Subway Sets: From Kickstarter to Queen Latifah
Lessons learned from my first Kickstarter project.
Last week, Queen Latifah gave me a big hug backstage on the set of her #1 rated day-time talk show and told me I smelled good. Nicest lady ever.
My journey to the Sony Lot began on Kickstarter — a platform I lovingly refer to as “entrepreneurship on steroids”, because it’s a 30 day crash course in building a business.
Hopefully, my experience can offer insight as you Kickstart your very own passion project. This by no means a step-by-step instruction guide; to really dig in, check out Soma Water’s Hacking Kickstarter.
Just remember: the most important step is step one: START.
The project: Subway Sets
Subway Sets brings musicians from the New York underground up to rooftops above the city.
By turning moments on a subway platform into full sets in the sky, we are helping these amazingly talented artists reach a new audience.
We launched our Kickstarter on July 17th, reached our funding goal within 24 hours, and raised a total of $4,402 for our first concert. Below are some learnings I picked up along the way.
Recruit your own small army
All the way back in 2008, Chris Guillebeau wrote an inspiring post called “How to recruit a small army”.
There’s a lot of work behind launching a Kickstarter campaign. It can’t be done alone.
Subway Sets just wouldn’t have been possible without the help of a group of amazing people. LA Hall designed logo — up to and including a phenomenal branding guide. Awesome Foundation NYC selected our project as their July grant recipient. Derek Sexton Horani endured revision after revision (after revision) editing the Kickstarter video. My friend Jesse let us shoot on his skyscraping penthouse rooftop.
These people believed in Subway Sets when it was just a teeny, tiny baby of an idea, and were willing to donate time and resources because they believed in the end product.
Reach out to your network. They’ll dig your passion; you’ll be shocked by how far your friends, family, and coworkers will go to see you succeed.
Don’t sell your project to friends and family. Market it.
The path to a successful campaign inevitably winds through the wallets of your close friends and family. It’s what makes Kickstarter the most viral Marketplace in the history of the Internet; your campaign’s success depends on driving new users to the site, so you naturally want to introduce Kickstarter all over the place. Pretty nifty.
I’ve been in sales my whole life, so my natural inclination was to sell the project; “Let me tell you all about this awesome project. It’s going to be an amazing time; here’s why you should back it.” I corralled friends at parties and send out individual Facebook messages.
It didn’t work.
Your friends and family want to support you, but they don’t want to be sold to. It‘s just uncomfortable.
Instead of laying on the hard sell, trust the value of your product as you put it out into the world. Don’t sell to individuals; market to your network. Likes, shares, tweets, are infinitely easier to garner than dollars, and these social endorsements will eventually bring in backers.
Kickstarter is still the premier platform for creative projects
In terms of site traffic and social caché, Kickstarter wins over other crowdfunding platforms (as well as independent distribution / direct sales, at least for an initial product launch).
The Queen Latifah show found Subway Sets on Kickstarter. Reporters wanted to direct traffic to our Kickstarter. I sent out emails mentioning our status as the “Kickstarter Project of the Day”, and it helped us seal a deal for a venue.
People see kck.st and it evokes positivity and good will. It’s aspirational. The brand defines patronage in the 21st century, and that dynamic will help you market your project.
Launch your project because you want to see it live in the real world
Your $500 sponsor’s credit card might get declined. The show’s opener could back out a week before showtime. You may even lose a bunch of money (disclaimer: this is pretty much a guarantee if your Kickstarter involves music promotion).
In fact, I’d wager that the vast majority of projects on Kickstarter don’t cross the threshold of minimum wage per hour put in.
But seeing a thing you built out there in the wild is an amazing thing.
The next Subway Sets show is Saturday, 11/30 at the Bowery Hotel. Tickets on sale now — can’t wait to see you there.
