Well, it’s over. The Kickstarter’s done. We didn’t make our funding goal of $35,000, but we did receive $11,470 in pledges, about a third of our goal, from 147 people. While I’m disappointed we didn’t hit our goal, and won’t have those funds to work with, I’m incredibly grateful for all the encouragement I got, pledges received, and the number of old friends I reconnected with and the new friends I made. To those of you who backed me: Thank You. And stay tuned. The project will go forward, just a little bit slower.
My main goal with the Kickstarter wasn’t to raise funds per se. It was a forcing function to clarify my marketing messages and to raise awareness for my project. Crowdfunding is the new company launch strategy, and we were fortunate to get a lot of coverage of The Hawaii Project as a result. I’m very appreciative of all the folks who took the time to write about The Hawaii Project, including Hawaii Public Radio,Xconomy, BostInno, PJ Media, Beta Boston (part of the Boston Globe) and Hawaii News Now.
I learned a lot throughout this process, both about The Hawaii Project and about running a Kickstarter. I’m grateful to everyone who took the time to chat with me, email me feedback, or otherwise assist. In the coming days I’ll publish a bit more on the process I used for the Kickstarter – what I did, what worked, what didn’t work, what my metrics were, and what I’d do differently, in hopes it’s useful to others contemplating a campaign.
As for The Hawaii Project, that will go forward. This isn’t the end, this is the beginning. I’ll launch the product publicly early this summer, and I hope you’ll join me for that! In the meantime, if you’re interested in being a beta tester, just head to http://www.thehawaiiproject.com/ and hit the “request Beta invite” button.
I spend the rest of the morning learning to tie a bow tie. 52 years old and never done it. But, my daughter’s getting married next week, and I’m wearing a bow tie for the wedding. Now THAT is something to celebrate!
Music: Why, the soundtrack for Skyfall, obviously. Bond does the best bow ties.