Funding the Dream

I'm a big believer in the $1 pledge for any Kickstarter campaign. Alex Goldsmith and Grey Fox Games just wrapped up their Kickstarter campaign, War of the Worlds: The New Wave.  What Grey Fox Games did this time, was to create a $5 pledge in addition to the $1 pledge. 181 people took advantage and pledged at that level. I wanted to find out why and what Grey Fox Games hoped to learn from this...

Daniel Zayas has launched numerous Kickstarter campaigns. He is listed on Kickstarter's page as one of the experts. He and I discuss how to approach someone to promote your campaign. We discuss the time commitment it takes to run a campaign and the need to understand the numerous details like shipping and manufacturing.

Howard Tayler is creating great stories and great art. And he is publishing not one, but two new books in the Schlock Mercenary Universe. In this episode we discuss the churn, and how Crowdfunding has been changing, continues to change, and what we see coming. We discuss how Howard makes a living as a professional as a Web Cartoonist and how you give something away for free to make a living. He sh...

Jamey Stegmaier has been writing about, talking about, and has been wildly successful on Kickstarter. Three years ago he walked away. As my guest, we discuss what it would take to bring him back and the way Kickstarter has changed over the years. Jamey is the president of Stonemaier games. His Kickstarter projects have raised millions of dollars. Jamey is also the author of " A Crowdfunder’s...

I share 5 keys to creating a successful LinkedIn profile. Not to get a job, but to make a first impression. In today's digital world, it is when I visit your LinkedIn profile that I find out who you are. Use LinkedIn as a means of building your personal brand and to creating a favorable impression with those you wish to influence.

Over the past few years, Wotan Games has cycled through nearly 20 Interns from all over Europe. And has built up a reputation as a go-to experience for new recruits coming into the program. Laurence O'Brien, owner of Wotan Games, shares the success of his interns and the growth of his company. His latest Kickstarter, War of the 9 Realms, is made possible because of his Interns. If you attend...

Brexit? US Election of Trump? Kickstarter campaign suddenly in jeopardy? Gino Brancazio and I discuss a cautionary tale of using Kickstarter across exchange rates. Gino is based in the UK and ran his Kickstarter campaign in English Pounds. But 90% of his expenses were in US Dollars. When Brexit happened the loss of the Pound to Dollar had Gino lose 9% of the value of his funding overnight. Then th...

Cynthia Landon has successfully run 9 Kickstarter campaigns. Small and focused on her space, she delivers a great experience. But what you need to know is that she is in the business of making you more successful with your own board game Kickstarter campaign. Need custom meeples for your cool project. She can do it. With millions of pieces of inventory, she has perfected the ability to create cust...

How much money do you need to raise on Kickstarter? That depends. Where does the money go? Marc Specter takes the time to outline where he spent the majority of his money to publish his Kickstarter game. This is great advice for those who are running their Kickstarter campaigns as a hobby as well as those running it as a business. Make a mistake with the money and you may not be able to recover.

There is a flood of people offering Kickstarter advice. Some know what they are doing, but many do not. How to sift through the flood of offers you receive for creating, promoting, and running your Kickstarter campaign? Kickstarter now has certified experts. Daniel Zayas is listed as one of them. He shares some thoughts on how to become an expert, how to get listed, and what to be looking out for...

Your Kickstarter board game needs to be playtested. There's no better place to play test than an Unpub or Protospiel. But you can't just show up, sit down and expect to be successful. You have to prepare yourself to attend, prepare yourself to know what you want to learn. With this proper preparation, you will find success. Ed Baraf of Pencil First Games shares key ingredients to success...

JT Smith believes game convention can be made easy. He has launched a site called Tabletop. Events. The site delivers everything you need to know and do to launch your own game convention. This is important to a lot of our listeners who are discovering the need to launch their own game conventions in their area. Whether you are in San Jose, California or Des Moines, Iowa. Being able to put togethe...

Adam Clark created Kicktraq. Now he has built the premier platform for managing your Kickstarter campaign called Pledgemanager. From the smallest details for international shipping to keeping track of all the bits and pieces of your campaign add-ons. And when the campaign is over, Pledgemanner allows your campaign to become an e-commerce site, allowing those who missed the campaign to still pledge...

Three things are necessary for Kickstarter Success. #1 Building the Audience - James tells us how#2 Professional Artists - You can't get by with amateur#3 Pre-marketing - You must invest time to build up to your campaignJames Hudson knows what he is talking about and identifies clearly those three things that you must do to be successful. Ignore his advice at your peril.

For first-time game designers, publishers, and designers. Curt Covert launched his company years ago and began publishing his own games focused on the "Stab-Your-Buddy" concept. Curt's games have a focused theme that customers have come to expect. Now, after 14 games and years of success, he explains the decision to move to Kickstarter for future growth.

Space Goat Productions has released Evil Dead 2 and Terminator boardgames on Kickstarter. How do you license someone's intellectual property? Space Goat Productions has been doing it a long time and they share some of the tips. They also have a large stable of artists who they use on a multitude of board game projects.

Just because you've had tremendous success on Kickstarter does not mean it is time to quit your day job. Especially if you want to run a board game publishing company. John Coveyou, of Genius Games, has raised $500,000 on Kickstarter, quit his day job, and discovered that cash flow is king and you can quickly get to the brink of financial ruin, even when you do everything right. He shares his...

Jamey Stegmaier joins me on Funding the Dream to talk about staying in touch with fans and the community without using Kickstarter. He has built a huge following with his generosity for sharing knowledge. Now, Jamey is using additional means to stay in touch with the community and allowing them to provide input and feedback. Jamey and I take your questions and discuss trends as well as partnership...

James Ernest is launching his 10th Kickstarter campaign. His last project, Tak, raised $1.3 million dollars with more than 12,000 backers."If you aren't famous, find someone who is" - James ErnestJames shares a lot of insight and advice about how to be successful in the boardgame industry. One key piece of advice is to get yourself a solid business plan. And make sure your game is g...

Devin Thorpe is a new-media journalist and founder of the Your Mark on the World Center, and has established himself as a champion of social good. As a Forbes contributor, with 350 bylines and over one million unique visitors, he has become a recognized name in the social impact arena. He was recently named one of the top 200 Philanthropists & Social Entrepreneurs in 2017.I'm also pleased...

Hunter Adams is an independent filmmaker with his movie currently available on itunes. It is called Dig Two Graves. A bit of a horror/suspense movie about having to pay a price to bring someone back we have lost. Sounds like an interesting film. Hunter discusses the importance of building your fanbase to launch a film. It is nearly impossible to simply be found in the vast sea of new releases and...

Gloomhaven is one of the most success board game projects on Kickstarter. The creator, Isaac Childres, joins me for a second time on the show. The episode was recorded while the campaign was still live on Kickstarter. I ask Isaac if he is even sleeping with the amount of energy and effort his project is requiring as he smashes through millions of dollars of funding and tens of thousands of backers...

Thank you for all your support over the years. I wanted to take this opportunity to chat about some changes coming and about something called Participation Inequality and how it can impact your Kickstarter campaign and how you can use it to your advantage. You are doing amazing work. This isn't easy and you are one of the few making it successful. Keep up the good work and join me for a short...

Chris Clemmons is running a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for needed medical assistance. He and I discuss his decision to use the GoFundMe platform and what we can do to help. We also discuss the difficulty of asking for money and its social stigma. Help Chris out on his GoFundMe campaign "Save The GM from his damaged back"

The Circle paints a disturbing picture of the near future and the tracking of personal information. Steve Shillingford, CEO of Anonyme Labs, discusses three things you can do to help protect yourself online.#1 may surprise you. Your mobile number and how it is more precious than your social security number when it comes to protecting yourself. Steve discusses steps to take to change your behavior...