[jedahan]

Kickstarter lets you test your idea and get better (accurate) interest metrics. Kickstarter let's innovators set the terms of engagement and not have to chase after some angel investor. In some fields, it is not necessary, but in hardware production, it is costly as hell to start even if you have a good designer, developer and businessman.

The most valuable service kickstarter provides is in gauging real-world interest in your product.

BTW, I am not affiliated with kickstarter, but I did interview with them and we discussed the creation of a job 'open hardware consultant' that would have me try to ensure the success of any open hardware project on kickstarter. From design & development, supply chain, marketing, that job would be a resource much like meetup's constant helpful aides for ensuring successful events. Question their motivations, but they are trying to help 'the little guy' because its in their best interests to.

[Codhisattva]

"The most valuable service kickstarter provides is in gauging real-world interest in your product."

I don't think it even does that as a product can fail to garner interest due to lack of adequate marketing. I think most projects fail because they can never reach their intended audience.

[shawnc]

"The most valuable service kickstarter provides is in gauging real-world interest in your product." Kickstarter doesn't exactly provide this - they provide a place to host a site to gauge that interest. The project creator themselves do all the legwork to get that interest dredged up (as they should).