Masters of Crowdfunding

In this episode, Keegan O'Connor, founder of ChillShark, shares his journey of launching a product that transforms bathtubs into cold plunges. He discusses the importance of identifying market needs, his unique marketing strategies for a successful Kickstarter campaign, and the lessons learned from his entrepreneurial experiences. Keegan emphasizes the significance of customer feedback and authentic interactions in building a successful business.

In this episode, we're talking with Konstantinos Manos. He's the founder of Hive Interactive, Vesuvius Media, and TabletopAnalytics.com. He's had 20 Kickstarter launches for his tabletop games and is a wealth of knowledge on all things tabletop, Kickstarter, and crowdfunding.

Tanner Cummings is the co-founder of Cypress Resort, a nature resort nestled in the mountains that raised $792,484 on Indiegogo. 

Gamal Jadue Zalaquett is the Founder and CEO of Kosmos resorts, a first of its kind real estate development in astrotourism. To date, Kosmos resorts is the most funded Real Estate project on Indiegogo raising over $2MM.

Today we have Dusty & Amy Droz, the founders of Dux Somnium Games. They've launched two highly successful Kickstarters: Botany & La Fleur. In this episode, they share their strategy for growing their business after the Kickstarter is over. We cover manufacturing, fulfillment, getting into retail and building off of your past success. 

Emilie Wiliams and Julia Deister are the Co-Founders of Hydrific, a venture under American Standard, a company you may have heard of before! Together with LaunchBoom, we launched a product together called The Droplet on Kickstarter which raised over $114,000 on Kickstarter with over 640 backers. Beyond the funding, in this podcast, Emilie and Julia share all of their learnings and processes they follow to build a successful product.

Marcus Veerman is the creator of Nüdel Pod, which raised AU$ 309,513 on Kickstarter. In this episode, he shares how he did it.

Masha Epshtein is the creator of Lon:Hub, which raised £148,787 on Kickstarter. In this episode, she shares how she did it.

Anish Shonpal & Nikhil Shah are the creators of Loka Chai, which raised $614,063 on Kickstarter. In this episode, they share how they did it.

Jay Cormier is a board game designer and owner of Off the Page Games. His latest game launch was Corps of Discovery on Kickstarter, which raised CA$ 449,881. In this episode, Jay shares how he went from a freelance board game designer to building his own board game company.

Ben Beavers is the founder of SmartyPlants, which raised $169,510 on Kickstarter. In this episode, he shares how he did it.

Ben Beavers is the founder of SmartyPlants, which raised $169,510 on Kickstarter. In this episode, he shares how he did it.

Mikey is the Co-founder of Accidental Cyclops. He launched Surviving Strangehollow on Kickstarter and raised over $116K. In this episode, he shares his strategy for working with artists to create highly successful DnD supplements and a lot more.

Ross Bruggink is the Creator of Vicious Gardens. He launched Vicious Gardens on Kickstarter and raised $555,283. As a visual designer, Ross shares why art was so important in the success of his Kickstarter and how you can create great art for yours.

Emilie Wiliams and Julia Deister are the Co-Founders of Hydrific, a venture under American Standard, a company you may have heard of before! Together with LaunchBoom, we launched a product together called The Droplet on Kickstarter which raised over $114,000 on Kickstarter with over 640 backers. Beyond the funding, in this podcast, Emilie and Julia share all of their learnings and processes they follow to build a successful product.

Rico Evangelho is the Owner of Hit Point Press. He's launched 16 Kickstarter campaigns with the latest being The Field Guide To Floral Dragons, which raised $1,163,164. In this episode, he dives into how he was able to build his business by using Kickstarter.

Aaron Radcliffe is the creator of Nomads Nation, a media brand that performs everyday carry and gear reviews. Out of reviewing hundreds of everyday carry gear, he decided to create his own, the Fyro T22 Backpack. The campaign ended with over 1800 backers and $373,000 raised.

Evan Packard is the creator of Pack Rack, a bed rack and storage solution for car campers. At the date of the recording, the product had only been live for 3.5 days and it had already raised over $248,000 on Kickstarter. Now it wasn't all smooth sailing along the way. There were many mistakes and multiple steps along the way. One of the steps Evan took was he actually used all of the principles from the book Crowdfunded to launch a pre-order campaign that generated over $60,000 in sales.

Scott Salzman is a multiple time Kickstarter creator. He's launched three other crowdfunding campaigns prior to the Desk Nest. The first campaign failed the fund, the second raised $6,000, the third raised $10,000 and the most recent Desk Nest product launched with LaunchBoom raised over $455,000. Scott is a serial entrepreneur and product creator. He previously ran and sold a farm as well as a product development business.

Ken Minn is the Founder of Kenu – a company he launched in 2010. He decided to launch his next product called Stance+ on Kickstarter and raised $226,499. In this episode, he tells his story of starting Kenu and why he now launches all of his products on Kickstarter.

Mike Boseak is the Marketing Director of Grey Fox Games. They launched Last Light - 2nd Edition on Gamefound and raised over $500K. In this episode, he tells how they did it.

Jeremy Lightcap is a former Computer Graphics Generalist at Netflix and more recently, he is the Creator of Cat-e-Corner, the perfect sidekick for Cats and coaches. The product recently raised $202,756 on Kickstarter and Jeremy has recently left Netflix to focus full time on Cat-e-Corner.

Trapper and Jeff are the Cofounders of Modi Boxi, the most versatile 3D printable storage solution for tabletop gamers. Their FIRST ever crowdfunding campaign raised $410,148 and is the largest Digital File campaign by total number of backers.

Leonie Grundler is the founder of Lioness Games. She launched Biome on Kickstarter and raised over $400K. In this episode, she shares how she did it.

Typically we have our clients come on to talk about their journeys and their processes in launching their products. This episode is a special one! We have Noah Kinsey, the customer outreach manager from Jellop, the number one crowdfunding and Kickstarter advertiser responsible for over $1 Billion in funds raised. Noah himself is also a fellow founder. He is the founder of Pier Left Productions and Spartacus Coffee.

Audrey Lim is the creator of Kublet, a tiny powerful data tracker that raised over $150,000 on Kickstarter. It didn't all start out this way though. Audrey actually had another campaign 1 year prior and I'm sure we'll dive more into that on this podcast.

Audrey Lim is the creator of Kublet, a tiny powerful data tracker that raised over $150,000 on Kickstarter. It didn't all start out this way though. Audrey actually had another campaign 1 year prior and I'm sure we'll dive more into that on this podcast.

Alex Levine is the co-founder of Xebec. Xebec's very first crowdfunding campaign raised $50,000 on Indiegogo. In their most recent product launch, Alex worked with LaunchBoom to launch the ZXeBec Snap, which raised almost $700,000 on Kickstarter. In between, they built an eight figure per year direct to consumer business.

Episode 19: Laia Gonzalez is the co-founder of Wonderbow Games and publisher of KELP – a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $1.5M. In this episode, Laia shares the marketing strategy behind her success

Episode 18: Zach Huber is the co-founder of Well Played WI and one of four co-creators of BocceRoll – a backyard game that blends the best parts of Skee-Ball®, bocce, and cornhole to create an addictive and portable yard game. He spent 2 years creating the game and finally launched on June 27, 2023 on Kickstarter. It was a huge success, and raised $155,259 in 30 days. Zach shares how they did it all while juggling a full-time job.

Episode 17: Sai Prasanth is the Cofounder and CEO of Muse Wearables, the creator of Ring One. A stunning wearable health tracker that can track your sleep, measure blood pressure and complete payments. The Ring One was the fastest wearable campaign to reach $1MM in funds raised. 

Jake Jackson is the CEO of Cinch! Popup Tents and the creator behind 6 successful crowdfunding campaigns. Jake is a crowdfunding veteran, with his first launch dating back to 2014. Jake is also one of the few creators who has launched on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo and brings a unique and rare perspective on each platform.

Tyler Bushnell is the founder of Polycade. He launched Polycade Sente on Kickstarter and raised over $1M in one day. In this episode, he tells how he did it.

Episode 14: Along with his wife Zoey, Casey Mattes is the co-founder of SweaterBear Games. Their first board game is called Bear Mountain Camping Adventure. It was a huge hit on Kickstarter, raising $781,450 by the end of the campaign. In this episode, Casey shares exactly how they did it.

Episode 13: Host Mark Pecota is joined by Eric Garcia Casanova. Eric is the co-creator of FILLER - a storage system for pocket board games. They recently finished up their Kickstarter campaign working with LaunchBoom and raised over $160K. Before FILLER, he was focused solely on creating products for others at  MorontaCasanova Design Studio where he is the co-founder and product designer. FILLER was his first foray into creating his own product, and in this episode of Masters of Crowdfunding, Eric shares how he did it. Enjoy.

Episode 12: Host Mark Pecota is joined by Simon Lasnier. Simon is the creator of Midronome. His story is pretty uncommon as the first time he launched on Kickstarter he actually failed. But, he didn't give up. He learned from his mistakes and relaunched 6 months later, this time raising nearly €160K. I believe there's so much more to learn from failure than success… and this interview proves to be a great example of that.

Episode 11: Host Mark Pecota is joined by Jamey Stegmaier. Jamey is the co-founder, President, and Game Designer at Stonemaier Games. From 2011 to 2015, he launched 8 Kickstarters, with the last one, Scythe, raising over $1.8M. He's launched many more highly successful games since 2015, but didn't use Kickstarter as the launch platform.  In this episode, Jamey shares how he went from a full-time job in operations to building one of the most well-known board game companies in the world.  

Episode 10: Host Kevin Liang is joined by Mikey Gilder & Andy Flynn. Mikey and Andy are two of the founders of Legends of Avantris – the creator of The Crooked Moon, which raised over $1M in the first 6 hours of their Kickstarter campaign. The campaign went on to finish at over $4M in funds raised on Kickstarter. In this episode, Mikey and Andy share their philosophies behind community building, facing their fears and what it looked like behind the scenes of a $4M crowdfunding campaign.

Episode 9: Gal Butler is the 17 year old creator of Wayv Bowl, a foldable and stackable magnetic bowl that raised $111,207 on Kickstarter. In this episode, Gal shares his thought process in de-risking his product launch, what gave him the conviction to continue working on the product for 2 years before he launched his campaign and the sacrifices he had to make along the way. Gal also talks about the balance between de-risking the project and imperfect action, which I think any product creator can learn a lot from.

Episode 8: Dusty and Amy Droz are the husband and wife duo and co-founders of Dux Somnium Games. They launched their first game, BOTANY, on Kickstarter in May where they raised over $100 thousand in the first 24 hours and went on to raise over $1 million by the end of the campaign.   Hitting the million dollar milestone puts them in the top 0.13% of all Kickstarter campaigns ever and they did it on their first try!    So in this episode, Dusty and Amy graciously share the story of BOTANY – the ups, the downs, what worked, and what didn't. It's a fascinating tale that will leave you with many lessons you can apply to your own launch. So without further ado, let's dive into today's episode with Dusty and Amy Droz.  

Episode 7: We have the creator of Ascendancy, a tabletop game that as of today has raised $476,557 with 3,381 backers on Kickstarter. Matthew Meeple is the creator and we have him here today to share with us the story behind how he created the game, and also his background and what led up to the creation of the game.

Episode 6: Kian Golzari is a sourcing expert who has been living and working in China since 2010. Visiting over 500 factories and has sourced over 2,500 products. His global client list includes the NBA, Olympics, United Nations, retailers across the UK and the US, as well as e-commerce stores. He has won numerous international awards, including the Sunday Times Fast Track Award for Top 100 UK Companies in Expert Growth. Kian is the sourcing expert here at LaunchBoom, and you can learn more about the SourceBoom program at SourceBoom.com.

Episode 5: Gareth is the Founder of Rockwell Razors, Lomi and many other consumer brands. As the CMO of Lomi he generated over $100M revenue in 2 years. He is also an angel investor, board member, and partner in several other technology companies, agencies, and local businesses.

Episode 4: In addition to being the CEO of Kickstarter, Everette is also an entrepreneur passionate about art, supporting creators, and helping people bring their dreams to reality. He is experienced in building and growing successful businesses as a CEO, chief marketing officer, and as a founder himself. Before joining Kickstarter, Everette most recently served as the CMO of Artsy, the largest online marketplace for buying and selling fine art. During his time at Artsy, he was recognized by Business Insider as one of the World's Most Innovative CMOs and named by Forbes as one of the World's Most Influential CMOs because of the record revenue growth, brand awareness, user engagement and product innovation during his tenure. Everette also serves on the Chisenhale Council for Chisenhale Gallery and sits on the advisory board for the organization: Art at a Time Like This.

Episode 3: Cleve Oines is the founder and CEO of MannKitchen, the creator of the Pepper Cannon which raised over $3M on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Cleve grew up on an Island in Alaska with mountains as his backyard and the Pacific Ocean just outside his front door. He is also a cook and nature lover.

Episode 2: Kristie Wolfe is a Airbnb Superhost and the creator of some of the most iconic stays on Airbnb.com. Kristie built her first tiny house in 2011 as a social experiment to live more simply. From there, she has handcrafted one of a kind experiences like her treehouse in Hawaii, an underground hobbit hole in Washington, a fire lookout in the Idaho Panhandle, and even a potato hotel in her hometown of Boise. Her properties have been featured on major publications such as Dwell, Sunset and Today. Kristie is currently launching a new property with LaunchBoom using Crowdfunding.

Episode 1: Alex Lieberman is the Cofounder and Executive Chairman of Morning Brew, a 9 figure media property with over 4.5mm subscribers that sold to Business Insider. Alex is a Forbes 30 under 30 recipient and has been featured on publications such as Entrepreneur.com, The Information and one of my favorite podcasts, How I Built This. He is also a startup investor, the host of “The Crazy Ones” podcast & 60 Second Startup. Alex is beginning his foray into physical products and preparing for his first physical product launch with a version of backyard axe-throwing called "The Plunge". 

Welcome to the LaunchBoom Podcast. This is where we explore the journeys of creators, founders and entrepreneurs journeys in their product launches. This podcast is hosted by Kevin Liang, LaunchBoom's Product Launch Director. In the international best seller, Good to Great, Jim Collins and his research team reviewed in depth 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and created 384 megabytes of computer data in a five-year project to dissect what specific characteristics made good companies great.  In his 2,000 pages of interview transcripts, these were some questions that were asked consistently: What was happening when you were there during the pivotal moments? How did you know, what was the point of breakthrough? The executives responsible for the “breakthroughs” repeatedly responded with:  “I don't get the question. There was no miracle moment. There was no breakthrough. It wasn't as dramatic as it sounds. It was a gradual process. More of an awakening that happened in steps.” The way achievement is viewed from the outside is different from the way it actually feels on the inside even though you can see the inflection point from the outside looking in. It's a series of continuous good decisions, supremely well executed, disciplined thought processes that added up one upon another that over a long period of time created a great result. In this podcast, we explore the mental models and processes these individuals use daily. In other words, how do they think? How do they deal with fear + doubt? What are the things they do or think about on a daily basis that lead to positive results over time.  I'll wrap up with a quote from the author of one of the most impactful books I've personally read: Steven Pressfield. He says: “Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.” -Steven Pressfield