Crowdfunding amongst friends (or, a month hitting Refresh)

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October 16, 2016

 

Would you consider blogging about the crowdfunding event sometime after Thursday?

 

Well sure, Carty. How could I resist such e-charm? Besides which, crowdfunding campaigns have always fascinated me and this is the first I’ve been lucky to observe from planning through to (forthcoming) conclusion. Years in the making it’s been, by what I’ve worked out from my earliest conversations with buddy Carty here.

 

I remember about a year ago, Carty and I were sitting at a sake bar just up the street from where we study kung fu. I’d only recently joined up, and in true newbie fashion had compiled a shortlist of advanced students to emulate when confused in class (i.e. vast majority of the time). Carty always seemed to know what he was doing – and whether it was actually right or not, he did it with such casual confidence that he always had my buy-in. One evening after class, we ended up talking market segmentation over a bottle of house rice-brew, and I was impressed by how much he’d done his homework. I’ve always worked at the more communications-y end of marketing, and come from a technical space academically (chemical engineering major / bioengineering minor, hilariously). So I was having a blast learning the perspective of someone with formal design qualifications, complemented by years of applied marketing work. Was the Sales Force strong in this one? He seemed determined to find out.

 

Imagine my excitement when, after subsequent months of more sake and excellent conversation, Carty told me he was ready to take the entrepreneurial plunge and launch his own label. 9 Dragons Apparel: The 1st Range was about to be born. Before long I could see those milestones rocketing through, thick and fast, from my front row seat. Network cultivation – tick. Collateral development – tick. Crowdfunding platform selection – tick. Launch party hosted at everyone’s favourite sake bar – hell yes, I mean tick.

 

Launch day. I suspect that until reading this post, Carty hadn’t realised how rapt my fascination for this project has been. During a brief exchange in kung fu class a few weeks back, he suggested the crowdfunding campaign would go live that weekend – several days before the launch party. I kept an eagle eye on my Facebook feed for the big announcement. Saturday: nothing. Sunday morning: nada. Sunday afternoon: bingo!

 

Clickthrough. And what a shiny Pozible campaign page greeted me! Solid content, tongue-in-cheek promo vid, informatively attractive product shots and a respectable range of pledge rewards. All that was missing: a first pledge. I gleefully selected my 2-shorts reward (one pair for me and the other for my husband Matt – we may have to fight over who gets which pattern, but we’ll keep it civil into the lead-up). Then I entered one of my favourite lucky numbers as a customised donation amount (part of the reason the pledge figure looks so wacky) and with admirable self-restraint refrained from bellowing “FIRST!” as my donation comment on the campaign board. Then I sat back and watched.

 

  • Sunday midafternoon: $483 total pledges
  • Sunday early evening: $978
  • Sunday bedtime: $1408

 

Paint drying? Puh-leeze. This was the F1 championship of my weekend. Rolling through week one, I observed the steady climb…

 

  • Monday: $1409 (Oh dollar-power dude from San Fran! I gigglefaced.)
  • Tuesday: $1559
  • Wednesday: $1709
  • Thursday: LAUNCH PAR-TAY $$$ (I might’ve been too distracted to catch an actual figure…)
  • Friday: $2709
  • Saturday: $2889
  • Sunday: $3089

 

So I say: I love your work, man. Writing this blog at about two weeks in, the campaign sits at $3399 or 43.6% of target with 16 days left to collect enough pledges to make it happen.

 

Carty, you have so much of my respect for undertaking this labour of love. I deeply admire both your fortitude and talent. Always remember that your friends and family are right here with you, cheering you on. Understand too that whatever happens, and whatever form your success winds up taking, it’s ALL success. I’m looking forward to swapping journey tales with you for a long time to come, buddy. Best of luck!

 

Where’s the 9 Dragons: The 1st Range campaign at right now? Help me keep track and/or support a talented designer at https://pozible.com/project/9-dragons-apparel-2

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