Now there are very interesting times when the long-established laws of economics and marketing simply cease to operate. They are replaced by new ones, which at first glance seem unusual. The most striking example is the site www.kickstarter.com. What is its feature? How does Kickstarter work? With the help of this site, you can raise money to start a project. Let's take a closer look at how Kickstarter works. The Russian analogue of this system (Boomstarter) will also be described in this article.
What are crowdfunding platforms?
It's no secret that creating and, most importantly, promoting your project on the market (be it a music album, a book or a new technological gadget) is extremely difficult. And of course, a lot of money will be required. The money is used to create the first prototypes and test technologies, as well as materials and process equipment. The writer while writing the next masterpiece must exist for something. But how to raise the necessary amount? This is where www.kickstarter.com comes to the rescue. Thanks tothis resource can collect the first users of the project, who will be ready to contribute a certain amount (sometimes even several hundred rubles). Basically, Internet users go to the startup page, read its description, after which they can make a donation. Its size is self-determined.
How Kickstarter works
The site is implemented like a social network, thanks to which you can use Kickstarter for direct interaction with businessmen.
As a result, it turns out that the author of the project has a chance to quickly raise money for his project, and users will be the first to receive the finished product. For example, most recently, Pebble raised funds to start production of a new "smart" watch. Users were so impressed that the company raised $10 million in just one day. And there are more and more such cases.
Developers often manage to convince people how good their project is, and the amount required for its implementation is collected literally in a matter of hours. For example, few people know that the manufacturers of the popular iPhone accessory Elevation Dock (this is an aluminum docking station) raised money for its production using Kickstarter. This required not the largest amount by the standards of the crowdfunding platform - 75 thousand dollars. The necessary amount was collected in just three days. Rather, they managed to collect as much as one and a half million. Thanks to this money, the creators of the accessory have established sales through a huge number of intermediaries and are currently flourishing. Andall thanks to Kickstarter.
How to use this site for those users who do not know Russian is an open question.
World analogues of Kickstarter
There were already project support services, but it was with Kickstarter that their popularity began to grow.
Kickstarter-analogues have already helped raise money for millions of users. For example, the Kiva website has already helped 760,000 entrepreneurs from all over the world to successfully start their project. The total amount of funds that have passed through Kiva is already more than three hundred million dollars. The main specialization of the site is entrepreneurs from developing countries, where it is almost impossible to find money to start a project. The user must invest at least twenty-five dollars, which will be used to start a small business.
Another analogue of Kickstarter is the Zidisha fund, which allows borrowers to interact with investors in more than seventy countries around the world. In two years, 750 projects were successfully funded. The fund can hardly be called profitable against the background of the same Kickstarter. It is registered in the USA, and the main payments are made in the PayPal system. Zidisha also has big differences from its competitors: it will not be possible to receive money without at least one successfully repaid loan. The share of successfully repaid loans is at the level of 97 percent.
Indiegogo at a glance
One of the mostpopular analogues of Kickstarter abroad is the Indiegogo platform. The work of this crowdfunding platform is based on the maximum transparency of actions. The user can add absolutely any project to Indiegogo, which is the biggest difference from the main competitor. The project type can be absolutely anything. It could be a device (it doesn't have to be a working prototype), entertainment, education, or charity. But the most interesting thing is that the user can collect money even for his own needs. The funding model on Indiegogo is very flexible. There are no geographic restrictions: users can be located anywhere in the world. In fact, the only thing required to work with this platform is a valid legal bank account.
Crowdfunding in Russia
Russians can use the crowdfunding platform without any restrictions, but, unfortunately, Kickstarter does not work in Russian. For convenient work, you will need knowledge of English at least at an intermediate level. I am very glad that such services exist in Russia, but until recently, most of them were aimed at promoting young musical groups. However, now the situation is starting to gradually change for the better, but still, it has not yet been possible to create a Russian Kickstarter.
Boomstarter
One of these projects is the Boomstarter website. Here, anyone can publish a project that requires investment. It maybe both a small business and a musical group. There are practically no restrictions. Very convenient, because until recently Kickstarter did not work in Russia.
After raising funds, the author of the project will have to share with investors a part of what happened in the end. For example, if this is a musical group, then the author sends a ticket to the concert. If it is a product, then it is sent by itself or a discount is provided for the purchase.
All projects are subject to strict moderation, so before publishing, you should carefully read the rules of the system. In the event that the required amount was not collected within the prescribed period, the sponsor is guaranteed to receive his money back. This is also implemented on Kickstarter.
The Russian analogue of foreign crowdfunding systems will allow you to assess how much your project will be in demand among the population. In case of success or failure of fundraising, it will become clear whether it is necessary to continue working in this direction at all. Many users have already started working with their business, and some have had to change the direction of their talent.
Features of crowdfunding in Russia
But it is worth noting that it is much more difficult to raise funds on Russian counterparts of Kickstarter than abroad. Perhaps it is a matter of distrust, or perhaps most users simply do not have free money that they could invest in any project.
At one time, a large number of sites began their work, which their developers called nothing less than "Kickstarter" in Russian. "But it turns out not as rosy astakes place on foreign crowdfunding platforms. As noted above, there a startup can collect a huge amount in a very short time, the main thing is to get people interested. In Russian realities, this has not yet been possible.
Features of Boomstarter projects
Boomstarter is by far the most successful Kickstarter site in Russia. The vast majority of projects that people tend to start here are things that are more or less related to art. Some are trying to raise money to shoot a video clip, others - to record a musical composition. Still others are interested in an art project. What about technology projects?
If there are a huge number of technological projects on foreign platforms like those mentioned above, and most importantly, a lot of those that have successfully raised the necessary funds and are already actively selling, then in Russia the situation is different than on all the same Kickstarter. The Russian analogue of this crowdfunding platform - Boomstarter - has only one technological project for twenty-five more or less successful art projects. One of them is an iPhone zoom called Focality. He collected a little more than 31 thousand rubles, which before the change in exchange rates corresponded to one thousand dollars. The most interesting thing is that it is still not clear for what purposes this money was spent. It is hard to imagine how it is possible to organize any production with such a small amount.
Failed projects on Russian crowdfunding platforms
Let's considera couple of projects that at one time did not manage to raise the required amount of money:
- Bombsquare – three days before the end of the fundraising campaign, he managed to raise only 2010 rubles, and 60 thousand were required.
- Raising money for the creation of the Bestvuz.ru website ended in the amount of 1250 rubles, while 110 thousand were required.
The picture is somewhat sad, and it is not yet the time to say that Russian startup sites can compete with Kickstarter. The Russian analogue of foreign crowdfunding platforms is still unable to provide a decent return. It will be extremely difficult to immediately give an example of a successful site associated with any technology. Projects that focus on art do a much better job of raising funds, but raising the amount of one hundred thousand rubles and more is almost impossible here. Only 5 out of 25 successful startups decided to take that amount of money. At the same time, many such projects raised money with the participation of well-known representatives of show business. And this is already reminiscent of unfair competition.
Prospects for crowdfunding in Russia
Despite this, crowdfunding in Russia is gradually getting on its feet. So far, this direction is quite raw, and, most likely, if you do not have an eminent assistant, then there will be no sense in raising funds. After all, you must admit that so far no one in Russia has been able to raise enough funds to produce a full-fledged computer game. And, for example, the developers of the increasingly popular Wasteland 2 strategy raised money for its development precisely thanks tocrowdfunding platform Kickstarter.
It is hoped that such platforms in the Russian Federation will reach the world level, and many talented people will be able to start their own small business. In the meantime, "kickstarter in Russian" is a distant dream.
