
Kickstarter: crowdfunding the 2012 way
It was recently alleged that crowdfunding website, Kickstarter.com has fudged their reporting to make the site look like a more successful tool for crowdfunding than it actually is, to which we asserted that other peoples’ success does not necessarily encourage or discourage entrepreneurs, who typically have an attitude that they can do anything, no matter the past failure rate.
With all of the hoopla surrounding the Kickstarter success rates, we thought we would take a look back at the Kickstarter projects we have shared with you, the reader. Our data is not indicative of how the site works in full, as we do not cover any of the creative projects like movies or albums, nor do we cover art installations, mission trips, group gardens, but we do share technology tools, which for the most part have performed quite well on Kickstarter, many of which have raised nearly ten times what their original fundraising goal was.
Kickstarter entrepreneurs must declare the dollar amount they are raising, and if they do not raise that amount through the site, no money exchanges hands, but for projects that meet their goal, perks are offered to people who pledged funds, and the entrepreneur has to deliver a product along with the promised perks.
Below are the ten projects written about on AG that succeeded in meeting their fundraising goals, along with one that is still fundraising, and five projects that failed.
1. Curly Cable: 1,814% funded

Curly Cable for iPad and iPhone adds a curly cable to iPads and iPhones. Simple. Genius.
2. Trigger Happy: 887% funded

Trigger Happy app controls your digital camera via smartphone. Innovative photo tools that automate photography seem to do well on Kickstarter.
3. Brydge iPad case: 887% funded (fundraised $797,979!)

The Brydge is hellbent on adhering to Apple design standards, and it turns an iPad into a laptop, adding speakers, a keyboard, and even when shaken roughly, it stays put. Nice.
4. GoPano: 846% funded

GoPano is a lens that snaps on to an iPhone 4 to steady your camera to film a 360º video, getting rid of the need to have a steady hand when filming panoramic videos. Dummy proof.
5. Timelapse+: 829% funded

The Timelapse+ is an intervalometer, aka timer device, for automatically triggering SLR cameras, built with bluetooth for connecting accessories, including smartphones, created (among other things) for long-term timelapse projects.
6. Galileo: 702% funded

This clever iPhone device gives video 360 degree tilting and panning and solves a real world problem. Fabulous!
7. Tiltpod: 637% funded

Tiltpod for iPhones is an articulating iPhone base which solves the balancing act of trying to get yourself in iPhone pictures before your smartphone falls off of a rock or table, or worse, chops your head off in pictures.
8. Romo: 359% funded

Romo turns your smartphone into a functioning robot for under $100 – this is easily the most fun Kickstarter project we’ve ever written about.
9. Glass: 287% funded

With this glass multi-touch keyboard and mouse that uses smartphone-like technology and open source software to track your fingers when you tap on the glass, germophobes will rejoice at no longer scraping out the crevices of their keyboard with rubbing alcohol and q-tips.
10. Last Alert: 124% funded

Find your missing iPhone even if it’s dead with the Last Alert app. Nice!
Spike: 94% fundraised, still fundraising

Spike gives your iPhone a real keyboard and is built to improve typing accuracy and make using an iPhone feel more natural.
*as of publication
The not so lucky projects
Obviously, not all fundraising goals are met, and while we enjoyed the following five projects, no money changed hands with these crowdfunding projects: