众筹网站Kickstarter的成功之路

    马修•里沃德不嫌弃任何1美元。事实上，这位以真人版电影《史酷比》（Scooby Doo）中Shaggy一角闻名的演员希望总共筹集到了15万美元。不过，即便你只掏1美元，他也很开心。里沃德正在热门网站Kickstarter上为他即将拍摄的影片《肥仔主宰世界》（Fat Kid Rules the World）筹集资金。

    当然，里沃德并非这样做的第一人。总部位于纽约的Kickstarter自2008年上线以来已经帮助2万多个项目筹集了资金。Kickstarter会对项目进行预审（审查通过率约为75%），然后免费放在网站上向公众筹集资金，时间最长可达60天。只有筹资目标实现后，Kickstarter才收钱——收取募集金额的5%。处理信用卡交易的亚马逊（Amazon）每笔交易收取3-5%的费用。

    随着众多众筹项目大获成功，Kickstarter也发生了质的变化。曾几何时，它只是个人投资者和独立艺术家们寻找小额投资、为创意项目融资的社区，如今已蜕变成一个大的平台，公司也可以在这个平台上发布项目，筹资大量资金。在这个过程中，Kickstarter的收入构成也在发生变化，创始人Perry Chen早期提到的广告和目录费用到如今已经变成了服务就是一切。《众筹圣经》（The Crowdfunding Bible）一书的作者斯考特•斯坦伯格表示，Kickstarter可能更喜欢那些获得良好支持、营销积极的项目，“它们善于吸引眼球和资金，而其中一部分会进到Kickstarter的腰包。”

    事实上，Kickstarter历史上两个最大的众筹项目的发布者都是成功专业人士和获得天使投资的公司。2012年3月，拥趸者众多的几位游戏设计大家在Kickstarter上发布了视频游戏项目Double Fine Adventure，引来了330万美元投资。新的纪录保持者是Pebble E-Paper Watch，据报道它在上月启动众筹项目前已获得37.5万美元的天使投资。Pebble E-Paper Watch成功筹集了1,000万美元，Kickstarter分得了50万美元。迄今为止，人们通过Kickstarter网站已向各类项目合计投资超过1.75亿美元。

    虽然Kickstarter不愿证实这点（他们拒绝为本文提供信息），但过去六个月网站上的科技项目似乎有所增长。布莱恩•兰姆是iPhone底座Swivl的开发者，这种底座能在用户视频聊天时侦测用户头部位置的变化从而相应转动。2010年秋天，兰姆尝试募资时被Kickstarter拒之门外。虽然Kickstarter没有说明为何拒绝Swivl，但兰姆认为，这可能是因为当时Kickstarter的注意力暂时从产品转至了艺术。结果，Swivlickstarter的竞争对手Indiegogo募集了2.4万美元，两个月前产品已经开始出货。

    Matthew Lillard would like a dollar. Actually, the actor best known for playing Shaggy in the live-action Scooby Doo films would like $150,000. But he'd be happy if you gave him just one. Lillard is raising money on the popular website Kickstarter to fund his upcoming movie, Fat Kid Rules the World.

    Of course, Lillard is not alone. To date, more than 20,000 projects have been hosted on the site since the New York City-based company's 2008 launch. Kickstarter vets projects in advance (accepting about 75% of applicants) and hosts the campaigns, which can last up to 60 days, for free. The company only makes money if the campaign reaches its funding goal — at that time, Kickstarter receives 5% of the campaign's take, and Amazon, which processes the credit card transactions also receives between 3 and 5% of each transaction.

    Success has changed the site's character dramatically. Once a community where individual inventors and indie artists sought out small sums to fund creative projects, Kickstarter has been transformed into a platform where companies post campaigns and rake in large amounts of money. Along the way, the company's revenue scheme has also evolved. Early profiles of founder Perry Chen mention advertising and listing fees, but now the service is all about the points. According to The Crowdfunding Bible author Scott Steinberg, Kickstarter may find well-backed and aggressively marketed ventures to be more attractive. "Those have the best ability to raise awareness and generate dollars, a percentage of which goes into their pocket," he says.

    In fact, the site's two top-grossing campaigns were launched by established professionals and angel-backed companies. In March 2012, a video game project called Double Fine Adventure was posted by well-loved industry veterans and pulled in $3.3 million. The new record holder, the Pebble E-Paper Watch, reportedly had $375,000 in angel investments before kicking off its campaign last month. And of the $10 million that it raised, Kickstarter earned $500,000. To date, people have pledged more than $175 million to projects on the site.

    Though Kickstarter would not confirm it (they declined to participate in this story), there seems to have been an increase in technology projects on the site over the past six months, and Brian Lamb has watched closely as the site has changed. The developer of Swivl, an iPhone stand that rotates to follow users while they video chat, Lamb was rejected by the site when he tried to get funding in Fall 2010. Kickstarter didn't clarify why it rejected Swivl, but Lamb thinks at that time the service had temporarily turned away from products to focus more on the arts. Instead, Swivl raised $24,000 with Kickstarter competitor Indiegogo, and began shipping its product two months ago.