From 72-foot sculptures to wireless microcontrollers, Reno residents have triumphed in crowdfunding campaigns.
Industries of all kinds have flocked to Kickstarter and Indiegogo for financial support. Locally, crowdfunding created jobs at tech startup Pinoccio and advanced a massive wooden masterpiece for Burning Man. On a national level, a push to bring back children’s TV classic Reading Rainbow as a web show raised $1 million in one day.
Maria Balinska
Maria Balinska of Cambridge, Massachusetts, exceeded her $44,250 Kickstarter goal for The Local Global Mashup Show in February 2013. The weekly podcast was another way for Latitude News — a media startup Balinska founded in 2011 — to explore links between U.S. and international topics. Latitude News is currently on hiatus while Balinska explores partnership options for maximum news distribution.
“Any American community actually has a lot more links to the rest of the world than initially might meet the eye or that people expect,” said Balinska, who worked for the BBC for 18 years. “The question of parallels is one where there’s a whole discussion around journalism that looks not at problem-pointing but problem-solving.”
“The question of parallels is one where there’s a whole discussion around journalism that looks not at problem-pointing but problem-solving.”
With that in mind, Latitude News covered Massachusetts’ emerging gaming industry and followed up with how other countries, such as Hungary and Norway, fared with legalized gambling. The Local Global Mashup Show added an audio element to Latitude News. For an example, check out this text version of the podcast report on orphans in the U.S. and Russia.
Although not all crowdfunding campaigns have LeVar Burton’s star power behind it (he cried when the Reading Rainbow project reached its goal!), Balinska points out five reasons why Kickstarter can help startups.
1. Gain interest
MB: “I’m curious to see what’s on Kickstarter. I will get recommendations from the Kickstarter team. I give to other projects because I’m excited about somebody’s idea. It’s a place that people know they can go to for interesting ideas.”
2. Raise the money
MB: “If you get the money you need, then that’s obviously a major step up.”
3. Test the waters
MB: “It gives you an indication of how popular your product is. I wouldn’t say you should use that as the only indication, but it’s an interesting way of surveying opinion. For Reading Rainbow, it’s not just the money they got, it’s the number of people who backed them. It’s given them something that’s not quantifiable yet, but that’s going to translate, I’m sure, into much more support and resolution in the future.”
“It’s given them something that’s not quantifiable yet, but that’s going to translate, I’m sure, into much more support and resolution in the future.”
4. It’s a good process to go through
MB: “You have to summarize what it is you do in a few brief paragraphs. You have to make a video about it. They’re very good exercises to focus your mind on what ‘it’ is. What is the value, what is the attraction of what you are putting forward?”
5. Perfect your pitch
MB: “It’s a lot of work to reach that goal, and you need to do what fundraisers do. You’re on the phone, you’re writing regular updates, you’re thinking, ‘OK. how do I approach this person for the first time without making them feel annoyed?’ Those skills are really very valuable to have — whether you’re going to be fundraising from foundations or fundraising from individual donors or venture capitalists — because it’s all about marketing your product.”
As Burton often said during Reading Rainbow, “You don’t have to take my word for it.” Email [email protected] if Balinska’s tips convinced you to crowdfund your idea.
Header image: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
