what can artists learn from 48 hours of crowdfunding?

dav adé
Apr 4
2 min read

tldr;

48 hours into the BLANK kickstarter launch, we are officially 37% funded and moving fast. while the support from our community has been incredible, we have also had our first encounter with the darker side of the internet: the scammers. here is what we have learned about protecting our vision while the world starts to take notice.

why our first 30% came with a lesson in digital defense.

so you're thinking about starting a kickstarter campaign, eh?

the first 48 hours of any project launch are a threshold. in the crowdfunding world, securing the first 30% of your funding goal in this window is the gold standard since it is often what triggers the systems to recognize you as a project to watch.

we hit that milestone early.

we reached 24% in our first eight hours, and by the 48-hour mark, we were sitting at 37% with CA$ 5,568 pledged from 16 backers. but as our story began to unfold on the internet, the "uninvited guests" showed up right on schedule.

the anatomy of a kickstarter scam

when your email is openly available on the internet, you have to be prepared for more than just a little trash in your inbox.

in our first two days, we encountered:

fake marketing managers: individuals promising to "boost" our campaign for a fee after swearing blind they're just deeply inspired by our campaign.
bogus donors: unrecognized donors who create pledges with large donations, often accompanied by comments asking to be emailed privately are a classic red flag.
"project we love" bait: we received a sophisticated email from a "kickstarter community support" address that was actually a gmail account... they were congratulating us on being shortlisted for the project we love badge which is a really coveted feature.

luckily, we realized it was a scam before engaging too deeply, but it was a sobering reminder. the system wants you to stay small and distracted, and these scammers rely on the high-energy excitement of a launch to cloud your judgment.

the power of the genuine community

despite the noise, the core of these 48 hours has been pure momentum. we would not have reached our 48-hour goal early without the genuine people of our community in our corner.

remembering how many authentic supporters we have is the fire that keeps us going when the marketing managers and fake emails become discouraging. transparency is our superpower, so we are learning in real-time and sharing our honest lessons with you as we go.

the BLANK perspective: enjoying the process

we are nearly 40% of the way to our $15,000 goal with 18 days left on the clock. while we are being careful about who we let into our inbox, we are not letting the scams steal our joy. like we said in our youtube update, the main takeaway is that we're so grateful for the community support.

we are celebrating the milestones, protecting the vision, and simply enjoying the process as the BLANK story unfolds. if you are building something new today, keep your community close.. andddd your junk folder closer. 😅