Feedback on Kickstarter reward levels.

[psytek]

Hi All,

We're planning to soft launch right before Maker Faire in 9 days and then promote it with 10,000 flyers during the event.  We're going to need a lot of feedback in the next week. 

Please give some feedback on the reward levels now.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1098824070/1344739256?token=a12bb4c8

Thank you so much,

psytek

P.S.  If you require access to any of our online resources please let me know.

[Joseph Omansky]

looks awesome!

--
-- www.hackert0wn.com
------------------
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups hackert0wn group. To post to this group, send email to hacke...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to hackert0wn+...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/hackert0wn?hl=en
 
 

--

http://about.me/josephomansky

[Stuart Bridgett]

I know I only swung by once and vanished again, but I'm interested in getting more involved. I'm studying my ass off at the moment for my NY Professional Engineer's licence, but once that's done I'd like to pitch in directly.

Good luck with the Maker Faire!

Stuart

Cell: 718-838-4499

[nick normal]

The best advice I can give - advice given to me by a Kickstarter employee - is put images of the rewards in the main body, after or woven into your sales pitch. And use the UPDATES feature frequently. You can load rich content in the Updates, such as images and video. Use it like a mini-blog feature.

See y'all soon!

NN

On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 12:40 AM, psytek <psy...@alphaonelabs.com> wrote:

[Jason Scott]

I was pretty sure I covered this in either conversation or phone call,
but here we go.

First of all, NO REWARDS BELOW $100. You're talking about $1,500,000 -
do the math; that's 15,000 supporters if each gave $100. Which most
won't if they can walk away with some $25 crapola and feel good about
themselves. Also, you're in a shipping nightmare if you have thousands
of things to mail out in typical US postage rates.

Leveraging the video is insane - you need MORE, not LESS access to
things like videos and footage of the ideas of the place.

Drawings, images - do these exist?

Do you have any big ticket donors or advertisers lined up? Anyone who
can do $10,000 supporting? To juice this thing? Think about it. At
$10,000 a pop, you'd STILL need 150 people donating that amount.

Can you backfill this beta page with more verbiage and pictures so we
can judge more? Seriously, I'd wipe anything under $100 and move them
up.

On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 12:40 AM, psytek <psy...@alphaonelabs.com> wrote:

[Kyle Ingrelli]

I would tend to agree with Jason on that (despite my earlier comments
on Tuesday). Although, you could easily maintain sub-$100 donations
if the rewards are intangible (non-physical) such as the invites to
ground breakings, parties, and "your name on a wall" kind of levels.

You will easily screw the margins if you are promising cheap crap and
have to then have it produced and shipped. Keep it simple and
concise.

Lets try to get more verbage and detailed descriptions of the various
reward levels, as well as more photos and video about the plan.

-K

[psytek]

Thanks Jason, I adjusted the levels to all be $99 and up.  Working on getting content into the page now.

Kyle, will have some more information about the rewards and plan as well so we can get a better feel for them.  Thanks.

[psytek]

Thank you all for your valuable feedback.

I started adding content to the story area.  Please let me know what you think.  Essentially at this point from what I can tell, I just need to fill in the rest of the facility descriptions, add pictures of the other rewards and upload some renderings / sketches. 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hackert0wn/1344739256?token=a12bb4c8

I'm going to try and get this complete by tomorrow night so I can submit it to Kickstarter for review and be ready to accept backers by Friday.

Video is also in progress and we'll just plug that in when it's ready.

-p

[Kyle Ingrelli]

Other concerns that I've spoken with Sean about:

-Use of company logos on the Kickstarter page. This does not fall
under fair use, logos should be removed.

-I feel that the introduction/description should be a bit more concise
and to the point. Think about answering these basic questions in this
order: What/Why/Where/Who, with a paragraph (3-4 sentences) on each
topic.

-I think the "location" should be left more broad, as in "In New York
City" and/or "In Brooklyn". The person donating from outside NYC
isn't going to care what stop on the L train it is, and since you
don't yet own the land, being _THAT_ specific could cause issues.
Definitely describe the space/layout, but maybe be general as to the
EXACT location.

-If you expect to raise 1.5mil, I think you are going to have to be
very up front about who is involved, and what experience they have to
pull off a project like this. Kickstarter campaigns are coming under
a lot of scrutiny lately and there has even been some community
backlash. Be prepared to answer these questions.

-Last major concern that comes to mind: 6 month build out may not be
realistic. For example, it took me 6 months to build out a small
coffee shop, and I had funding. It has taken many of my customers 3-6
months just to build out new (smallish) office space. Construction
ALWAYS takes longer than you expect, even more when you are dealing
with city government, zoning, occupancy, ADA code, Fire Code, etc....
I feel that the milestones/goals outlined are not really based in
reality, double them. Making questionable milestones is going to be a
red flag and turn people away from donating. This is a huge project,
don't underestimate ANYTHING in attempting to make this happen.
Always be ultra conservative on the HIGH side (in budgeting both time
and money)

That's what I got right now.

-K

[Psy Tek]

Excellent feedback!  Thanks so much Kyle.  I've already removed the logos.  We'll ask permission.  Going to prepare an offer to rent a space to be sent out to them.  Anyone want to help write one up and contact the companies?  I'll work the rest of your feedback back into the document tonight once I've completed the full draft.

[Lily Su]

Hackert0wn is a conglomeration of maker spaces and stores, a mega hackerspace if you will.

Hackerspaces are physical spaces where the public (or everybody) can come together and work on projects, brainstorm ideas, participate in training and activities and gain feedback. 

$479: A custom designed gold all access hackert0wn badge.

What does this mean? What's "all" access? 

The farmshare: What is the quantity? What about non-new yorkers? What if the funding is not enough for the garden? 

gift idea:  

your company logo listed on the Hackertown site

your website, information, promo sent out with our mailing list of supporters 

rent out the space to 

$20,000 - a plane ticket to visit Hackertown from wherever you are, advertisement, meet in person, personalized tour, "let's connect" blah blah... 

Inspiration from this came from: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1397300529/railsapp

"If you or your company is building a product that appeals to new developers, this is a great way to get some visibility, and give back to the community :D Ping me. Let's talk about how we can both get the most out of this."

$119 seems to be too low of a price point to sponsor a class. 

$129 & $139 doesn't sound convincing enough as gifts. Shouldn't the opening ceremony be open to all? 

I would have: video of making, blueprints and sketches be available for viewing online at $99. 

"An art room where you can paint your pictures according to your style."

It's work on "paintings". Lots of artists hate the word "style." 

Please reword to say something like:

"An art studio to work on various creative projects."  (or more messy projects)

EnerGym: check grammar. 

what about info about you and your projects and creating Alpha One? 

[Psy Tek]

Awesome, thanks Lily!  I will work this into the draft as well.  The max amount is $10,000, so we'll have to spread the rewards out more I guess.  I'm planning on adding some people in the credits with their pictures and short bios.   

--

[Psy Tek]

Hi Jason,

As for the big ticket donors, nobody lined up as of yet, we're going to send out an offer letter to retail shops to get commitments to back at that level.  We originally had "Rent a store front retail space for 1 year" as a reward level, however we took it down because we thought it may be against KS terms.  I'd like to add it back, if we can, along with "Rent a private office for a year", these can potentially get this going quickly.

Thanks

On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 1:04 PM, Jason Scott <ja...@textfiles.com> wrote:

[Jonathan Dahan]

More rewards ideas:

  Your name in a custom visualisation that is up permanently, maybe something like the WTC memorial localprojects/jer thorpe did.

  Hand-lasercut/etched thank you notes

  Lasercut anything that is NxN inches

- Jonathan

[Andrew Turley]

Just a few thoughts ...

1. It isn't entirely clear to me whether the $1.5M goal will be enough to cover everything that was discussed on the page, or if you actually need $5M (or more) to do all of it. If only a subset of those things can be done with $1.5M, say what those things are. Maybe even consider sticking only to those things in the description and don't mention the $5M.

2. Some of the cost estimates seem low. I know Alpha One has done some amazing things with limited resources, but I think you should include some links or more information about how you plan to pull some of these things off. For example, the "Water" section should have a some links to working water systems that have been built for $5000, or at least to the systems that you're proposing to use. Same thing with the FabLab, a few more details about that $200K cost could go a long way in making people feel better about the chances of it getting built.

3. You probably only need pictures for a few of the items. Maybe pick the five best and use them. For example, I don't think the bus pictures add much.

4. I know this is a draft, but make sure that somebody edits for grammar and consistency before it goes live.

5. There are a few places where the language gets overly hyperbolic. "We have a retail marketplace where hackers can pick up supplies ranging from a simple circuit board to the most exotic material." You might have useful items, but I doubt you'll have "the most exotic material".

Raising $1.5M is ambitious, but I don't think it's impossible. I think the best way to get there is to convince people that you have a solid plan by giving more concrete details that properly convey how much thought has gone into this project so far.

andy

[Psy Tek]

Thank you so much for the awesome feedback Andy!  I will work this feedback into the Kickstarter campaign as well as all of the other feedback tonight.  Thanks everyone.

[Psy Tek]

I'm making changes now - I've created a uservoice for us to keep track of all the feedback.  You can vote on things you think are very important and see the status of things you've suggested.  You can also comment on other people's feedback individually. - http://hackert0wn.uservoice.com Thanks!

[Psy Tek]

Nick: I put an image of the t-shirt and may add a thermal coffee cup and tote bag, planning on updating at least once a day, I'm committed to having this be my life for the next month (and probably years after).  

Jason: pretty much got everything on your previous feedback list.  Will add more sketches of the making tomorrow and video as soon as that comes together.

Kyle: I've removed the logos, changed the location, added some pictures of people involved and streached out the timeline a bit.  I'm going to have a writer look it over for final sentiment and flow when all of the technical pieces are in place.

Lily: I've implemented all of your feedback.

Jonathan:  What price levels do you see those rewards being at?

Andrew:  In response to your list:

1. I'm going to give more of a plan (see plan section).  The underlying idea is that these containers are modular and this project is scalable.  So even at the 1.5M level we'll have everything mentioned, only a smaller subset of it, excluding the retail section.  Some places will scale proportionally less based on their revenue potential, for example the farmland and office space.  

2. I've started a more accurate cost estimate in the Budget section and am taking the estimates off of the descriptions.  Let me know if this is looking good so far and if we can make this better.

3. I've combined the fish farm and farmland, please let me know which ones you think can be combined.  The way I wrote this out is that anything that had its own container had a section.  I see your point though and agree.  I removed the bus section completely.  Do you think the text should still remain or should the bus be treated as another project?

4.  Will have a writer do this.

5. I've changed this specific instance, please let me know if there is something else that stands out.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback and please keep it coming.  It would be great if you entered it directly into here so I can keep track https://hackert0wn.uservoice.com/ email is also fine, I can just add it in.   Also please vote on the suggestions in uservoice you want to see happen first (no signup required) so I'll know where to focus.

If all goes well today, this will be in the hands of the Kickstarter review team tonight and live before Friday.