Funding the Dream

Oogave co-founder , Gannon Merrell, joins me to discuss using crowdfunding platform IndiGoGo to try to save his company. This is an open and frank conversation about using Crowdfunding to rally your fans when things get dire. We appreciate Gannon sharing with us his experience.

Why retailers should care about Kickstarter board games. Josh Githens, co-owner of Boardwalk the Game store in Greenville SC, sits down to discuss how he runs his game store and why Kickstarter is important to retailers.

Raising $20,000 an hour in the last 10 hours of his campaign, Ryan Dancey with Goblinworks successfully funded over $1 million for the new Pathfinder Online MMO. Ryan shares some of his insights into raising so much money is such a short amount of time.

Who has heard of a money back guarantee for Kickstarter. Jamey Stegmaier thought it was a good idea. He raised $60,000 for his first time project. Listen in on some of his other innovative ideas for your next Kickstarter project

Story Realms was a very successful Kickstarter Project. Then, right before they went to print they received a notice of a possible trademark violation. Faced with a lengthy court battle, they had to rename the product. Listen in as Angie Hickman Newnham shares her horror story.

If you have a game idea then you need to be listening to John Moller talk about UnPub 3. His UnPublished Games Convention is destined to be one of the biggest new Cons in the near future and you need to be a part of it. Take a listen as John talks about how you can get your unpublished game playtested and reviewed.

Crowdfunding can do amazing thing, even change the world. Jim Fullalove from therefore.com in the UK joins me to discuss the Gravity Light. Launched on IndieGoGo and successfully funded with $400,000.Join our discussion as Jim talks about how Crowdfunding affects what is possible.

Michael Lee is the Co-Founder of Panda Games. Panda Games is the number manufacturer of Kickstarter board games. Learn some secrets to getting your board game through the manufacturing process as easy and quickly as possible. Plus a few bonus ideas for your next Kickstarter board game project.

Michael is the founder of Social Media Examiner and is an absolute expert on making social media work for you. He shares some tips and insights on how to maximize social media for your Kickstarter campaign and find success.

Every successful Kickstarter project tells a story. And the most successful are stories with a carefully crafted message. Rose Spinelli and I discuss how to create a message that resonates with your backers and fans to help them become excited and back your Kickstarter project.

Robert Burke is on his fourth successful Kickstarter project. Kickstarter has changed his life. Now, when he has an idea, instead of it getting buried in the "Good Idea" bin, he instead puts it into the "Kickstarter Ideas" bin and begins the launch process. Come listen in as Robert and I talk about turning the launching of your great ideas into a Kickstarter Habit

Setting price is one of the most difficult of tasks and can make or break your game company. Uwe Eickert, CEO of Academy Games, joins us again to go into details about how to determine the best pricing for your board game as a Kickstarter project or retail store product.

Dreamquest Games Creative Director, Christopher Williamson, joins me to discuss the massive amounts of coverage they have received for FAILING their Alpha Colony Kickstarter project. Lots of projects fail, but seldom do they fail by $28 after raising nearly $50,000. Take a listen as Christopher and I discuss the thoughts behind the process.

If you are in the board game business, there has been a lot of discussion about why an established company should or should not be using Kickstarter. Uwe Eickert, a very savvy businessman, and owner of Academy Games, spells it out clearly why Kickstarter is such a boon to established board game companies, not just the little guys.

Michael has had success with designing a game and having a publisher put it on Kickstarter. Now he is using the new UK Kickstarter portal to publish his own game called Keep Running

Condiment Cards Kickstarter Video made me laugh out loud. It was simple, without voice or sound. And I think it is very effective. Come listen to Sheldon and Jeff discuss their project and how easy it was for them to create a video.

Valley Games dominated Kickstarter in 2012 with D-Day Dice. Now they are back again with Up Front. But all is not without controversy. Come listen to Torben Sherwood discuss the Valley Games and the challenges ahead.

Cammon Randle and I have launched the Crowdfunding Academy to help people learn how to navigate Crowdfunding and Kickstarter. Take a listen and be sure to sign up for a 1 year membership for the Crowdfunding Academy at www.crowdfundthedream.com

Any successful Kickstarter project takes planning and organization, something Michael Keller excels at. But even that kind of planning can't overcome Hurricane Sandy. Michael Keller speaks about some of the challenges of launching City Hall, his Kickstarter game project in the face of outside forces.

David Brin has been writing about crowds and their impact on society for decades. He is a prolific author of hard science fiction and non-fiction. He joins me on Funding the Dream to talk about the battle going on in our society of the idea that crowds can make smart decisions for society. A perfect topic that ties into Kickstarter and its impact on the markets it touches.

Bill Trammel and Nate Veldcamp had a crazy idea around 1am early morning after playing a long game of Settlers of Catan. The creation of a Catan board to take your Catan game anywhere. Bill and Nate join me to discuss how they struck gold with their idea to create an official Settlers of Catan gaming board and how it became a success on Kickstarter

Starlit Citadel Reviews is an IndieGoGo project by Kaja Sadowski and Joanna Gaskell. Their show is a great gamer resource for anyone in the world. They are located in Vancouver BC Canada and talk about IndieGoGo and their ongoing success using the platform

Monte Cook has literally written the book on Role Playing Games. It wasn't a surprise to anyone that his latest RPG project did well on Kickstarter. The fact that it did more than a $500,000 for a unreleased RPG was a surprise. Monte joins me on the show to talk about RPGs, Kickstarter, and the energy that is happening in the RPG market.

Jonathan Liu has the dream job. He writes for Geek Dad covering the board gaming space. How cool is that? Jonathan joins me on the show to talk about resisting the Kickstarter urge to back all the great game projects.

Learn 3 new techniques for finding more backers for your Kickstarter campaign. Adam Danielski joins me to discuss three strategies for marketing your Kickstarter campaign to get more backers.