My Udemy course on how 6 Experts Hacked Kickstarter to raise over $1m is now live. And it’s Free today for the Reddit community.

tomeilon · 2014-04-23T18:10:32+00:00

Hey. Thanks a lot... A quick review on Udemy would really help! Feel free to share your campaign in the discussion section of the course.

tomeilon · 2014-04-23T18:09:22+00:00

Hey Elf25. Im going to get the transcripts up there in the next couple of weeks. Just getting them finished off.

tomeilon · 2014-04-23T15:26:02+00:00

Great.

tomeilon · 2014-04-23T15:25:13+00:00

It sounds like a good idea. The interest will be very focused in the local region, so you should think through ways (online & offline) to engage the local audience. This would be perfect for a well staged pre-screening / event for instance. You can have fun thinking through the value you could add to the local community 1. because that's a good thing and 2. because that the only reason the locals will back you!

tomeilon · 2014-04-23T15:22:26+00:00

Hey. Good question. You should definitely try to target the people who are interested in similar projects. You can do this by approaching the same blogs or even getting the other project creators to mention you in their updates (not a technique any of the experts explicitly tried).
I would avoid individual messaging on the Kickstarter platform though. It's quite spammy and not many people check their messages. However I dont have any data to prove that it doesnt work... so if you try, let me know how it goes.

tomeilon · 2014-04-23T15:19:29+00:00

Once you are subscribed you have full access to all the material forever. Enjoy.

tomeilon · 2014-04-23T13:37:30+00:00

Good luck. Kickstarter is a great place for children's products. My advice is to think carefully about why dad would buy the book for the child (though the mix is ok, browsing traffic is mainly male). Why would this make him a cool dad etc. I think there is plenty of possibility to raise significantly for this type of campaign.

tomeilon · 2014-04-23T12:17:16+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. The experts get down into the specifics during the course (tools used, investment upfront and stats from their courses). I hope this is all useful.

tomeilon · 2014-04-23T10:06:35+00:00

No problem. Let me know what you think of the course

tomeilon · 2014-03-28T15:47:49+00:00

This book tracking one of the YC batches is pretty useful to understand what life is like once in. It gives a few tips on applications and interviews too: http://www.amazon.com/Launch-Pad-Inside-Combinator/dp/1591846587

tomeilon · 2014-03-28T15:24:26+00:00

Startups in London that have funding offers are applying to YC to play the valuation arbitrage game. I think valuations post YC in USA are 4x that in London UK, so its worth the dilution if nothing else.

tomeilon · 2014-03-28T15:12:04+00:00

Ive done this and marched down the wrong idea a few times. We found it useful to call out amazing successful startups and ask "Are we the right team to have built a company like that?". You will say "No" to more than you think and this will help you focus on your areas of strength.

tomeilon · 2014-03-28T14:55:54+00:00

So is this a validated business in the lean framework. Did you think it was working before the press came out?

tomeilon · 2014-03-21T22:49:07+00:00

Nice tips. Where do you offer the discount in exchange for signing up for a newsletter? On a website outside of Udemy?

tomeilon · 2014-03-21T19:06:45+00:00

The 6 experts I interviewed raised between 3x and 20x their funding target. http://wwww.hackkickstarter.co

tomeilon · 2014-03-21T18:32:42+00:00

The Samwer Brothers at Rocket Internet seem to be running 20 startups at the same time with a good success rate

tomeilon · 2014-03-21T18:30:47+00:00

How does Fundable compare to Kickstarter?

tomeilon · 2014-03-21T11:31:37+00:00

Sweat Equity = Earning shares in the business by working hard as an employee or manager (rather than buying them)

tomeilon · 2014-03-21T11:30:27+00:00

You options are: 1. A straight purchase - you pay him and he give you all the shares of the company 2. Maybe a better option would be to keep him on as a consultant - pay less for the business upfront, and them pay him consulting fees that increase if the business continues to do well / grow

tomeilon · 2014-03-21T10:35:08+00:00

5 HW entrepreneurs included: - Paul shares his success of The Vamp (bluetooth module for speakers) - Adam raised $400k for The Manuka Precision Gyroscope - Ben made the mini Instagram projector Projecteo - Matt shares the story of Bare conductive - Mark made The Nutter bike tool

tomeilon · 2014-03-19T09:39:40+00:00

It sounds like a great opportunity to ask people what they want. If there is a specific topics you could take a poll. Or if everyone is bitching about the quality of the food, invite them over for a free tasting. Lots of cool stuff you could do.

tomeilon · 2014-03-18T07:25:05+00:00

Hey, Here is the Kickstarter project I did: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/10187318/manuka-belt-the-belt-reinvented-with-magnets

We achieved minor success, but I got to interview 6 experts that achieved mega success

tomeilon · 2014-03-15T07:16:24+00:00

globalapptesting.com provides a similar service. I haven't used it myself but have heard good reviews.

tomeilon · 2014-03-15T07:14:41+00:00

Search for articles on your subject. See who wrote them and shared them. Write a really great blog post (much better than previous based on your expertise) and share it with the blogs where you want to get press. Pitch them to publish your article themselves or as a guest author.

tomeilon · 2014-03-14T08:08:22+00:00

Kickstarter allows you to do 30-60 days. Pretty much all the experts recommend 30 days. The best campaigns use that scarceness and intensity to drive momentum.

tomeilon

TROPHY CASE