[Animus7]

The product itself looks cool, but things like this keep catching my eye:

> HI ! Looking to purchase MULTIPLE REWARDS IN ONE GO ? YES YOU CAN !

> FREE shipping in the US and EU. Add 10$ for all other countries.

> EARLY BIRD SPECIAL !!!

Except, Kickstarter isn't a store, right?

If they allow stuff like this, it is. It's an interesting new kind of pre-order store. And it should be regulated like one.

[jug6ernaut]

Yup that stuck out to me also. Also note they are looking for $40k, which in the the scheme of things is nothing, i would imagine that video alone would cost a couple thousand dollars to produce(i could be 100% on this tho).

Does not seem like a valid "KickStarter" to me at all.

[drcongo]

The founder is a VFX artist, I'd imagine this video was a piece of cake for him.

[jug6ernaut]

Very possible, as i said i could be 1000% wrong lol. But it was just an example, the $40k they are looking for is a drop in the buck in terms of production costs. Simply pointing out that they money they are seek would have very little impact on the actual development/production of the product.

[skreech]

Doubt they need the $40k at all (and the movie should eat a big chunk of it) but I don't see anything in the Kickstarter guidelines they're doing against the rules.

[jug6ernaut]

Ah right, I should probably rephrase. When i said not a valid KickStarter i mean morally not technically.

[Eduardo3rd]

As someone who has done a lot of background research into Kickstarter campaigns I think it is important to realize the difference between the idea of Kickstarter and the reality of the site as it exists now. Sure, you can still fund your $10k idea through Kickstarter, but it is going to be incredibly difficult to make a profit off of something like that for the average first time entrepreneur/maker. The internet is filled with stories of people who raised tens (if not hundred) of thousands of dollars on Kickstarter only to fail to bring their project to fruition. On the other hand, you have things like the YC and haxlr8r backed startups who have a large amount of capital to back their efforts up. There the money from Kickstarter is more or less used to prove their concept to retailers/investors/etc. Kickstarter could stop stuff like this if they really wanted to keep the site focused on indie projects, but I'm guessing the monetary incentive to host these massive projects is a pretty good reason for them not to do that.

Maybe we'll see a rise of more early stage crowd funding platforms in the future. Perhaps Kickstarter will become the place to take your project when you are seeking a "series A" crowd funding injection to go from prototype to manufacturing, but you get your "seed round" from some other place to go from idea to prototype.

[uroscadez]

Hello my name is Uros and I am the founder of the project you are discussing. I'm very happy to see that you are all curious about the project and I understand and perhaps even share some of your concerns. However being part of the project from the very start untill now, I can assure you this is actually a perfect example of a Kickstarter project and I mean morally AND technically... Please read the below I posted on our Kickstarter page after following your blog.

Best regards to all, Uros ( FOUNDER )

A word on the project:

The Boomerang has been so far funded entirely out of 2 main sources:

- the amazing selfless support of friends who are professionals (in fields of design, mechanics, video production, etc.) or other professionals we met along the way that simply believed this could be a big thing some day. Together we invested a total of about 3700 working hours (of 40 individuals) from the start till now. (many of them are in the team shot in the end of the video… some couldn’t make it that day unfortunately ☹ )

- the rest was the founder’s more or less entire life’s savings + extra money from 2 friends and family who blindly belive in the product and the team

We are extremly happy to have come this far , however we are at the point where our belief alone cannot fund this project anymore. We have come to Kickstarter to prove to ourselves and convince others that this product really needs to exist. Of course, if we only reach the $40k goal , the earnings would cover only a fraction of the costs we already put it. But we have come far enough that we know the $40k will certainly cover the costs of fulfilling the rewards, it will boost our belief that we are doing the right thing and hopefully bring new investors in. We saw no reason of setting the goal higher and risking the project never getting funded at all. It would disappoint a lot of backers not to mention ourselves. … But luckily your support has been amazing so far an if we only continue at this pace we will exceed the goal more than two or three-fold

[Retric]

Well, I imagine if they don't reach 40k they don't want to try and manufacture it. As Kickstarter refunds everyone's money in this case it's still a good fit IMO.

[jug6ernaut]

Idk, as I state in other comments and as others have said if they do get the 40k it will be nothing in the whole scope of the project. This means they have to have substantial funding elsewhere. And considering that is kickstarters purpose(at least as i understand it) is to provide crowd funding it seems to be counter to kickstarter.

My issues is companies using kickstarter as a test-bed/proving ground(if it is indeed as you stated it).

I guess it depends on what ones view of "kickstater" is and should be. I personally would be very interested to see if this product goes to market if it does not get funded by kickstarter.