What size project are you?

There is a lot of advice and opinions on Kickstarter creation in the world, and a lot of it is directly contradictory. Further, a lot of it is impossible, or if possible dangerous, for some creators. How can that be the case? Well, depending on the size of your project and its intentions what’s good advice or not can vary drastically. I’ve heard creators of small projects wishing they had spent more going into projects on the basis that it would have made them into big projects, and I simply don’t think that’s the case, larger projects tend to need support and infrastructure in several areas and tend to need to exist in a more inter related way.

To put it another way, a large project needs more time and more people to support it, the longer you spend on a project and the more people you hire onto it, the more money it needs to make to be worth the investment. If you lack the skills and capacity to scale the project up in that way those choices meant to result in greater returns can simply create greater risk. Decide what skills you think you have, what your aims are, and build your project accordingly. More importantly, take your advice from people offering advice for your size of project, and as the sort of project they’re talking about differs more from your vision, listen to them less. The sort of advice that is useful to $30k+ project is not always immediately applicable to an under $10k humble project.

You're not in competition with every other project on Kickstarter, you're not even in the same business as all the other projects on Kickstarter. Other people need things you don't, and that's fine, because they're doing something different from you.

Yes, we all dream that we’ll put up a little humble project and it will go viral and we’ll end up with a six or seven figure project. Dreaming is fine, and having a contingency to ensure that if that dream comes true it doesn’t become a nightmare is a necessity, but planning based on that dream will end badly. In truth, of projects that do go big, the vast majority have a manufacturing and customer base before their sudden success that meant their success wasn’t a total shock to them.

Now, before I begin laying out some advice here, I'm going to suggest that there are things that projects don't need that are nice to have. Its always nice to have advertising, for example, but its not always a necessity in order to successfully fund a project. Its also possible to lose money on and takes time and effort to set up. The point is, if you have the spare time, mental space and cash to get a few things on the 'not needed' list or if they turn up, that's fine, but appreciate that those resources might be lost, and don't assign effort to those elements if you don't have all the things on the needed lists first.

So how do you figure out what kind of project you are? Well, I think there are a few handy signposts that you might want to consider, here are my opinions, some suggestions for your project and some common advice that might not be applicable to you if you fall into that category.

Humble Project:

Signposts –

· This is your first ever game that someone outside your immediate circle of friends and family will ever play.

· This is your first Kickstarter.

· Your unit price is up to $15.

· You have plans for later, bigger Kickstarters.

You do need –

· Your initial goal to be under $10k.

· Upfront spending to be under $4k.

· Clear and low-cost shipping.

· Clear and total explanation of the rules and gameplay.

· To show a finalized product.

You don’t need –

· Advertising.

· A significant following.

· Paid reviews.

· To fund in 48 hours.

· A fulfilment company or pledge manager.

· A team of more than one person.

Typical fatal mistakes –

· Not showing full details of the game play in case someone steals it.

o Backers don’t know you so they can’t trust that you know what you’re doing. More well-known designers can hold things back or hide them as surprises because they’ve earnt trust. No one will steal your idea, but more importantly, no one will buy it unless you show it to them.

· Never launching because the project isn’t ready yet.

o Its your first project and it can be nerve wracking, but the point here is to test the waters, figure out what you’re doing and what works, so if you fail that’s fine.

Indy project:

Signposts –

· Second or third game/Kickstarter.

· Your unit price is up to $40.

· Your game doesn’t have minis, meeples, a board or similar and comes in a small box.

You do need –

· Your initial goal to be under $15k.

· Clear shipping.

· To show a finalized product.

· An active social media and community presence.

You don’t need –

· Advertising.

· Paid reviews.

· To fund in 48 hours.

· A team of more than five people.

Typical fatal mistakes –

· Taking too long and hiring too many people.

o Figure out your profit based on your minimum funding goal, then divide it by the number of people working on the project and the number of months that it’s been developed for. If the result is less than minimum wage then you need to streamline.

Middle Project:

Signposts –

· You’re not sure if you’re a big project or not.

· You don’t have hard plastic molded minis.

You do need –

· To bring your own crowd, either with a following or advertising.

· To have funded at least one previous Kickstarter.

You don’t need –

· To fund in 48 hours.

Big Project:

Signposts –

· If you’re a big project, you know you’re a big project.

You do need –

· Effective advertising/Paid reviews.

· A significant following.

· To fund in 48 hours.

· A fulfilment company or pledge manager.

· A team of more than five people.

Hopefully the point there will be clear, but if not, let’s take an example. Advertising is not easy. It is a skilled job that you can pour money into like a bottomless pit. If you don’t know how to do it, you probably won’t be able to launch a big project, but equally if you’re launching a humble project you won’t need to. If you’re running a humble project, dip your toe in with advertising, learn a little, read around the subject, but don’t try to learn and do everything in one go. Don’t think you can’t possibly manage your humble project because the metrics on your facebook ads aren’t performing the way you want them to. Seek advice for what is relevant to you and your project. Learn to build up slowly over time and don’t dump time and money into achieving things that you just don’t need.

I tend to offer advice for the smaller end projects, because that’s what I know at this point, and there are great places to find advice for larger projects. Just remember that what might apply to someone else doesn’t apply to you. Think hard about what you're aiming for and what you want, don't try to compete with someone else who has different goals to you anyway, and worry about what matters for your project, not for someone else's.

So, any advice for stepping up to a new level? What’s the best piece of advice you ever got that wasn’t at all applicable to your situation? Anything you think I’ve missed?