, but it is a very rare thing. Instead, focus on creating and shipping a product of some kind that can be held in the hands and used. Today, there is a lot of support for how to approach manufacturers and shipping specialists to get your products produced and delivered around the world.
- The audience is on Kickstarter. While Kickstarter and crowdfunding is common for you and I, it is still something very new to a large portion of the population. If you are going to launch a product, you need to determine if your target audience uses crowdfunding and Kickstarter. If they don't, you have to educate them first about what is Crowdfunding, then you have to convince them to back your project and give you money. Something they probably aren't comfortable with.
John does a great job of highlighting these five attributes and how to build a great product for Kickstarter.
Host Richard Bliss discusses Live Kickstarter project Legends fo Novus with his guest, Bryan Rosander.
Bryan dug deep into the Kickstarter project and delivers some great analysis and feedback on ways for Legends of Novus to improve their message, format, and engagement.
In addition, Richard Bliss apologizes for the failure of follow through on the Funding the Dream Patreon project.
A Facebook Group has been created that discusses each episode. You can find it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2628612933820642/
Host Richard Bliss is joined by co-host, John Coveyou, to discuss 4 unexpected benefits from Kickstarter.
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Gauge demand before you manufacture.
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Improve your product based on customer feedback.
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Ship products with maximal efficiency.
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Tap into an audience you wouldn't be able to reach otherwise.
You do everything by the book. Follow all the advice, and yet you still fail to attract the numbers you need to successfully fund your Kickstarter campaign. These are the questions Wes Woodbury and I discuss. His project, Legends of Novus, has beautiful art work, great video, beautiful graphics, and an enticing theme, yet is still failing to draw a crowd.
The question I ask you, the audience, is WHY? What has Wes done wrong and how can he fix it. If you have an answer, I want to hear from you. I'll have you on the show to discuss Wes' campaign and how he can succeed.
Legends of Novus Kickstarter Campaign
Legends of Novus Website
Take a listen. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Mark Roderick explains the difference between equity-based and rewards-based crowdfunding.
Mark Roderick is a corporate and securities lawyer. Since the JOBS Act of 2012, Mark has spent all his time in the Crowdfunding space and is one of the leading Crowdfunding and Fintech lawyers in the United States. He writes a widely-read blog, www.CrowdfundAttny.com, with a wealth of legal and practical information for portals and issuers. Mark also speak at Crowdfunding events across the country, and represents industry participants across the country and around the world
I'm a big believer in the $1 pledge for any Kickstarter campaign. Alex Goldsmith and Grey Fox Games just wrapped up their Kickstarter campaign, War of the Worlds: The New Wave.
What Grey Fox Games did this time, was to create a $5 pledge in addition to the $1 pledge. 181 people took advantage and pledged at that level. I wanted to find out why and what Grey Fox Games hoped to learn from this experiment. Join Alex Goldsmith and I as we discuss the $5 pledge.
Daniel Zayas has launched numerous Kickstarter campaigns. He is listed on Kickstarter's page as one of the experts.
He and I discuss how to approach someone to promote your campaign. We discuss the time commitment it takes to run a campaign and the need to understand the numerous details like shipping and manufacturing.
Howard Tayler is creating great stories and great art. And he is publishing not one, but two new books in the Schlock Mercenary Universe.
In this episode we discuss the churn, and how Crowdfunding has been changing, continues to change, and what we see coming.
We discuss how Howard makes a living as a professional as a Web Cartoonist and how you give something away for free to make a living.
He shares the process of creating books and building a story over many years.
You can find his Kickstarter campaign here
Jamey Stegmaier has been writing about, talking about, and has been wildly successful on Kickstarter. Three years ago he walked away. As my guest, we discuss what it would take to bring him back and the way Kickstarter has changed over the years.
Jamey is the president of Stonemaier games. His Kickstarter projects have raised millions of dollars. Jamey is also the author of "A Crowdfunder’s Strategy Guide: Build a Better Business by Building Community"
His blog, Kickstarter Lessons, is considered one of the definitive sources for all things Kickstarter - You can find his blog at https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter/lessons/
Jamey has been on the show numerous times over the years and always brings a wealth of knowledge and perspective.
I share 5 keys to creating a successful LinkedIn profile. Not to get a job, but to make a first impression. In today's digital world, it is when I visit your LinkedIn profile that I find out who you are.
Use LinkedIn as a means of building your personal brand and to creating a favorable impression with those you wish to influence.
Over the past few years, Wotan Games has cycled through nearly 20 Interns from all over Europe. And has built up a reputation as a go-to experience for new recruits coming into the program. Laurence O'Brien, owner of Wotan Games, shares the success of his interns and the growth of his company. His latest Kickstarter, War of the 9 Realms, is made possible because of his Interns.
If you attend UK Expo, you will know Laurence and Wotan Games from the large Double-Decker bus they use as their booth at the convention. Unique and always entertaining, Laurence shares some wisdom on his success.
He also shares some thoughts on how to protect yourself against Exchange Rate disasters covered in Ep 285.
Brexit? US Election of Trump? Kickstarter campaign suddenly in jeopardy? Gino Brancazio and I discuss a cautionary tale of using Kickstarter across exchange rates. Gino is based in the UK and ran his Kickstarter campaign in English Pounds. But 90% of his expenses were in US Dollars. When Brexit happened the loss of the Pound to Dollar had Gino lose 9% of the value of his funding overnight. Then the US election dropped it another 10%. Suddenly, a project that had successfully funded was out of money.
What do you do at that point? Get creative. And short of selling cookies at a bake sale, Gino and team pull out all the stops to find the money and build a stronger tie with their fans. Great conversation
Cynthia Landon has successfully run 9 Kickstarter campaigns. Small and focused on her space, she delivers a great experience. But what you need to know is that she is in the business of making you more successful with your own board game Kickstarter campaign. Need custom meeples for your cool project. She can do it. With millions of pieces of inventory, she has perfected the ability to create customized experiences for your unique pieces to enhance your project. Don't believe me? Ask Jamey Stegmaier. He uses her company. Bonus Content Available On Patreon
How much money do you need to raise on Kickstarter? That depends. Where does the money go? Marc Specter takes the time to outline where he spent the majority of his money to publish his Kickstarter game. This is great advice for those who are running their Kickstarter campaigns as a hobby as well as those running it as a business. Make a mistake with the money and you may not be able to recover.
There is a flood of people offering Kickstarter advice. Some know what they are doing, but many do not. How to sift through the flood of offers you receive for creating, promoting, and running your Kickstarter campaign? Kickstarter now has certified experts. Daniel Zayas is listed as one of them. He shares some thoughts on how to become an expert, how to get listed, and what to be looking out for when launching a Kickstarter campaign. Great advice from an expert.
Your Kickstarter board game needs to be playtested. There's no better place to play test than an Unpub or Protospiel. But you can't just show up, sit down and expect to be successful. You have to prepare yourself to attend, prepare yourself to know what you want to learn. With this proper preparation, you will find success. Ed Baraf of Pencil First Games shares key ingredients to successful preparation.
JT Smith believes game convention can be made easy. He has launched a site called Tabletop.Events. The site delivers everything you need to know and do to launch your own game convention.
This is important to a lot of our listeners who are discovering the need to launch their own game conventions in their area. Whether you are in San Jose, California or Des Moines, Iowa. Being able to put together a local event can help you build your fan base and find new friends and contacts.
JT goes through the details of how Tabletop.events makes this easy. There are approximately 10 game conventions EVERY WEEKEND in the US. This is definitely something that has been needed.
Adam Clark created Kicktraq. Now he has built the premier platform for managing your Kickstarter campaign called Pledgemanager. From the smallest details for international shipping to keeping track of all the bits and pieces of your campaign add-ons.
And when the campaign is over, Pledgemanner allows your campaign to become an e-commerce site, allowing those who missed the campaign to still pledge after your Kickstarter campaign has ended.
Adam has contributed as much to the Kickstarter community as anyone. Take a listen and enjoy our conversation
Three things are necessary for Kickstarter Success.
1 Building the Audience - James tells us how
2 Professional Artists - You can't get by with amateur
3 Pre-marketing - You must invest time to build up to your campaign
James Hudson knows what he is talking about and identifies clearly those three things that you must do to be successful. Ignore his advice at your peril.
For first-time game designers, publishers, and designers. Curt Covert launched his company years ago and began publishing his own games focused on the "Stab-Your-Buddy" concept.
Curt's games have a focused theme that customers have come to expect. Now, after 14 games and years of success, he explains the decision to move to Kickstarter for future growth.
Space Goat Productions has released Evil Dead 2 and Terminator boardgames on Kickstarter.
How do you license someone's intellectual property? Space Goat Productions has been doing it a long time and they share some of the tips.
They also have a large stable of artists who they use on a multitude of board game projects.
Just because you've had tremendous success on Kickstarter does not mean it is time to quit your day job. Especially if you want to run a board game publishing company.
John Coveyou, of Genius Games, has raised $500,000 on Kickstarter, quit his day job, and discovered that cash flow is king and you can quickly get to the brink of financial ruin, even when you do everything right.
He shares his story of success as he went from engineer to board game publisher.
Jamey Stegmaier joins me on Funding the Dream to talk about staying in touch with fans and the community without using Kickstarter.
He has built a huge following with his generosity for sharing knowledge. Now, Jamey is using additional means to stay in touch with the community and allowing them to provide input and feedback.
Jamey and I take your questions and discuss trends as well as partnerships. As always, a great conversation.
James Ernest is launching his 10th Kickstarter campaign. His last project, Tak, raised $1.3 million dollars with more than 12,000 backers.
"If you aren't famous, find someone who is" - James Ernest
James shares a lot of insight and advice about how to be successful in the boardgame industry. One key piece of advice is to get yourself a solid business plan. And make sure your game is going to sell at least 5,000 copies over two years.
James designs games but sells product. Another big piece of advice for launching or running a successful game business. If you're doing a vanity project, make sure you understand what that means.
Take a listen. Plus, more than 10 minutes of extra bonus content for Patreon backers.
Devin Thorpe is a new-media journalist and founder of the Your Mark on the World Center, and has established himself as a champion of social good.
As a Forbes contributor, with 350 bylines and over one million unique visitors, he has become a recognized name in the social impact arena.
He was recently named one of the top 200 Philanthropists & Social Entrepreneurs in 2017.
I'm also pleased to call him a good friend and an inspiration to me as he puts his passion into changing the world and leaving a lasting mark.
Hunter Adams is an independent filmmaker with his movie currently available on itunes. It is called Dig Two Graves. A bit of a horror/suspense movie about having to pay a price to bring someone back we have lost.
Sounds like an interesting film. Hunter discusses the importance of building your fanbase to launch a film. It is nearly impossible to simply be found in the vast sea of new releases and noise.
This sounds very familiar to nearly every Kickstarter project owner who is wondering how they will get backers for their project.
Take and listen and go check out Hunter's movie.
Gloomhaven is one of the most success board game projects on Kickstarter. The creator, Isaac Childres, joins me for a second time on the show. The episode was recorded while the campaign was still live on Kickstarter.
I ask Isaac if he is even sleeping with the amount of energy and effort his project is requiring as he smashes through millions of dollars of funding and tens of thousands of backers.
We also discuss some of the unhappy people out there who may not like what they are seeing.
Thank you for all your support over the years. I wanted to take this opportunity to chat about some changes coming and about something called Participation Inequality and how it can impact your Kickstarter campaign and how you can use it to your advantage.
You are doing amazing work. This isn't easy and you are one of the few making it successful. Keep up the good work and join me for a short conversation.
Chris Clemmons is running a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for needed medical assistance. He and I discuss his decision to use the GoFundMe platform and what we can do to help.
We also discuss the difficulty of asking for money and its social stigma.
Help Chris out on his GoFundMe campaign "Save The GM from his damaged back"
The Circle paints a disturbing picture of the near future and the tracking of personal information. Steve Shillingford, CEO of Anonyme Labs, discusses three things you can do to help protect yourself online.
1 may surprise you. Your mobile number and how it is more precious than your social security number when it comes to protecting yourself.
Steve discusses steps to take to change your behavior and to protect yourself. His app, call sudoapp, allows the creation of email and mobile numbers that protect your real numbers. Well worth taking a look at sudoapp (dot) com
Peter Vaughan the Director of Development at Breaking Games. They sponsored Protospiel San Jose and were showing their prototype Rising Tribes, going live on Kickstarter in June.
Do you want to design or do you want to publish? It is very hard to do both and as a Kickstarter creator, you really need to determine what you want to do and what you are good at.
Jason Huffman failed on Kickstarter. But rather than be discouraged and give up, he stopped, reset his campaign, learned from the effort, and relaunched to success.
His company, Battle Hardened Games, makes war games with really great art. I was a backer of his project, 1750: Britain vs France, and wanted to have him on the show.
It is never easy failing in public. But he got back into the project and used that to find success. Jason has also been a great supporter of our Patreon project.
Gloomhaven is crushing it on Kickstarter. But not everyone is happy. Aldo Ghiozzi and I discuss the distribution channel and discounting.
Many retailers and distributors have vocalized their frustration with Gloomhaven apparently taking all their customers by having tens of thousands of backers buy the game on Kickstarter.
Is this a fair assessment? Aldo and I talk about it.
Also, who is going to pay $140 for a game? We discuss the increasing price of so many games and the apparent willingness of gamers to hand over the money.
Brian Henk from Overworld Games talks blind playtesting and how critical it is. We are at Protospiel San Jose and he is watching families sit down and play his game, Barker's Row, without him being able to explain anything or say anything.
Talk about a tough job.
We talk about making it in the board game industry and the success of his past Kickstarter games.
David Sanhueza launched three Kickstarter campaigns in order to fully fund a single project. First was the artwork, which then rolled into the main project, when then rolled into a campaign for stretch goals.
It is an interesting way to break up a funding campaign to fund small portions at a time and build exposure for your project.
We are live at Protospiel San Jose chatting about his strategy.
Michael Mindes has opened up his books and shared the inner finances of his game company, Tasty Minstrel Games. He has done this because he is selling equity in his company through crowdfunding platform Microventures.
We don't talk about his company, its revenue, or its products. Instead, we focus on the process and decision to take a small board game company and offer up equity as a reward instead of product.
The conversation is illuminating about what can and can't be talked about when choosing to use crowdfunding to raise equity.
Michael is always a great guest with an interesting take on what the future might hold for others.
Seth Hiatt had 39 successful Kickstarter projects when his 40th was suddenly rejected for consideration.
Mayday Games CEO joins as my guest to share great insights. No matter how experienced you may be, there are still details on every Kickstarter project that can trip you up.
Seth opens up about learning a valuable lessons, even after years of success. And he shares this in his blog at www (dot) blogs (dot) maydaygames (dot) com
Gloomhaven raised over $300,000 on Kickstarter and printed 10,000 copies of the game. Distribution had 2,200 copies for retailers but suddenly demand spiked at 25,000 copies.
Isaac Childres, creator of Gloomhaven and owner of Cephalofair games explains how a successful Kickstarter project brought it own set of challenges. He shares some secrets of what you should watch out for and lessons learned.
And how he is planning on meeting demand that is 10x higher than he anticipated. These are good problems to have.
If you want your game to live forever and keep sending you checks in the mail, you have to get into distribution. Kickstarter gives you a large cash infusion but has difficulty maintaining momentum.
Aldo Ghiozzi discusses how important distribution is. He works with retailers and distributors, including Target and Amazon, and shares insights into what it takes to get access to the distribution process for your Kickstarter game.
You may raise $100,000 on Kickstarter for your board game, but without proper playtesting, you won't raise it your second time.
There are common mistakes that new game designers make when creating a game. Proper playtesting can flush those problems out and help move your game from good to great.
Jeremy Commanduer has been running Protospiel San Jose for four years and discusses how the importance of these prototype conference are to the success of Kickstarter boardgames.
John has raised more than $500,000 for his games on Kickstarter. They are hard core science games. He teaches a crowdfunding course and game designer course at Webster University in St Louis.
Genius Games has found their niche, and now expands into children science books, raising more than $100,000 on Kickstarter on a product that many of us would find hard to believe there is that much interest.
John explains how finding your niche can bring lasting success to Kickstarter
Yes, they can steal your game. They can't steal your logo, or your rules, or the artwork for your project, but they can steal the game and create a ripoff of its mechanics. And there isn't much you can do about it.
My guest Zachary Strebeck discusses and explains why someone can steal your idea in board games.
Is the Kickstarter bubble about to burst for the game industry? How many games should you publish after your Kickstarter campaign ends? Aldo Ghiozzi of Impressions returns from the GAMA trade show and gives us a quick update on what he tells his clients. And we discuss the tsunami of games hitting the market.
Jamey Stegmaier discusses migrating his game conversations to Facebook and the reaction. He perceives Facebook Groups to be one of the best ways to share conversations about his games.
Some backers claimed Jamey was punishing them. We discuss.
Is it fair for an established business to use Kickstarter? This question is asked a lot. Small indie creators often feel squeezed by bigger companies with more resources using Kickstarter to raise funds.
We talk about why an established business would use Kickstarter and how Columbia Games has been successful with this practice.
And no, in my opinion, it doesn't squeeze out the little guy.
Jamie Stegmaier has become extremely successful with his Kickstarter projects. In our 20 minute conversation he shares what surprised him in his last campaign and how Kickstarter is changing.
He talks about his process that lays out his campaign for a day by day schedule. About building on the momentum of previous campaigns.
This is always the best 20 minutes you can invest for learning about what is going to make you successful on Kickstarter
How do you make a living giving away free content. Howard Tayler teaches us how he does it and secrets to being successful.
Why do people give you money? This question is the foundation for the Kickstarter economy and the new methods of tapping into a benevolent attitude among a segment of the population.
Howard takes the time to share how he has created different revenue streams allowing him to make a full-time living as a creative artist.
James Mathe is a returning guest and we discuss the surprising results of his Kickstarter backer survey. There is great insight into what backers are expecting from the changes in Kickstarter. The Survey can be found at www.jamesmathe.com
Deb Reed was a former Google attorney who quit her job to pursue a passion. Her project, Herbsack, is a radical change for her as she gave up her former life to do something she loves. Listen in as she and I discuss her journey to Kickstarter and the importance of following your dream.
The Top 3 Things Google Analytics Helps With Your Kickstarter Campaign. Larry Lembcke, Internet Marketing expert, outlines how Google Analytics can provide real-time metrics for visitors and backers to your Kickstarter campaign page.
This new functionality will dramatically change how you evaluate the success of your outbound awareness efforts.
20 minutes and you will be years smarter on how to be successful with Kickstarter.
http://www.spellforgegames.com/kickstarter-and-google-analytics-a-guide-for-kickstarter-campaigns/
James Mathe joins me to discuss the Love/Hate relationship between Kickstarter and Board Game Stores. This is a great discussion for any category dealing with retailers vs Kickstarter project creators.
Co-host Jamey Stegmaier joins Richard again for another episode of Funding the Dream. This week the duo compare Indiegogo and Kickstarter as well as discuss some of Kickstarter’s new shipping options.
Richard welcomes back Joey Vigour and his Kickstarter support group. This is a group of people who meet and discuss everything Kickstarter, offer each other advice and support, and generally encourage each other towards success. Richard explores their backgrounds and experiences as well as answers their questions.
Richard welcomes Matt Forbeck and Jeremy Mohler from Outlander Entertainment. They discuss the impact of Kickstarter on gaming, comics, and art. Matt and Jeremy worked together on the recently funded Shotgun & Sorcery Kickstarter.
http://outlandentertainment.com/ http://jeremymohler.com/ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1124066364/shotguns-and-sorcery-rpg
Richard welcomes back Matt Forbeck. Matt is a very successful author and designer. The pair discuss the details of writing and funding novels via Kickstarter. Marketing, budget, strategy, and more.
Richard sits down with Roy Morejon, president of Command Partners, full service digital marketing, advertising and public relations agency. They discuss how to market your crowdfunding campaign and continue to support it after you fund. Analytics, tools, SEO, and more.
Richard and co-host Jamey Stegmaier discuss how the “landscape” of Kickstarter is changing. New companies, many in the board game space, need to work smarter to gain visibility and funding for their projects. Supply, demand, distribution, and more.
Richard and co-host JT Smith discuss technology, crowdfunding, and early adopters. They dive into the early technology adoption cycle and how players like The Game Crafter and Kicktraq are changing the dynamic of the board game industry. That and more on this episode of Funding the Dream.
thegamecrafter.com
Katy and Zach from Knomad Colab and The Happy Couple Duo talk with Richard about the recent success of their unique Kickstarter. This is truly an example that anything is possible with Kickstarter. Listen to how Katy and Zach are lighting up America on episode 239.
http://www.knomadcolab.com/ http://www.thehappycoupleduo.com/
Eric has started a niche service editing board game rulebooks. Listen to his advice and tips as he discusses his experience with Richard on this episode of the podcast.
rulebookreview.weebly.com
Richard interviews Joey Vigour about the year leading up to his Kickstarter, Chaosmos. They discuss the importance of taking your time, building brand awareness, and being prepared.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ecc/chaosmos-as-the-universe-ends-the-hunt-begins
Richard talks with recently turned full-time game designer, Gregory Carslaw. They discuss psychology, 3DTotal publishing, the importance of art, game design, and more.
Richard talks with Jeremy Scheinberg and Chris Harden about their Kickstarter, Trobo: The Storytelling Robots. Lessons learned include thoughts on marketing, PR, Kickstarter fatigued, and social media management tools.
herecomestrobo.com
Richard and Jamey discuss the importance and pitfalls of social networking, debate social funding goals, and suggest several social network management tools.
Richard and Douglas Linn discuss the copyrights, patents, and trademarks at the heart of the Wizards of the Coast v. Cryptozoic Entertainment lawsuit.
http://www.quietspeculation.com/2014/05/understanding-the-wizards-v-hex-lawsuit-in-plain-english/
Richard and Jamey Stegmaier discuss the importance of giving honest feedback and techniques on how to do it effectively.
Richard interviews Lew Lefton, a mathematics faculty member and IT Director at Georgia Tech, on his Decatur Makers project. Listen in to learn how Kickstarter is creating opportunities for everyone through marker spaces.
Learn more about Lew here: http://decaturmakers.org/ Support his project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/120288702/decatur-makers-a-makerspace-for-tech-art-tools-com
JT, from The Game Crafter, is going to shock you with how far The Game Crafter has come in helping you run your Kickstarter campaign. From prototypes to fulfillment. You have to listen
Designing complex card games can be daunting. Larry breaks it down for us and explains why your Magic:The Gathering friends may be the best playtesters ever.
Brian and Clayton share their advice on overcoming three risks to any Kickstarter campaign
Card games the size of a pack of chewing gum. I've played them and they're great. A thousand Kickstarter backers seem to agree.
Chris and I discuss game design and building a Kickstarter campaign
Jamey and I share 9 things you can do on a daily basis to grow your Kickstarter fan base. List created from Seth Godin's blog on daily activities to engage with your tribe.
David Sanhueza had a successful campaign last year. This year he is using much of the same material to launch another one...with great success. Learn 3 ways to use your old campaign to launch your new one...and check out David's project on Kickstarter. Goblins Drool Fairies Rule Art book.
Our Sponsor, The Social Enterprise and Crowdfunding Conference, has made a discount code available to fans of the show. 30% off with the code DREAM. Here's the link to their conference secfc.co/dream
Jamey Stegmaier joins me as co-host as we discuss The Art of the Comment. How leaving comments is a great way to build a fan base and spread your brand. Jamey and I discuss how to go about using comments.
Howard Tayler makes a living being funny...every single day. His Schlock Mercenary web comic has been running 7 days a week since 2000 without missing a day.
He joins me on Funding the Dream to discuss the art of being funny without offending.
How long does it take to publish a game? Dan Yarrington, with Game Salute, explains why it has taken longer and longer with each successful Kickstarter campaign.
Sandra Tayler knows how to make a living on creativity. Here, she provides 7 ways to make room for creativity in your life.
This was great information for me and i know you will enjoy it.
Do you let it die or cancel? What do you change when you relaunch. Doug Levandowski shares what he did.
We gathered for a weekend of gaming in the mountains of North Carolina in a log cabin, cut off from civilization.
Listen in as we discuss the Kickstarter and board games. And you learn what everyone is drinking.
Forrest Bower had a project, took it to a convention, did NOT have a booth, and four days later had $10,000 in his Kickstarter campaign.
How did he do that? Listen and be inspired.
Chris Castagnetto used Game Salute to run his Kickstarter and fulfill his product. A year later, as the product is now shipping, Chris shares with us his experience.
Robert Burke and I discuss Through the Ages Kickstarter campaign that is an already existing product that is being pitched on Kickstarter.
Should this type of behavior be allowed?
Every Kickstarter campaign doesn't have to be big to be successful. Scott King joins me to discuss his fourth Kickstarter campaign and the success he has found doing the small ones.
Is it really fair for a big company to use Kickstarter. The argument is that they don't need the money and are squeezing out the little guy.
Let's talk with Robert Burke to find out what he thinks. I'm sure you already know what I think.
And don't forget to back our Patreon Campaign at www.patreon.com/richardbliss to show your love and support.
Jamey and I continue the discussion on the importance of momentum for your Kickstarter campaign. You can find Jamey's blog at www.stonemaiergames.com
Gary Ray successfully funded a new expansion for his retail game store. But he wasn't happy with the emotional rollercoaster that was his Kickstarter project.
Jonathan gets 1 to 2 pitches a day to review a Kickstarter campaign on Geek Dad. That is a lot. Here he shares some tips on how to improve your chances of getting noticed and getting coverage.
How important is momentum on Kickstarter? Jamey thinks it is very important as he and I talk about ways to get the momentum and keep it going.
My guest Harold Stewart wants to raise $25k for his Kickstarter project to launch his company. But he really doesn't have a crowd or fans.
I have him on the show to see it you really need a crowd before launching.
Jonathan Liu is Editor for Geek Dad and shares insights into getting your project in front of the media.
Image funding every day and every month. Patreon is a new platform that changes how you think about funding your project.
Fraud and lack of transparency is the dark side of crowdfunding. Charles Luzar shows what to look for as red flags using a project on IndieGoGo as an example.
Conrad is launching a film and shares his tactics for raising awareness for his project
There is one thing more important than anything else on your Kickstarter project. It isn't your video. Tyler James joins me to share the secret and how to NOT screw it up.
Peggy Northrop and Laura Fraser, co-founders of Shebooks, had a launch party for their Kickstarter campaign. I went and loved it. How important is Kickstarter for women wanting to enter the publishing space? Laura and Peggy tell you.
You're afraid to launch your Kickstarter campaign and I can tell you why. Jamey Stegmaier joins as co-host
Gary Ray returns as my guest sharing how he is using Kickstarter to build a second floor on his game store.
If Kickstarter was a publisher, it would rank only behind Marvel for most comics published. Tyler James from ComixTribe.com discusses the impact of Kickstarter on the comic book industry.
Gary Ray is the owner of Black Diamond Games in Concord, CA and joins Funding the Dream on Kickstarter to discuss the impact Kickstarter can have on the board game retail industry.
John Coveyou has indexed and documented every single episode of Funding the Dream on Kickstarter. We talk about his project on Kickstarter and his project for Funding the Dream
Jamey Stegmaier joins me as my co host and tells us how to build long term success on Kickstarter
Is the Kickstarter experience different in the UK than in the US? We speak with Paco about his success.
Using Kickstarter to expand your established business. That is what Cynthia Landon has done.
Kickstarter Exclusives - Good or Bad? Jamey Stegmaier, from Stonemaier Games, joins me as my co-host. Are Kickstarter exclusives good for your project? How about when they do long term damage to your brand? Jamey and I discuss how to go about choosing Kickstarter exclusives.
Uwe Eickert has a very successful board game company called Academy Games. He has launched successful Kickstarter projects, all with niche interests, but have done very well.His board game, Freedom: The Underground Railroad, has been a delicate topic, but extremely well received. Uwe tracks every aspect of his customer base. He invests in important tools to keep track of his most important asset, his customers.Take a listen and learn a lot. I always do.
I like to bring on a guest who is going through the steep learning curve of a first time Kickstarter Project. Bernhard Hamaker launched his project moments before we recorded the episode. We discuss how he got to this point and why he was wrong when he thought he was ready and months later felt the time was right.Japanese The Game is a project that teaches you to speak Japanese at the same time you are playing a card game. Well illustrated and meticulously researched, the project has shown signs of an early success.
I met Rich Karlgaard at an event where he encouraged me to write a book about Crowdfunding. He said it was going to save small business in America. Over the past year, Rich and I have continued to work together and correspond, and this topic continues be on both of our minds.As the Publisher for Forbes.com, Rich is involved with a wide range of people. Very successful people. He is writing a book, due out in April, called the Soft Edge. I realized that the insights I was gaining from my conversations with him should be shared with a much wider audience. Rich isn't going to teach you how to run a better Kickstarter campaign, but he is going to teach you some important business principals to help you AFTER you succeed on Kickstarter.
Jamey Stegmaier, co-found of Stonemaier Games and prolific blogger, joins as my co-host for our third episode together. In this episode we discuss how to build momentum for your Kickstarter project. You may have the best project but if no one sees it or is aware of it, you will fail to find backers. Jamey brings his expertise to the discussion to outline a method for building momentum and buzz.
Julie Hedlund is a multi-book author with a successful Kickstarter campaign. Her children's book, My Love for You is the Sun, is a illustrated children's book and she is using a hybrid model for publishing, turning to a traditional publisher.If you are thinking of doing your own book or project, listen to her advice about why you may want to look at a hybrid model.
Monty Singleton has a Kickstarter project called Ghosts N Goblins, but he also has a passion for sharing. As part of his campaign, he has launched a 20 days of 20 hours of tweeting to help promote his project.To stay that organized you need tools to make your job easier. Monty lays out the 10 tools he is using for his Kickstarter project and how he is maximizing their use. I love Monty's energy and enthusiasm. We also discuss how he went about getting my attention, which can give insights into my listeners who are looking for ways to get noticed.
My Co-host, Jamey Stegmaier from Stonemaier games, joins me again to talk about the impact that manufacturing can have on the Kickstarter project and shipping.Each and every add-on and stretch goal affects shipping. Project creators will often add on more stuff and create multiple versions of the product. Jamey argues that you should be focused on minimizing the number of variations and versions. This keeps the logistics simpler. DON'T DO T-SHIRTS is my advice. Jamey breaks down the difficulties of subtracting from the value of the core value of the product when you add to many extra things.Jamey is co-founder of Stonemaier games and you can find his blog and advice at www.stonemaiergames.com
Sandra Tayler is a children's book author and business partner in a successful artist focused company. Her and her spouse have built a successful business and life focused on the creation of art, while raising four children and paying the mortgage. Sandra's story is a fascinating glimpse into how you can thrive in today's sharing economy. Her project, The Strength of Wild Horses, is her second book and first Solo Kickstarter project. Her website is OneCobble.com
My co-host, Jamey Stegmaier joins me to discuss how to offer free international shipping for your Kickstarter Project. Shipping continues to be the toughest part of any Kickstarter project. Jamey shares how he does it. You can read about it on his blog at http://www.stonemaiergames.com/how-to-provide-free-shipping-worldwide-on-kickstarter-a-comprehensive-guide/
How do you create a podcast? My listeners have asked for some tips and advice on how to go about setting up a podcast. I address the fear of public speaking, finding guests, and setting up the equipment. If you are looking for expert advice, this is NOT it. But instead, I share how I've been able to create my podcast and the success it has had.Episode is inspired by a question from one of my listeners.
Two things do really well on Kickstarter: Zombies and Cthulhu. Zombies I understand but Cthulhu has me scratching my head. Hundreds of thousands of dollars has backed multiple Cthulhu projects. I have invited Dave Sokolowski (@sokolowskidave) to explain it all to me. And if you are interested, you can listen in.
Backers are always worth more than the money they provide for a project. Roger Hicks has created a Back it for a Buck campaign to help Kickstarter projects expand their base to backers willing to pledge a $1 dollar. Listen in as we discuss the strategy around this approach
Charles Luzar is Director of Crowdfundinsider.com as well as a member of the PR committee for the Crowdfunding Professional Association and a member of the CF 50, a Global Think Tank of Crowdfunding Industry Experts. We discuss equity-based crowdfunding and its role in the evolving world of Crowdfunding
Devin Thorpe is the author of the crowdfunding book, Your Mark on the World, and the host of the Social Enterprise & Crowdfunding Conference in Snowbird, UT. He joins me to discuss the coming changes in Equity-based crowdfunding as well as cause-based crowdfunding and how they differ from Kickstarter
Kickstarter and Table Top Gaming have a close relationship. Aldo Ghiozzi, Owner of Impressions, a Table Top Gaming Distribution company, discusses the impact of Kickstarter on the retails and distribution channels of board games and RPGs.He and I disagree on many points but always enjoy coming together to discuss.
Laurence O'Brien, the London Whisperer, returns to talk about Camelot: The Build and how old is becoming new and most of those old game designers from the 80s are still around. We have a fun time, come join us.
Hitting the Launch button on your Kickstarter campaign is usually the last thing you do in the long build up to your campaign. Jeremy Burnham shares the extensive prep that went into their launch of Stack & Attack, currently running on Kickstarter
Tracy Hickman joins me for Episode 161 of Funding the Dream on Kickstarter to discuss the importance of planning beyond the project. Your preparation leading up to your project launch must also take into consideration the bigger picture of what happens after you fund.
Every Kickstarter project faces a dip in the middle. It is the time between the beginning and the end where backers and money slow to a trickle. It is also the time when you have to decide to keep going or cancel the project.It is called the Dip and I discuss it in this episode of Funding the Dream on Kickstarter
This episode covers the 3 P's of Online Branding. We discuss how to become famous and to build your personal brand. Just you and I talking about to use Social Media to build up your identity. And of course, how it helps your Kickstarter campaign
There is a lot of preparation for a Kickstarter campaign. But even when you think you are ready, you still may not be. Nick and Nicole Fink talk about their project and the unexpected delay days before their planned launch.
Funding the Dream returning guest, Jamey Stegmaier, co-owner of Stonemaier Games, joins me to discuss finding success on Kickstarter. We talk about building a fan base and the amount of time and work to be successful with attracting your fans.
For this episode I reach out into the Twitterverse to randomly connect with a fan of the show and a Kickstarter game designer, Tim Duong. We discuss Game Crafter, the process of getting your prototypes made, and the process of testing a game.
Chuck Lawton is a contributor to GeekDad.com. He recently wrote an article called "Kickstarter is Broken and it's all our fault". I invited Chuck to come on the show to talk about how Kickstarter is changing, the impact it is having on industries, and whether or not he thinks it is really broken.
Phil Kilcrease is an experienced Kickstarter Project owner. He shares with us his advice about making changes to a successful campaign to make it a little better. I also share sources of where to go to get Kickstarter advice.
Kevin used local manufacturing and a creative idea to bring his Bocce Dice game to market. Listen in as he and I discuss his journey that has made it easy for him to deliver a simple idea.
Does Kickstarter help or hurt the local hobby game store. The debate is still out there. I'm joined by Phil Kilcrease from Game Night Games to talk about how their store embraces the Kickstarter movement.
Alys and Victoria set about designing a board game around dating. With Newpaper and TV coverage, they have generated a lot of interest in a board game called Landing Mr Right. They refer to it as Therapy in a Box for mature women who find themselves in the dating scene.
How do you find more backers? This is the single most frequent question I'm asked. You do it with the 3 Ps of Online Marketing. Join me for my 150th Episode of Funding the Dream as I discuss what you need to do to find more fans and build your online identity with the 3 Ps
Jarek Smith has created a service to review and video blog about prototype board games. This is needed because many reviewers won't take a look at a game until it is ready or near-ready for publishing.I've invited Jarek on the show to talk about his service and how it helps fledgling board game designers
Is Kickstarter bad for business for Local Game Stores. Some argue that Kickstarter is a pre-order system that robs customers from the Local Game stores. My guest, Josh Githens, co-owner of Boardwalk in Greenville, SC discusses the impact Kickstarter has had on his store.
Devin Thorpe is a Forbes Contributor blogging, writing, and speaking about Crowdfunding for Social Good. Using Crowdfunding to bring meaningful change to the world. He has recently written a book called, Crowdfunding for Social Good: Financing Your Mark on the World. Devin shares with us the many different methods to raise money for causes and non-profits through other platforms than Kickstarter.
Doug Morse joins us again to discuss successful tactics to deploy when in the middle of your campaign. His campaign, Adventures on the Tabletop documentary, successfully funded and he shares his insights.
Three professors, Anindya Ghose, Sunil Wattal, and Gord Burtch, have written a research paper that can be found on SSRN that covers the topic of Crowdfunding.A conversation about the counter intuitive ideas that come from studying crowdfunding
Doug Morse is a professional film maker AND he likes board games. Those two passions come together for Adventures on the Tabletop, his documentary about the board game industry. Great conversation with a lot of insights.
Erick Vallejos has been a Literary Journalism student at UC-Irvine for the past five years. He approached me a year ago for a radio interview on Crowdfunding and Kickstarter. He graduates this month and we take a few minutes to discuss how Crowdfunding and Kickstarter have changed over the past year since we met.
Some call them Frankenstein plants, but Antony Evans and his team are attempting to combine the DNA from glowing bugs with plants to provide natural light. It sounds crazy and awesome and with ~$500,000 in funding on Kickstarter they have a good shot at showing us how it is done.Take a listen as we visit the future.
Autumn McAlpin took 42 days to create a film and raise money on IndieGoGo. Actors, writers, directors, and other crew all came together in record time. She is my guest and talks about how IndieGoGo made it possible for her to create her film in such a short amount of time.
Mark MacKinnon has been in the board game industry a long time. When his first attempt at launching a Kickstarter project wasn't doing well, he cancelled, adjusted, and relaunched. He discusses the process behind this and why he did it.Mark MacKinnon is with Dyskami Publishing Company.
Does it matter when you fund your Kickstarter project? You bet it does. Take a listen as we discuss the challenges that you face when it comes tax time and you have a Kickstarter project about ready to fund.My guest is John Skeen, CPA and we talk Taxes and KickstarterAnd a surprise visit from Catan Official Gaming Board creator.
Patrick Nickell and I share an open discussion about the delicate nature of handling a partnership that decides to split. He talks about his and I talk about mine. Kickstarter and the unintended consequences of partnerships that don't last.Oh, and a special guest appearance by Lia Bliss. Yes, she is related.
Ali was just on the show as a guest and comes back in one of our special sponsor slots to talk about her final hours as the project winds down on IndieGoGo. Also, you get to hear some of her fantastic music.Her project is Power Hour Victory Tour on IndieGoGo
Days of Wonder is an established board game and video game company. They have very good reasons for everything they do, including launching then canceling, then relaunching their Small World 2 game on Kickstarter. Listen in as Mark Kaufmann, VP of Marketing, discusses their reasoning and shares great insight into doing both video and board games.
Ali Spagnola is a talented artist and a fighter. When she was hit with a lawsuit to stop performing and selling her own music, she fought back, and won. Now she is funding a victory tour to celebrate the three year legal battle.
Jonathan Liu, writer for GeekDad on Wired.com, is my guest as we discuss his Kicking Back program. The idea of giving to the Kickstarter community as a backer BEFORE you become a project owner. It is an interesting conversation as we chat with Jonathan about this and his Emperor's New Clothes project
This is a special edition episode as Zombie House Blitz wraps up with still 82% to go. We take a few minutes to check in with Jeremiah Lee to see how he's holding up.
Since Torn Armor launched as a Kickstarter project, it followed the traditional trajectory of lots of funding activity early then a steep drop off. But then they made an adjustment and pulled out of the dive, trending upward for the rest of their campaign. Listen in as I speak with Alyssa Faden about the creation of Torn Armor on Kickstarter
I love to shoot video and David Basulto has just made it that much easier. Using an iPad Mini and his very cool iOgrapher, you can be decked out like the pros. David shares with us the secrets of filming and the excitement of teaching kids about the new opportunities that all this technology provides.
Drew Tablak sings, dances, and plays instruments while riding a bike as one of Disney's Dapper Dan's. He has created a Kickstarter page as a way of connecting with his fans and shares with us how it is to be a Disney cast member and feel that connection with fans.His Kickstarter page can be found as Drew Tablak
Two guys in Shanghai decided to fight back against the Empire's efforts to Kickstart a Death Star. They are our last best hope. Join me as we talk to Simon Kwan and Ed Dean who launched the Rebel X-Wing Kickstarter project. Join the rebellion against the Empire.
Kickstarter and Crowdfunding are changing everything they touch. Industries and markets are being turned upside down. The gatekeepers of the past are being replaced by people with a dream connecting directly to people who share that dream. Join me in my discussion about what this means to all of us.
A Kickstarter project that is a game. Not a Kickstarter project to make a game but the project itself is part of the game. Hidden clues, small signs, all leading up to the funding of the project called A Maze of Games with Michael Selinker. You have never seen anything like this
Michael Mindes has his 8th Kickstarter project currently on running. He provides advice and insight into what is more important, a lot of backers or a lot of money.Listen in as he lets us in on his secrets
Kickstarter Project owner successfully funds $35,000 and then announces the project won't get delivered, pocketing the money. What do you do? If you are Neil Singh, you sue.Neil discusses the circumstances leading up to his suing the project owner who failed to deliver what was promised. This is a great interview that covers topics every Kickstarter owner needs to think about.
Scott Pfeiffer answers a quick question about Kickstarter and Non-profits and our guest is Dana Lombardy, creating a book of the military campaigns of Ulysses S. Grant on Kickstarter. We record live from Dundracon
On-site discussion with a board game store owner. Kickstarter continues to have huge involvement from Boardgamers. 36 new tabletop games this week alone. We sit down with Josh Githens, owner of Boardwalk, and tabletop game store in Greenville, SC to discuss what makes a good store, the game industry and Kickstarter
Jeremiah Lee struck gold with his first game called Zombie in my Pocket. He now returns with Zombie House Blitz. I have a conversation about finding success twice and the challenges of designing a great game.
No one likes to fail. But one good failure can teach us more than a dozen successes. Michael Keller generously rejoins the podcast to discuss what went wrong with his very successful board game, City Hall. His Kickstarter project failed to catch on and he sheds light on lessons learned.
My most frequent and popular guest, Howard Tayler, discusses his own Kickstarter project for Schlock Mercenary Challenge Coins. Great advice for setting the value of your project. Listen and be inspired.
How to reach out to the media to maximize exposure for your Kickstarter project and how to use Facebook to create demand outside the project. Jamey knows his stuff and after this podcast you are going to be a lot smarter about how to launch a successful Kickstarter project.
Compounded is a board game from Dice Hate Me Games created by Darrell Louder for UnPub 1. It has attracted nearly 2,000 backers and $100,000 in funding. We speak with Darrell about how he found himself with a hit game on his hands.
Oogave co-founder , Gannon Merrell, joins me to discuss using crowdfunding platform IndiGoGo to try to save his company. This is an open and frank conversation about using Crowdfunding to rally your fans when things get dire. We appreciate Gannon sharing with us his experience.
Why retailers should care about Kickstarter board games. Josh Githens, co-owner of Boardwalk the Game store in Greenville SC, sits down to discuss how he runs his game store and why Kickstarter is important to retailers.
Raising $20,000 an hour in the last 10 hours of his campaign, Ryan Dancey with Goblinworks successfully funded over $1 million for the new Pathfinder Online MMO. Ryan shares some of his insights into raising so much money is such a short amount of time.
Who has heard of a money back guarantee for Kickstarter. Jamey Stegmaier thought it was a good idea. He raised $60,000 for his first time project. Listen in on some of his other innovative ideas for your next Kickstarter project
Story Realms was a very successful Kickstarter Project. Then, right before they went to print they received a notice of a possible trademark violation. Faced with a lengthy court battle, they had to rename the product. Listen in as Angie Hickman Newnham shares her horror story.
If you have a game idea then you need to be listening to John Moller talk about UnPub 3. His UnPublished Games Convention is destined to be one of the biggest new Cons in the near future and you need to be a part of it. Take a listen as John talks about how you can get your unpublished game playtested and reviewed.
Crowdfunding can do amazing thing, even change the world. Jim Fullalove from therefore.com in the UK joins me to discuss the Gravity Light. Launched on IndieGoGo and successfully funded with $400,000.Join our discussion as Jim talks about how Crowdfunding affects what is possible.
Michael Lee is the Co-Founder of Panda Games. Panda Games is the number manufacturer of Kickstarter board games. Learn some secrets to getting your board game through the manufacturing process as easy and quickly as possible. Plus a few bonus ideas for your next Kickstarter board game project.
Michael is the founder of Social Media Examiner and is an absolute expert on making social media work for you. He shares some tips and insights on how to maximize social media for your Kickstarter campaign and find success.
Every successful Kickstarter project tells a story. And the most successful are stories with a carefully crafted message. Rose Spinelli and I discuss how to create a message that resonates with your backers and fans to help them become excited and back your Kickstarter project.
Robert Burke is on his fourth successful Kickstarter project. Kickstarter has changed his life. Now, when he has an idea, instead of it getting buried in the "Good Idea" bin, he instead puts it into the "Kickstarter Ideas" bin and begins the launch process.Come listen in as Robert and I talk about turning the launching of your great ideas into a Kickstarter Habit
Setting price is one of the most difficult of tasks and can make or break your game company. Uwe Eickert, CEO of Academy Games, joins us again to go into details about how to determine the best pricing for your board game as a Kickstarter project or retail store product.
Dreamquest Games Creative Director, Christopher Williamson, joins me to discuss the massive amounts of coverage they have received for FAILING their Alpha Colony Kickstarter project. Lots of projects fail, but seldom do they fail by $28 after raising nearly $50,000. Take a listen as Christopher and I discuss the thoughts behind the process.
If you are in the board game business, there has been a lot of discussion about why an established company should or should not be using Kickstarter. Uwe Eickert, a very savvy businessman, and owner of Academy Games, spells it out clearly why Kickstarter is such a boon to established board game companies, not just the little guys.
Michael has had success with designing a game and having a publisher put it on Kickstarter. Now he is using the new UK Kickstarter portal to publish his own game called Keep Running
Condiment Cards Kickstarter Video made me laugh out loud. It was simple, without voice or sound. And I think it is very effective. Come listen to Sheldon and Jeff discuss their project and how easy it was for them to create a video.
Valley Games dominated Kickstarter in 2012 with D-Day Dice. Now they are back again with Up Front. But all is not without controversy. Come listen to Torben Sherwood discuss the Valley Games and the challenges ahead.
Cammon Randle and I have launched the Crowdfunding Academy to help people learn how to navigate Crowdfunding and Kickstarter.Take a listen and be sure to sign up for a 1 year membership for the Crowdfunding Academy at www.crowdfundthedream.com
Any successful Kickstarter project takes planning and organization, something Michael Keller excels at. But even that kind of planning can't overcome Hurricane Sandy. Michael Keller speaks about some of the challenges of launching City Hall, his Kickstarter game project in the face of outside forces.
David Brin has been writing about crowds and their impact on society for decades. He is a prolific author of hard science fiction and non-fiction. He joins me on Funding the Dream to talk about the battle going on in our society of the idea that crowds can make smart decisions for society. A perfect topic that ties into Kickstarter and its impact on the markets it touches.
Jonathan Liu has the dream job. He writes for Geek Dad covering the board gaming space. How cool is that? Jonathan joins me on the show to talk about resisting the Kickstarter urge to back all the great game projects.
Bill Trammel and Nate Veldcamp had a crazy idea around 1am early morning after playing a long game of Settlers of Catan. The creation of a Catan board to take your Catan game anywhere. Bill and Nate join me to discuss how they struck gold with their idea to create an official Settlers of Catan gaming board and how it became a success on Kickstarter
Starlit Citadel Reviews is an IndieGoGo project by Kaja Sadowski and Joanna Gaskell. Their show is a great gamer resource for anyone in the world. They are located in Vancouver BC Canada and talk about IndieGoGo and their ongoing success using the platform
Monte Cook has literally written the book on Role Playing Games. It wasn't a surprise to anyone that his latest RPG project did well on Kickstarter. The fact that it did more than a $500,000 for a unreleased RPG was a surprise.Monte joins me on the show to talk about RPGs, Kickstarter, and the energy that is happening in the RPG market.
Learn 3 new techniques for finding more backers for your Kickstarter campaign. Adam Danielski joins me to discuss three strategies for marketing your Kickstarter campaign to get more backers.
Paco Garcia Jaen, the creative mind behind GMS Magazine, sits down to discuss his recent project on IndieGoGo. There are important differences between IndieGoGo and Kickstarter, and Paco shares with us how IndieGoGo worked well for his raising funds for Spiel in Essen.
Kickstarter gives you up to 60 days to fund your project. Common sense would seem to say that taking the full 60 days, giving you as much time as possible to fund, is the smart move. Adam Danielski is here to tell you why that belief is wrong and can end up demoralizing you and your project.Listen in as he shares four key takeaways from his successful but painful Kickstarter project. Longer isn't always better
Three weeks after launching their Kickstarter project, we check in with my two favorite Brits to see how things are going and to get a sense of how nerve-racking it can be to have a project creeping up on the funding goal. Their project is down to less than 40 hours and less than $300. We see if they are going to make it.
Sue Shanahon is a talented author and illustrator. Her appearance on Oprah was recognition for those talents and her ability to capture the likeness of a person in her work. Sue speaks with us as she goes from zero knowledge to launching a Kickstarter project to bring one of her books to the iPad.
Break from Reality Games just released Disaster Looms. Eric Slayers, president of Break from Reality Games sits down to discuss the challenges of printing in the USA for board games. Their are pros and their are cons and he touches on each.
Alex Wilson's Time of Reflection Illustrated story won the prestigious Eagle Award at London Comic-con this year. His project, to print his illustrated book here in the US funded and he shares with us some of the challenges of getting a project printed.
Kim Vandenbroucke is a professional blogger and game inventor. No, I'm serious, she does this for a living...and she is very good at it. She joins me to talk about the Toy and Game Inventors conference in Chicago. www.tandgcon.com is the perfect place to make all the contacts you need if you want to get your game into the market.
Kickstarter is having an impact in the Graphic Novel space. Tim Kenyon discusses the journey necessary to get your Graphic Novel up on Kickstarter and published.
Meet Cengiz Dervis, a real life Martial-Arts Expert and Weapons Master who has written a gritty Graphic Novel. Laurence O'Brien, the London Whisperer joins me as we discuss how to launch a Kickstarter campaign if you are British and how Cengiz Dervis has a very cool Kickstarter project.
Tom Vasal and I don't see eye to eye on everything. But especially on Kickstarter. We both see the Kickstarter impact from different sides and have a healthy discussion about that. Join Tom Vasal and myself as we discuss the impact of Kickstarter in the board game space
Steve Snoey has created a Kickstarter campaign that crosses games and film. Take a lesson as we discuss the impact of Kickstarter on these two industries
Nearly every board game project on Kickstarter has to address the issue of how to get their board game into game stores and how many copies to print. Aldo Ghiozzi, CEO of Impessions, sits down to talk the numbers and how many copies does an average board game sell.
Story Realms game co-designer Angie Hickman shares with us how she and her business partner, Julian Leiberan-Titus, used social media and specifically Twitter, to grow their fan base from nearly zero to a size able to successfully fund a new board game. Angie's insights into how to manage your social networking and how it is about participating in the community that is much more important than simply trying to sell a product.
Seven years is a long time to do anything, but it is a very long time to host a show about board games. The Spiel has become The Show...Audio, Video, and Film...for the board game community. I sit down with Stephen Conway, creator and co-host of The Spiel to talk about the industry and their Kickstarter campaign.
Crowdfund your Indie film into your local theater. Create virtual film festivals through your local cinema. Learn how Nicolas Gonda has created a process to crowdfund movies and films screenings.
Chris and Cherilyn Kirkman discuss how to be successful on Kickstarter. The secret is a lot of hard work and good product. They discuss their success with their three Kickstarter projects and the changes happening on Kickstarter
Imagine having a Star Trek Replicator in your own home. Okay, maybe we aren't that far, but 3D printers have come a long way to being a household item. Matt Strong sits down to discuss 3D Printers and Open Source and his project called Tangi-Bot.A 3D printer in every home.
Michael Laine wants to use Kickstarter to reach the stars. His project is the initial phase of a process to build a space elevator on the moon and then on Earth. His project is fascinating and electrifying.
Matt Forbeck is making a living on Kickstarter. In 2012 he has launched 4 Kickstarter projects to write 12 novels. And as his fourth project wraps up, he has demonstrated that Kickstarter can be a solid part of a business plan to make a living.
Our first stop of the road trip across America was in Ontario California as we spoke with Ta-Te Wu and his project Battle of Red Cliffs
Jason Kotarski, a Pastor in Flint, MI, decided to create a game he could enjoy with his wife. His process of finding a publishers proved to be a more daunting task than he anticipated.
If you have run a Kickstarter project, you are probably aware of the point when you realize that you have offered a reward that is costing you more than the pledge level...and it usually involves Dice.I sit down with Tracy Barnett to discuss the planning and preparation of a project and how Dice can come back to bite you if you don't pay attention.
Kickstarter is changing nearly every category it touches. Tyler James, from Comix Tribe, discusses how Kickstarter is affecting the Comic Book industry and how his organizations is working with the new market dynamics.
Every project experiences the same thing; After the initial launch and enthusiasm the mid project blues set in. Things seem to drag on slowly. We sit down with Robert Harrington to discuss his project and the ways he has found to overcome this mid project downturn.
Marquis and Lucas from Uniforge talk about the steps to launch Top This, the Pizza Flicking Game
PhD Student Michael Greenberg from Northwestern University joins me to talk about his PhD project on crowd funding. A fascinating discussion on Kickstarter and the dynamics of social crowd funding.
Alien Frontiers was a top 10 Kickstarter board game in 2010 and Alien Frontiers Faction was a Top 10 Kickstarter board game in 2011. Now in 2012 the iPad version is making its debut on Kickstarter. I sit down with Clint Herron, the game designer, as we discuss the challenges facing developers who want their projects to be sold through the Apple store.
Patrick Nickell from Crash Games joins me to talk about lessons learned from a first Kickstarter campaign and how it has been applied to Legend of the Lost Dutchman Mine.
How to print your game in the USA. Eric Salyers talks about his efforts to find a cost effective way to get his game, Disaster Looms, printed in the USA.
Gary Tyrrell from Fleen.com describes himself as a pseudo webcomic journalist, a hack, and a blogmonger. I found him to be entertaining and informative, especially since we both got to talk about Kickstarter projects in the game and webcomic spaces.
He appeared on Shark Tank with his Recyclable Tennis Shoe idea called Remyxx and then launched his Kickstarter campaign to coincide with the broadcast. Gary Gagnon shares his experience of bringing his Kickstarter project to life through massive amounts of PR.
Seth Godin is a guest on Funding the Dream on Kickstarter and shares his thoughts and ideas on the power of Kickstarter and the success of his own project, The Icarus Deception.
The London Whisperer sits down with Michael Fox live in LONDON to talk about the creation of Ace of Spies. The episode is recorded a few hours before the Ace of Spies Kickstarter project ends.
Traveller 5 Ultimate edition with Marc Miller. Traveller showing that the old dogs still have plenty of bite. Marc Miller, creator of Traveller checks in to talk about Kickstarter and its impact on bring the creator and the fan in touch.
Zombicide and Sedition Wars have raised over $1 million dollars for CoolMiniOrNot in just the past six weeks on Kickstarter. I sit down with David Doust, co-founder of CoolMiniOrNot and talk about their success and how they find themselves with two spectacularly successful Kickstarter Campaigns.
David Sanhueza joins me on Funding the Dream to discuss the unique approach to his Kickstarter campaign called Goblin's Drool Fairies Rule.
AJ and I sit down to discuss our differences of opinion on the board game distribution process.
If at first you don't succeed, relaunch. Holiday Wars creator Scott King shares with us what he did to relaunch his project to success.
Dan Yarrington joins me on Funding the Dream to talk about Game Salute's approach to working with successful game projects on Kickstarter
Early in the launch of Ogre on Kickstarter, I sat down with Steve Jackson and had a discussion about his hopes for his project Ogre and what he thought of Kickstarter.
The London Whisperer hosts this episode of Funding the Dream on Kickstarter and talks to the founders of Albino Dragon and the names behind Mr White.
First time game designer, Brian Lews and Gozer Games sit down with the Game Whisperer to talk about how to find success on Kickstarter. Sometimes all it takes is a random meeting and a touch of passion.
Welcome to the 50th Episode of Funding the Dream on Kickstarter. This episode is just you and me talking about the state of the industry and the tsunami that is coming. The board game industry system is broken and a tsunami is coming that is going to sweep it all away. Take a listen
In this episode we have Phil Kilcrease and Grant Rodiek return to discuss the success they had with Farmageddon and what led to their success. Great lessons learned about things that work and things that don't work in a Kickstarter project.
Jon Karis knows miniatures. He has been collecting 60mm figures for a decade and has a very large collection. He launched his Kickstarter campaign to create his own line and his campaign was a success, with over $16,000 in funding. Then, with less than five minutes left on his campaign, with his project well beyond his funding goal, he pulled the plug. He cancelled with 3 minutes to go. Why would he do this? There is a powerful lesson to be learned and Jon shares it with us on this episode.
Imagine asking for nearly $1 million dollars for a project on Kickstarter and having your fans give you double that number. That is the reality that Brian Fargo is living in at the moment with his Kickstarter project, Wasteland 2. He talks with us about funding his dream of 20 years and his desire to Kick it Forward
Cards Against Humanity was one of the top board game Kickstarter projects in 2011. It raised $15k in January of 2011, a lot back then but now a modest success in the current environment. But Max and team chose to make Cards Against Humanity available only through Amazon, a decision that now has their product listing as one of the top sellers in Amazon's Toy and Game section. Max talks about the process of having a game move from a Kickstarter success to a Amazon.com best seller.
Each Kickstarter owner dreams of seeing their project reach its funding goal so that they can begin to fund their project. But all pledge money is not equal. You need to look at your Worst-case success and plan for the cost of raising funds on Kickstarter.Fred Hicks from Evil Hat Productions shares with us his views about the importance of planning for your worst-case success
I recently presented a Kickstarter workshop at ConquestSAC in Sacramento. There I met Sarah Palmero who I invited to come on the show to talk about her Kickstarter project, Dragon Undone.In addition, I sat down and interviewed the mother of the designers of Pizza Theory, a recent Kickstarter success.
Guest Host Laurence O'Brien sits down with our mystery guest to discuss their latest kickstarter project. Topics range from funding levels, rewards, stretch goals, and the humbling experience of being supported by a community.
John Skeen answers a quick Kickstarter Tax question about Hobby vs Inc. I'm playing Cartoona at my house and losing regularly to my 6 year old. Kickstarter board game projects cross $1 million in funding for 2012. And we sit down with the Fleet creators to talk about how they ended up on Kickstarter.
Tracy is best known as the co-author of the Dragonlance series. He is an International and New York Times Best Selling Author. Tracy has been involved in the game industry for decades and shares his insights on how Kickstarter is changing the relationship between artist and fan.Join us for 20 minutes of great discussion on how to fund your dream with Kickstarter
In the first six weeks of 2012, RPGs represented more than 1/3 of all successful Kickstarter game projects. RPGs successfully raised more than $100,000 in funding. I sit down with Peter Adkison, Owner of Gen Con and former CEO of Wizards of the Coast. We discuss the new energy in the RPG market as well as the impact Kickstarter is having on RPGs.Peter also talks about going back to school to pursue a new passion, film making. He even announces a future Kickstarter project filming legendary RPG creators playing their games on film.This is a fun interview because Peter is a fun guy. Have a listen and enjoy.
The Presidential Game holds the distinction of being the board game with the largest initial request for funding and still successfully funding. They started off asking for $35,000. With an extremely unique approach they are a hair-breath away from reaching their funding goal. Listen in as they share their old school way of getting out the votes.
Scott Pfeiffer, an attorney with Pfeiffer, Gleaton, Wyatt, & Hewitt, discusses the legal issues surrounding Kickstarter and why some of the rules are in place concerning funding and pledges. Also discussed are some of the issues to be aware of concerning copywrite, trademarks, and other legal issues to protect your ideas.
Kickstarter & Taxes. We become so thrilled with the idea of raising the money that we sometimes may overlook the reality of dealing with the taxes and business side of Kickstarter.CPA John Skeen chats with us about the things to think about as a new small business flush with cash from a successful Kickstarter campaign.Also, don't forget to vote (once a day) for Funding the Dream for the Social Media Reader's Choice award of 2011.Vote here http://bit.ly/AboutGM
Kickstarter has poured more than $2 million dollars of funding into the board game industry in the past year. Normally this would be seen as a tremendous benefit to the market, the industry, and the consumers. But there is a segment of the board game hobby that is taking the position that Kickstarter is bad for the industry.I have invited Chris Norwood, who writes at gamerchris.com, to come on the show and discuss this interesting position. He has written extensively about this position, taking a strong stand against those who would claim harm from Kickstarter.The conversation is interesting and worth listening.Enjoy!
Richard Borg has been successfully designing board games for 27 years. His first game won the Spiel des Jahres award, allowing him to quick his job of after 25 years and become a full-time game designer. He has contented to be successful and prolific, winning numerous game awards.Richard joins me to talk about making a living as a game designer and the excitement that Kickstarter brings to those wanting to design their own games.
The Midas couple is what I call them. Dice Hate Me Chris and Cherilyn sit down to talk about their success on Kickstarter with VivaJava as well as the changes that have occurred in the Kickstarter community since August of 2011 when they launched their first project, Carnival.We cover a wide range of topics concerning Kickstarter, including what the future holds and how Kickstarter is affecting the hobby game industry.Don't forget to back our own Kickstarter project, Funding the Dream, at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/richardbliss/funding-the-dream-podcast?ref=live
You think you want to make a living inventing board games? Let me introduce you to Kim Vandenbroucke who has the envious job of doing just that. She has become so prolific as a game designer, sometimes she develops one new game concept a day.Listen in as we chat about the challenges of getting a game published, the amount of effort and work that goes into game design, and how she came to be an award winning game designer.
I sit down at Dundracon with Aldo Giozzi from Impressions and talk about how to get your Kickstarter game on to store shelves. Aldo has been in the business for many years and spends his full time as a distributor for the board game industry. Some of his clients include the wildly successful Order of the Stick
Cindy Au is the Community Director for Kickstarter. She has been with Kickstarter for two years and shares some of her background with the company. She also talks about the impact the board game community has had on Kickstarter themselves.Don't forget to become a backer of Funding the Dream Kickstarter campaign http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/richardbliss/funding-the-dream-podcast?ref=live
This episode is recorded live at the New York Toy Fair. We chat with Indie Board and Games, Stratus Games, and PSI about the show and Kickstarter.
We sit down in the studio with Erik Dahlman, creator of Genegrafter, to discuss how he arrived at the position of having a successful game on Kickstarter.
Lorien Green had a crazy idea. She decided she wanted to produce a film documentary on the board game industry. She begged her family for a video camera for Christmas, and then, without any formal training, set off on a 3 year adventure to document the board game industry.Lorien sits down with The Game Whisperer and talks about this journey. What prompted her to do it. How she paid for it, and how the $15,000 she raised on Kickstarter made it possible for her to bring the project to a new level.
Farmageddon, the game designed by Grant Rodiek and Phil Kilcrease from game publisher of Fifth Street Games, talk about their new Kickstarter campaign. Listen to Grant and Phil discuss how they brought the game to market and how Kickstarter is changing the expectations game designers can have on how fast their designs can expect to come to market.
Hero Games is finding success on Kickstarter with their latest project, Book of the Empress. Steven Long, co-owner of Hero Games, sits down with us to discuss the process of bringing an RPG to life on Kickstarter
Michael Mindes and I sit down to discuss their latest approach to finding success on Kickstarter with For the Win. Michael has some interesting ideas and insights on how to be successful on Kickstarter.
In Ep 24 we chat with Mark Baker, creator of 5 to Close, a word lover card game. Mark brings an interesting insight to his Kickstarter experience. He read about Kickstarter, looked at their website, and launched his campaign all within a few weeks. For 20 minutes we talk about the full experience of Kickstarter to someone new to the market
What success does Kickstarter hold for game projects in 2012? Listen to Richard Bliss and Laurence O'brien as we cover the trends emerging for Kickstarter game projects in 2012.
Howard Tayler from Schlock Mercenary spends 20 minutes with us talking about the changes in attitude and expectations concerning Kickstarter now that his project has set a record as the #2 All-time highest funded board game project on Kickstarter
Getting the money for your Kickstarter project is a major step. Getting your game onto game store shelves is the ultimate goal. Dan Yarrington, founder of Game Salute, talks about helping successfully funded Kickstarter projects get their games into the retail channel and on store shelves.
Kickstarter sent out a document that shows how they raised $99 million dollars in 2011 and which categories the projects funded. We also cover some new game Kickstarter projects that you might want to follow.
We cover projects that are ending soon that you may want to take a look at before they end. Also, The London Whisperer joins me to talk about Kickstarting Funding the Dream
Kickstarter is fundamentally changing the board game industry. We cover in depth the changes and why they are happening. 20 minutes because you're in a hurry and we all would rather being playing board games
The Kickstarter Podcast for Boardgamers starts its 2nd Season with a year in review for 2011. $2 million in funding. Who saw that coming?
Our last episode of 2011 is with Patrick Nickell from Crash Games who successfully funded Rise! At the halfway mark in their campaign he switched tactics and found success.
The team at Dice Hate Me Games joins The Game Whisperer to talk about the year of the Independent, Game Crafter, and being successful with your Kickstarter project. Great insights from two great guests.
What do you do with all the money a successful Kickstarter project sends your way? Byron Collins of Collins Epic Wargames discusses the reality of what you must deal with when publishing your own game.
We cover the numbers for November and December and talk about the success of D-Day Dice
Kine Paulsen, co-founder of INGRI:DAHL joins us on the podcast to talk about getting started and setting up a company and how Kickstarter is allowing them to expand their line of stylish 3-D Glasses
Finding new Kickstarter projects can be a challenge on the Kickstarter Webpage. I discuss these challenges with Chris James, Founder of Stratus Games.
Doug Click maintains the Top 10 Most funded board game projects on Board Game Geek. We speak with him about the growth of Board Game projects on Kickstarter
They say learning from mistakes is much more valuable than learning from success. Thomas Rushing joins us to talk about some of the mistakes made in their Kickstarter Project Time Flux and what they have done to fix them.
Kickstarter success is all about WOM, Word of Mouth Marketing. Listen in as the discussion focuses on how to manage a Word of Marketing campaign
This episode is with A.J. Porfirio, creator of If I'm Going Down. A.J. successfully raised more than $10,000 for his Kickstarter projects and shares some of the things he did to be sucessful
A Game Whisperer Podcast for Kickstarters. This episode I'm joined by Matt Forbeck, author, game designer, and creator of the Kickstarter Project 12 for 12 from his work of Brave New World
Funding the Dream - A Game Whisperer Podcast for Kickstarters talks about how to launch a successful campaign. This episode is with Howard Tayler, creator of Schlock Mercenary, a web comic strip that has run daily for 11 years. Howard's game, Schlock Mercenary, went live this week.
Our first episode of Funding the Dream. We talk about key elements of being successful on Kickstarter. We cover the top 10 funded games and the games that are currently scheduled to end this week.