As many of you know, we recently wrapped a nail-biter of a Kickstarter campaign, which packed a fair amount of anxiety before rocketing in the final 48 hours, propelling us even beyond our initial fundraising goal.

One widely-circulated rule of thumb is that 80% of Kickstarter pledges come in during the first and final days of a campaign, bracketing a long, sad, drawn-out middle.

Instead, we saw a slow but steady climb in pledges, until something extraordinary happened just before the end - when our sustained outreach, brainstorming and cross-promotional efforts with other, like-minded Kickstarters* contributed to a more general wave of awareness out there on the gaming blogs to create the critical mass we needed, just when we needed it, to supplement our own fantastic personal networks of supporters.  

And finally new pledges began to pour in. This was an extraordinary experience itself, to be sure, but in some ways, even more extraordinary was the real-time dialogue we established with fellow Kickstarters who were rooting for us with all they had as our clock ticked down, even while keeping an eye on their own – not always 100% thriving – Kickstarter campaigns, which we in turn continued to promote.  

This genuine engagement, shared anxiety, and ultimate exuberance (in victory) of fellow Kickstarters was one of the most surprising and satisfying parts of my personal Kickstarter journey.

Surely this kind of collaboration is exactly what makes the indie community of creators so great.

*Special mention here to the inimitable Tex Murphy Mutant League (crushed one reach level already – how high can we take them?!), James Carter of iphone app love story, NY_Hearts (JUST 48 HRS TO GO, please send him some love NOW!!), Simonyi Cecilia of Children of the Elements (a gorgeous children’s app with a week and 70% to go), and Xeko (a digital Pokemon “with a purpose” that makes learning about endangered species effortless and fun).  Also kudos to David Hunter of the runaway hit Zombie-Based Learning project, and Robert Della Fave of Hiro Fodder - just wrapped, yeah!