Kickstarting

About Kickstarter.com: Kickstarter is a new way to crowd-source creative projects - powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands. As a funder, you look on Kickstarter.com and find projects you believe in and use your Amazon login to pledge some amount of money - it can be as little as $1 - and your card will only be charged if the project reaches its funding target before their deadline. As a creator, you go to Kickstarter.com to describe your idea, set a fundraising goal and a deadline, and to "setup rewards to inspire people to open their wallets". If funding fails, all pledges are canceled and that's that. Why?

1. It's less risk for everyone. If you need $5,000, it's tough having $2,000 and a bunch of people expecting you to complete a $5,000 project.

2. It allows people to test concepts (or conditionally sell stuff) without risk. If you don't receive the support you want, you're not compelled to follow through. This is huge!

3. It motivates. If people want to see a project come to life, they're going to spread the word.

If you want to know more about Kickstarter.com, check out their FAQ.

The project I wanted to share with you guys is called Smarthistory. This is basically an attempt to create a viable replacement to college texts on the subject of Art History - and to leave that content freely available on the web.

Both my lifelong goal of continuing my personal development and my role as a parent who desires to be involved in his children's education find something admirable - even laudable - in this. However, there are only 26 days left, and they're still about $2000 short of their goal - so I thought I would appeal to all of you here: if you think this is something worth doing, and even if you can only pledge $1, please login and give your pledge. And if you can do more than $1, take a quick look at the "Rewards" panel on the right hand side and see if there's something interesting to you - I mean, who wouldn't want to take a tour of a NYC Art Museum with a professional Art Historian there to explain the significance of the pieces?