Your money or your ... indifference

For my first-ever foray into the merciless realm of Kickstarter, I briefly examine three varied Alberta projects: one abject failure, one modest success, and one ambitious dream project.

The fail

As I write this, "send my daughter to Spain" has raised $100 of its $2,500 target, with 21 minutes left and counting. I don't like its chances.

I'm sure lower-case-w wendy is a sweet mom with a sweet kid, but this is one sad Kickstarter. The pitch looks like it was slapped together, complete with random punctuation , and Weird Capitalization. It tells us nothing about her daughter — What does the trip mean to her? Is this campaign her only hope? What effort is she contributing?

But the biggest flaw with this effort boils down to two factors:

1. The project photo is strangely lit and massively overexposed. 
2. The pledge reward is a photoshoot.

The (im)modest success

To this charming young artist I say: Your idea is crazy. But, then again, I'm 53 and I think a pierced septum is also crazy. So, you go, girl.

I clicked on this project because I thought it was a joke, but chelsea (again with the lower-case!) won me over with her persuasive, articulate and quirky pitch. She clearly won over a few other people; her $300 project is fully funded with 5 days to spare. I kind of want to follow this story. What will she look like? Are 500 tattoos really enough? ("I've got underwear that I will be willing to wear" — hee!)

The dream project

This Beaumont couple is doing so many things right—and they've raised $40K of their target $95K with five and a half weeks left to go.

They go a bit overboard with the level of detail in their pitch, but I like the sense that they have truly done their homework. I'll even forgive the occasional lapse into hyperbole ("The service will be unlike anything you've had before").

Their rewards (example: brunch for two for a $40 pledge) offer decent value for money, along with the excitement of supporting a new local business — without burdening the owners with a huge financial liability down the road.

This thank-you YouTube video to their supporters pushed my twee-meter slightly into the danger zone — but, gosh darn it, I am pulling for these two.