The PrintABlok:Beasts kickstarter finished successfully in May 2021. This post mortem was written up right after it so the lessons of that kickstarter could be remembered.

The models are modeled, tested, packaged up, delivered, repaired again, repackaged up, and finally delivered to all the backers. The post-kickstarter listings are in the shop. http://printablok.com has been redirected back to those listings. The kickstarter has been post-KS edited with appropriate links and I can finally close that tab on my browser. I’ve even started the process of uploading the models to make.toys, for Toybox users (which I can honestly say is the reason this whole thing happened.)

Now’s the time to look back on this kickstarter and figure out what went right, what could have gone better, and what I’m going to do next time.

What went right

1000% funded. Over 100 new bloks model. 11 live streams during the month. There are now at least 10 new reasons to startup your 3D printer out there in the world, in the form of 10 new beast shaped mechs.

This Kickstarter was a success. It did what it set out to do and I have every reason to be proud of the accomplishment.

Livestreams good

I liked the livestreams. Much of the minutia of the designs were worked out with the influence of people who were chatting in the livestreams. I want to do livestreams more often. It was a collaborative design effort, and made the designs better.

But, timing is a consideration. I generally can’t run a livestream during the day, tho I feel I need to find a way to do do some during the day to get everyone who could attend. I enjoyed the voice (thru discord) collaboration, and want to do more of that.

What could have been better

Would that I could leave it at that. Because this was a success, and I don’t want to lose sight of that.

But there is a looming sense that this kickstarter could have been more, that it should have been more. This has led me to, even before the kickstarter ended, doing a lot of navel gazing. And participating in this sort of thought as early as I did kind of drained the joy from the accomplishment of this kickstarter.

Without being too long winded about it, I could tell early on that this kickstarter got off on the wrong foot. It just wasn’t achieving the sort of numbers that Mechs was at the same point in it’s progression, which is not what I expected at all. I expected most of the mech backers to come back, and that that would catapult this to even greater success. If you look at their progression, they almost have the same curve, but the Beast curve was scaled down from the Mech’s one. And I think there’s a number of reasons for that.

Blame it on the ‘rona

It’s tempting to say that the difference between mechs and beasts is all because of the worldwide pandemic that happened between mechs and beasts. And for sure, COVID-19 probably had some effect. Having to be without essentials taught some people to be a bit more frugal with their spending. Also, a general sense of doom might have decreased people’s willingness to spend on tchotchkes.

One thing that Corona virus did was to throw my schedule for a loop. When Mechs ended, I immediately started planning the next kickstarter. I had pretty much decided on Beasts, even back then. (The next one’s gonna be Skyforce, by the way.) I had planned it for October. I was going to model and build up to it. I had plans. But COVID forced me to put those plans away, and I didn’t know when I should pull them back out again, and the uncertainty of it all mixed with an impending deadline meant I didn’t give it the proper build up.

But was the reason Beasts didn’t go viral due to a virus, or were there other factors at play?

Ain’t the YouTuber I was

Ever since the Low Poly Dinos I’ve known that people were supporting me in these kickstarters, not necessarily the projects. And lately I haven’t been making the same volume of YouTube videos I used to. I want to believe that the quality has gone up. But the fact remains I’ve let YouTube slip a bit lately.

Part of it is because it’s been difficult to make YouTube videos lately. My time is tighter, and I’m spending more effort on editing the videos. However, if I ever want something like this to succeed in the future, I’ve got to become a better YouTuber.

Either that or I’ve got to change the sort of projects I’m doing to the sort of kickstarter darling projects. Like high-detailed minis for gaming that won’t actually print without supports but look good in the renders. But I don’t really want to do those sorts of things. First of all, I don’t play a lot of those sorts of games. Secondly, my instinct for designing for FFF-friendly 3D printing is just too ingrained at this point.

Disingenuous motivations

It pains me to say this, but I might not have run this kickstarter with the right motivations. Not to say my motivations were wrong. But I did this kickstarter, in part, because I needed the money. So I rushed the start of this kickstarter, didn’t do enough of a lead in, didn’t research what worked and didn’t in the past, heck I didn’t even read my previous post mortems.

There were other factors as well. I was feeling anxious because it had been a year since the last kickstarter, and it was never supposed to be that long between them. But if I put it off it would have been months before I could do it and I didn’t want to wait. So I jumped in too quickly with too little build up. And build up is important.

What I can do better next time

Despite my downer contemplation, there have been some positive ideas that came from this experience, and I think I have some ideas for next time that are going to rock the Casaba.

Better at YouTube

If I’m gonna make less videos, that’s fine, but they’ve got to be way higher quality. Lately I’ve been thinking I need a camera person for at least some of the shots. You can just tell when there’s a moving camera in the scene and it makes videos much more personal. But I also need to make sure they tell a story. Give the videos a hook, a promise at the beginning that pays off by the end. It’s time I get good at YouTube.

Lead in, lead in, lead in

I need to make the sample models months in advance.

I need to get those sample models into the hands of select influencers, big and small.

I need to be talking about this in videos for months ahead of time and getting people excited for it.

I also should put printed samples in the hands of some bigger influencers. (I actually did try doing this, but couldn’t get ahold of anyone in time. So I’ve now got 2 full sets sitting here with no one to give them to. that’s okay, though. That’ll give me something to put on the table at fairs and conventions for people to play with, in addition to giving me a reason to get a booth at the fairs and conventions.)

Also, I need to re-read the past post-mortems. That’s why I write them, to teach me what I could do better. Oddly enough, I didn’t write a post-mortem for Mechs. Maybe that was the fault of the ‘rona. Maybe that was because I ran that one just about perfect and didn’t think there was anything else to teach my future self. I really did do everything I put in the Chibimals write-up, and it seemed to have worked. But that’s not true. This didn’t raise no million dollars. I can do better!

Mini-kickstarter?

Here’s an idea. There have been, in the past, kickstarters that were only a few weeks long and raised ludicrous amounts of money. most of the money in my kickstarters happen in the first and last days. What if I just cut out most of the middle? I had that though at the end of Mechs, but, like I said, didn’t write it down. But that would definitely take the stress off me, allow me to do kickstarters more often, and would still be fair.

I way over delivered on this kickstarter  I regret nothing, but I also shouldn’t do that in the future. However, I’m going to have to limit the $100 “You’re the boss” tier. Which pains me, but that’s really the reason I had to over deliver so much in this one.

To be a winner, study winners

I should get into a habit of trolling kickstarter and taking notes about successful kickstarters. Like million dollar plus kickstarters. And not just in categories I’m interested in. I need to learn how to appeal to a wider audience.

So how long is a million dollar kickstarter video? Do they have people talking to the camera or lots of stock footage? What are they talking about? What about the story text? Are there things that convince people to back kickstarters to high numbers?

I need to create in my mind a picture of a million dollar kickstarter, and design my kickstarters to be a million dollar kickstarter.

What have we learned?

Adding the lessons of this kickstarter to the lessons of previous post-mortems and we get:

• Before the next kickstarter
  • Study successful kickstarters
  • Be better at YouTube
• Leading in to the kickstarter:
  • Register the domain and point it at the mailing list
  • Build the starters model
  • Talk about it in videos
  • Get the starter models in the hands of influencers
  • Get printed sets in the hands of big influencers
  • Clear the calendar
  • Check the math
  • Prepare the content to release along the way
• During the kickstarter
  • Keep it small
  • Design it around successful kickstarters
  • Evaluate the value of the idea
  • $10 Get-it-All reward tier
  • Check the math on the stretch goals
  • Frequent and regular livestreams
  • Have a freeby to release at the mid-way point (Didn’t do that this time either.)