Every now and then we are asked why we have started crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo and how exactly Indiegogo works. In this blog post, we’d like to shed some light on the background and explain the principles of crowdfunding, especially with regard to our ongoing Indiegogo campaign.
In addition to numerous financing offers from the German states and from investor groups, there is the possibility of supporting projects in the development phase and beyond through a form of group financing. With the so-called crowdfunding a project is financed by the help of supporters. Supporters contribute a certain amount of money to a project and receive a "thank you", in our case the Feelbelt. The most well-known crowdfunding platforms are Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Through these American platforms, projects from different areas can be financed worldwide.
We have decided to use crowdfunding for our launch of the Feelbelt and accordingly for the generation of pre-orders. As we did not develop an app, SaaS or quickly producible products (e.g. food, drinks, office supplies), but a hardware product with a software developed in-house, the development and production are more complex and involve higher costs. In advance of our first wave of mass production, we wanted to assess how the Feelbelt will be received on the market in advance. We quickly came up with the idea that crowdfunding would be the most suitable tool to determine demand and adjust supply. From April to June 2020, we ran our successful Kickstarter campaign for the worldwide launch of the Feelbelt. Pre-orders are currently in the first wave of production and will be delivered in October.
So why did we launch another campaign on Indiegogo?
That’s quite simple - to sweeten the waiting time until the official sales start for you! The Kickstarter campaign ended at the beginning of June and the online sale will only take place after the first pre-orders have been delivered to you in October. Without Indiegogo a lot of time would have passed without giving you the possibility to continue supporting our project.
The current campaign has a slightly different goal than the Kickstarter campaign. For example, we do no longer work towards a funding goal. In contrast to Kickstarter, where the achievement of our financing goal marked the success of our project as the total funding sum financed our mass production.
How exactly does Indiegogo work?
Our Indiegogo campaign functions as an in-demand campaign, which means 'after-crowdfunding campaign' in simple terms. We continue to raise money, expand our support community and share our history with the world - but without working towards a fixed funding goal. Below we have written a short guide for you on how exactly you can buy the Feelbelt.
The different packages of the Feelbelt are called ‘perks’ at Indiegogo. You can choose between the following offers/perks:
Once you have chosen your perk, a new window will appear where you have to decide on your preferred color (black/white). You will then be taken to the checkout directly. Here, we need your shipping and payment details. We currently offer payment by credit card or PayPal.
To finalise your order, you will receive a questionnaire by e-mail sometime after your order on Indiegogo. This will be sent by Backerkit, our partner for the processing of orders. You will be asked for your shipping and payment details as well as the desired colour of the Feelbelt. Please check your spam folder and make sure to fill out the questionnaire! This step is absolutely necessary for us in order to process your order correctly and hand it over to our shipping partner.
All very uncomplicated!
Do you have any further questions? Please feel free to write us on our social media channels or send an email to: [email protected].
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