r/kickstarter

1. Over-reliance on his existing YouTube audience.

The majority of the Kickstarter promotion has remained concentrated on Kristian’s own YouTube channel. While this was effective initially, it appears that he has now reached the ceiling of what his existing audience is willing to contribute. Continuing to repeatedly ask the same audience for additional money is unlikely to generate significant new contributions if those who were going to back the project have already done so.

2. The Movie Trivia Schmoedown stretch goal created confusion.

Including the Movie Trivia Schmoedown as a stretch goal potentially complicated the campaign. While a portion of Kristian’s audience will have nostalgia for the Schmoedown, others may have little or no connection to it.

There was also confusion surrounding the tournament itself. The original plan was a 16-person tournament if the campaign reached $200K within the first 24 hours. When that target wasn't immediately reached, the timeframe was extended to seven days. There also appeared to be an initial implication that the tournament would be held in person. Kristian later clarified that it would be a digital/Zoom-style tournament, with $250K supposedly required to guarantee an in-person event. Around this point, donations appeared to stall and some backers reportedly began withdrawing their pledges. Kristian subsequently stated that the tournament would be in person after all. Whether intentional or not, the changing messaging may have created uncertainty around what backers were actually funding.

3. The $200K goal versus the apparent $350K target.

The original $200K goal was presented as the amount needed to make a bare-bones version of the pilot. Reaching $200K within the first seven days was undoubtedly a significant achievement. However, Kristian is now pushing towards $300K–$350K to produce a more polished version, including licensed music, professional wardrobe and potentially recognisable cast members.

The problem is that $200K represents a 100% funded Kickstarter. From a backer's perspective, the campaign has already achieved its stated objective. That naturally reduces the urgency to contribute further. If $350K was effectively the amount needed to make the project he actually wanted to make, there is a legitimate question as to whether the initial goal should have been set higher. Reaching 100% can psychologically signal to potential backers that the project is already “done”, even when the creator's real ambitions are significantly higher.

4. The Greg Alba factor.

Greg Alba came on board as a producer. It's possible his involvement is greater behind the scenes or financially than is publicly apparent, but based on Kristian and Greg's own comments, his stated intention seemed to be primarily to help. Greg did contribute some useful promotion: the Howard the Duck reaction video with Kristian performed well and incorporated the Kickstarter, while Greg also produced a separate promotional video and mentioned the campaign in some Reel Rejects content. However, that activity appears to have been relatively limited and has seemingly stopped. Beyond a few livestream appearances and those promotional videos, there doesn't appear to have been a sustained promotional push from Greg.

5. Limited promotion from Schmoedown competitors and Kristian's wider network.

Kristian has been announcing former Schmoedown competitors who may participate in the proposed tournament, but there doesn't appear to have been significant promotion of the Kickstarter from many of them across their own social platforms.

The same issue applies to some of Kristian's friends and regular live-show collaborators. People such as John Rocha, Mike Kalinowski, Winston A. Marshall and Kris Carr have provided little or inconsistent promotion, while Kevin Smets and Roxy Striar appear to be the more obvious exceptions. If these people have sizeable audiences that overlap with the project's target demographic, they represent a potentially valuable promotional network that hasn't been fully utilised.

6. Martini Paratore's limited promotion.

The same criticism applies, perhaps even more significantly, to Kristian's writing partner Martini Paratore. Granted Martini has a relatively limited personal social media presence, but her involvement with the project is substantial, given that she is reportedly 50/50 on the writing. Her visible promotion has largely consisted of liking and commenting on Kristian's posts and appearing on his livestreams rather than consistently creating or resharing promotional content herself. More importantly, she has a separate "side hustle" Instagram account for her comedic character, which has a considerably larger following than Kristian's. That audience appears to be largely untapped. She may of course be contributing significantly behind the scenes, but from the outside, the lack of visible promotion makes it appear as though the campaign is relying disproportionately on Kristian and his audience.

7. Podcast and external appearances haven't significantly expanded the audience.

Kristian has made efforts to promote the project outside his own channel, including appearances with Greg Alba, John Campea and several smaller podcasts. The problem is that many of these platforms appear to share a similar audience to Kristian's existing fanbase. Rather than reaching substantially new demographics, they're often reinforcing the campaign among people who already know who Kristian is. Outreach to larger or less directly connected podcasts, such as Double Toasted, appears to have come relatively late in the campaign. Ideally, these opportunities should have been secured well before launch, particularly because larger podcasts can have recording schedules weeks in advance.

8. Weak social media strategy outside YouTube.

Kristian has openly acknowledged that Instagram and modern social media promotion aren't his strengths. A lot of the campaign's Instagram content consists of a single image accompanied by a block of text. In the current social media environment, that's unlikely to generate significant organic reach. The campaign needed a much larger supply of short-form video, Reels, collaborations, tagged posts and shareable content. Ideally, there should have been a consistent stream of different promotional material throughout the campaign rather than repeatedly recycling the same messaging through Stories.

9. No dedicated Trending social media presence.

A dedicated Instagram account for Trending could have helped establish the project as its own brand rather than making the Kickstarter feel like another part of Kristian's personal content. At present, Kristian's account has to simultaneously promote his channel, livestreams, other projects and the Kickstarter. While that's understandable, it makes the campaign's branding and messaging less consistent. A dedicated account could also have provided a central place for cast announcements, behind-the-scenes material, promotional clips, updates and campaign milestones.

10. Little evidence of a serious paid advertising strategy.

The campaign also appears to have relied heavily on organic reach. For a project trying to raise an additional $150K beyond its original target, investing a few thousand dollars into carefully targeted advertising could at least have been worth testing. Ultimately, crowdfunding is about reaching people beyond your existing audience. If the existing audience has already been exhausted, some form of paid acquisition becomes increasingly important.

11. Promotional material has become repetitive.

The original promotional video featuring Kristian, Martini and proposed director Andrew Fried was strong and professionally produced. However, it has subsequently been repeatedly inserted into Kristian's existing YouTube content. At this stage, its impact is inevitably diminishing. The campaign would have benefited from several variations: different edits, shorter versions, character-focused videos, behind-the-scenes footage, cast messages and more informal promotional material. Instead, many follow-up videos have essentially consisted of Kristian sitting in the same studio environment, wearing his usual T-shirt and cap — visually identical to the content his audience already consumes every day.

12. Kristian appears increasingly fatigued.

Perhaps the most noticeable issue is that Kristian now appears tired of the campaign. This has become increasingly apparent during his livestreams, where the frustration surrounding the stalled funding seems more visible. That's understandable after spending weeks repeatedly promoting the same project, but it creates another problem: the audience can sense when the creator is running out of energy and enthusiasm.

13. The overall campaign has felt reactive rather than strategically planned.

Ultimately, the biggest issue may be the lack of a clearly structured marketing strategy. The campaign often appears to be reacting to developments rather than working from a predetermined promotional plan. The changing Schmoedown goals, repeated appeals to the same audience, late podcast outreach and inconsistent social media activity all contribute to that impression. Kristian is very effective at running his own channel in a reactive, personality-driven way. A Kickstarter campaign, however, requires a more deliberate and sustained marketing strategy.

There also appears to be a lack of people around him willing to challenge his decisions or provide a more objective outside perspective, with Roxy seemingly being one of the notable exceptions.

Where does the campaign go from here? With only 19 days remaining, the challenge is significant. The campaign has already achieved its original $200K objective, but Kristian appears to want another $150K to reach the $350K level required for his preferred version of the project.

The proposed 10-hour livestream on the final day may generate another spike, but it once again primarily targets the same audience that has already been repeatedly approached throughout the campaign. At this point, the fundamental problem isn't necessarily that people don't want the project. It's that Kristian appears to have successfully converted much of the audience that was already most likely to support it.

The campaign now needs to find new people, rather than repeatedly asking the same people for more.

I run a non profit organization that supports artists, and we have built a great community in the past 15 months. It's my first time running KS and ofc a npo's resources are limited, but given the circumstances, I had hopes it would get funded within a day. Unfortunately we're nowhere close with less new backers everyday. I don't doubt that we will get funded before the end, but I genuinely want to do better for our future campaigns.

Our instagram:
- 16k+ Followers
- Kickstater teaser post (20 days before launch) got 18k views and 1000+ likes, 160 reposts, 73 saves
- I consistently shared progress and had around 300-500 story views avg
- Kickstarter announcement post also has 18k+ views, 45 reposts, 35 saves so far

Kickstarter:
- Main item (enamel pin) was set at a price of $10, which I think it's very reasonable from research
- Shipping is around $8-12 depending on location, with tracking
- There are a variety of add-ons and rewards tiers of different combinations. Each reward tier has some backers other than the lowest one, so I think the configuration is ok.
- Reward tiers go from $4 to $42.
- The goal is $1200
- We're 3 days in and have barely reached $500. With help of many people promoting it.

What I know I did wrong:
- I set up the pre-launch page only 2 days before the campaign, basically thought about not making it, but then decided against that last minute.
- Maybe I should've asked for more help in promotion before the campaign.
- I set only 1 stretch goal at $2700. It was purely based on calculations, that is the point we would make enough to add something new. But I think I should've figured out lower effort stretch goals and added more goals at lower $$.

It's really baffling because I thought we had great traction before the launch, and this is a one person run non profit that helps human artists, it should feel rewarding to back? Please let me know what you think I did wrong, is it the pricing, or release timing? I'm going to work hard to promote the campaign during the active period (25 more days), any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated 🙏

Last year the US utility patent was issued and this spring the China patent was also issued. The product revolves around the Mason Jar. I’ve been working the marketing materials and having a finished product that’s retail ready. i’ve got a manufacturer that is on board and ready to have that retail ready package in production. I really want to launch on Kickstarter because the product could be sold right next to every Mason Jar in stores. I hope the successful launch on Kickstarter will drive the demand to get the product in the stores. I intended to work with foodie influencers since the product is very visual and totally new. How would you structure an arrangement that works for the influencers and the Kickstarter campaign?

Hello, All! I was all set to go and launch on October 6, but my list building was anemic at best. I’ve moved out to early 2027. But every day I see a list builder, marketer, “we’ll help you launch” ad and I don’t trust any of them. Are there any that you might recommend. It’s a small card game with a $2000 goal.

Thanks everyone.

My co-founder and I launched our first campaign (a word card game) on Oct 1. The next night we ran a demo night and small tournament at a board game cafe in Chicago. Some lessons for anyone considering a live event:

What worked/got people engaged:
- Teaching the game to individual tables and interacting face to face.
- Asking if they played similar games for reference on how to play
- Letting them win amoungst their own friend groups

What we'd change:
- We didn't have enough people (just me and my co-founder) going around demoing games. We should've had another person who knew the game well also be available.
- Getting the word out or making an Eventbrite would have probably been a great idea.

We also added a custom secret tier for people to buy in person and we ended up selling 15 copies!

Creators who've done live events: Was it worth the effort? Anything you'd tell us before the next one?