What I didn't know was how their process worked. I thought I could hit publish and wait a day or two and then poof! I'd be live.

Now, I was flippant and decided I would hit my campaign goal at a dollar, and anything extra would be appreciated. After all, crowdfunding was never my sole strategy. It was always meant to be an add-on and a way to vet Seed&Spark. It was never a big deal since anything I put on their site could be used in the mega pitch deck and vice versa. Again, we have not because we ask not, right? So... I might as well launch!

I wrapped up the Seed&Spark campaign and hit submit. Not long after, I got an email from one of their guys, whom I'll call Frank:

Hi Jake,

Thank you so much for your submission! "Powers & Principalities" sounds like a really interesting project.

My name is Frank Helmut. I look forward to working with you on getting this project launched.

Can you please confirm your campaign goal as it will help me provide the best feedback possible? I'd just like to confirm that you are aware that you must raise at least 80% of your goal to receive your funds on our platform.

I also see that you've previously run crowdfunding campaigns. Can you let me know a bit about that experience, what you learned and anything you'd like to do differently?

Below, you'll find some notes and videos on your Pitch Video, Wish List & Incentives, as well as some notes on Education & Outreach.

Pitch Video:

Your pitch video has a lot of really great energy and elements. However, I think it'd help if you provided me with some additional context about your project and its goals so that I can give you the strongest feedback possible.

Wish List

Right now, you have one item listed as $1. You want to ensure that the Wish List provides your audience with a solid, visual breakdown of what you'll be raising for. You should get as specific as possible in regards to equipment and locations in order to take advantage of our Loan feature.

Feel free to take a look at the other campaigns on the site for some ideas.

Incentives

You have some good incentives to start off with.

I do recommend exploring a visual, shareable and more instant incentive at the $25 amount. $25 is the most common amount contributed and offering something visual is a great way to turn your supporters into amplifiers of your campaign.

Check out this video from our Crowdfunding to Build Independence Online Class: Creating-Incentives-for-Your-Audience

Education & Outreach

In case you haven't, we highly encourage you work through the Crowdfunding to Build Independence Handbook to make sure you're getting the most out of your crowdfunding campaign. Look closely at the audience building and outreachsections.

The number one thing that you can be doing right now is very targeted outreach- which means being able to answer the questions:



1. Who is Your Audience?

2. Who is this Movie for?

3. How do you get to them?

4. How big is your current network?

What do your other networks look like? Historically speaking 60-80% of people who will contribute to your campaign know you or know about the film already. How many people do you have a direct connection with who are interested in what you are doing and want to be a part of this.

The first 30% of your campaign needs to come in the first couple of days and this will come from your direct community and therefore there is a lot of direct outreach that needs to happen right now. Now is the time to write to people and personally let them know about the campaign and ask can you count on them in the first two days and for how much.



The reason that 30% is so important is that it tells the general public that there is momentum behind this project, that the people nearest to you are excited and trust you, and that there is a good chance this film will get completed.



These emails should be short, visual and exciting and should entice people to join the journey and share with their community- even if they can only contribute $20.00.

If you have any questions, please let me know. We're here to help! And when you have a new version of your campaign ready for me to review, please let me know via this e-mail thread.

Thanks so much!

Best,

-Frank

Whoa! Crazy feedback there Frank!

I was surprised, so I went along with it:

Here's a video message: <inserted a YouTube link of me talking instead of typing out an email>

Thanks Frank,

P.s. I'm making changes. Please review tomorrow. Thanks monsieur!

Then I wrote him a day later after taking his advice to heart:

Frank,

all of my desired changes are in place. Thanks for the detailed feedback - let me know when it's live.

#FrankForGovernor2018

Two days later, The Frank Strikes Back:

Hi Jacob,

Thanks for your response and video response. That's definitely been a first!

To confirm, your new campaign goal is $2,117?

Understanding that, I'm able to provide much stronger and detailed feedback. Take a look below:

Pitch Video:

The Pitch Video as it stands does a good job of outlining the themes of the project and social importance, but we've found that audiences come to learn specific points about a project before deciding to contribute financially or follow. Take a look below:

The pitch video needs to be something that stands alone so that if someone were to only watch a 90 second video they would have all the information on the film and the filmmakers. It should open with footage from your film as the purpose of a pitch video is to "show and not tell" your audience what the film is going to look and feel like.

Videos heavy on direct address to camera historically do not do as well.

The quality and care that you take with the pitch video is what your audience will assume will be reflective of your finished film.

The pitch video is a combination of WHO, WHAT & WHY.



WHO- you and the team are

WHAT- the project is

WHY- you're making it, why we should care, why you need the money and why right now.

The WHO, WHAT, & WHY should happen as quickly as possible!

This all needs to happen in under 2 minutes. People will stop watching at 90 seconds so anything important needs to happen before that mark.

Keep in mind: Who is the audience for this film? Who will this excite? Why will they get excited? The first 15 seconds of the video should SHOW them the stuff they're excited about FIRST.

I highly recommend watching this video first: Don't Make Another Boring Pitch Video

Wish List

Great breakdown! I'd encourage to get as specific as possible in regards to equipment and locations in order to take advantage of our Loan feature.

Incentives

Appreciate your note on the incentives. Would you mind sending along a screenshot so I can pass that onto our tech team?

I also wanted to take this opportunity to reiterate the importance of getting that first 30% in the first 3 days of your campaign. Do you have commitments from people to contribute in the first 3 days? This will provide the necessary momentum to bring your campaign to the Green Light.

Strangers will only begin to pay attention once momentum has grown through your work. There's a misconception that crowdfunding is a "if you build it they will come" event, when actually you will need to identify all the people you want to target, how you're going to reach them and what you're going to say ahead of time.

Let me know if you have any questions. We're here to help!

Best,

Frank

In other words, my campaign was on hold. I was toast. I threw in the white towel:

Frank, thanks.

I'm all for creating a super-niche community of filmmakers, and because I wouldn't adapt to their requirements, it's on me for not launching on their platform.

See that? It's my fault - not theirs. They wanted Cold Stone. I was too cheap and wanted a half-gallon of vanilla from the freezer section. The courtship was over.

Pros: super curated community of filmmakers with built-in checks and balances to maximize your campaign with them.

Cons: not handy in a pinch, when you just need to hit the switch to "on" for your "OPEN" sign hanging above your checkout lane, which is what I needed to do.

With another failed relationship on the books, I called an audible. I used Indiegogo back in the spring of 2013 to raise a few bucks for my microbudget feature, and with their flexible funding (you can keep what you raise), I looked true north to my old point-of-sale system.

11b. Good ole Indiegogo

I won't do a detailed primer on setting up your campaign here. Just follow the questions and prompts. It's pretty user-friendly.

What I didn't know about Indiegogo is the instant publication. There is no review. Click submit and poof! You're live! It's the exact opposite of Seed&Spark.

My first Indiegogo pitch video was super basic because I knew my mega pitch was going to do the talking for me, which I strung out for the info sections on Indiegogo. I did this short pitch video for us visual learners only (some people don't read/can't read):