[ssharp]

Does the ease of asking for money on Kickstarter give too much incentive to not properly plan?

There isn't due diligence on the part of supporters, so supporters are ultimately funding based on piece of marketing material and not a cogent business plan. I couldn't imagine expecting someone to give me $36k for my business without that person having a somewhat realistic and truthful plan on how that money will be spent.

I don't follow Kickstarter projects, so I don't know how common situations like this are, but if I were a supporting Kickstarter projects, I'd be upset if money I pledged was being spent for things other than what was stated. Fees, taxes, and deadbeats are acceptable and should be expected by supports. But investing in lawyers, hardware, etc. isn't nearly as clear. If this wasn't mentioned in the "ask", I'd assume that this stuff has either already been taken care of or the people behind the project do not have their act together.

And why would you provide t-shirts are certain levels without getting a realistic estimate of what those t-shirts cost?