Jen Lebron Kuhney

The Republic | azcentral.com

Nearly two thirds of Kickstarter projects fail to reach their fundraising goals, but Phoenix businessman Nathan Mummert has figured out a secret that has led to nine fully funded projects that have raised more than $300,000, including his company's latest project, which shattered its goal in half a day.

Mummert and his team at iSkelter launched a crowd-sourced fundraiser on Kickstarter for Lift, a product that can turn any desk or table into a standing desk.

Kickstarter is a website where anyone in the world can donate money to become a "backer" for a creative project.

Mummert asked the Internet for $13,500 to build the first run of the desk and found enough backers to get it fully funded in 12 hours. Nine days into the campaign, it had raised nearly $43,000.

It wasn't his first success with the site. He's had eight other successful wood-based projects since April 2013. His first was a $30 wooden caddy that holds a smartphone, pen and other small items on a desk or nightstand.

Other projects that have been successfully funded included desk calendars, desks and a technology caddy that is reminiscent of a TV tray.

His formula for success? Setting low enough goals to cover the initial production costs, having a limited number of discounted products and not bothering with rewards other Kickstarter project creators offer such as stickers or mugs.

Many Kickstarter campaigns entice backers with rewards such as T-shirts or other knickknacks to those who want to support an idea but can't afford to buy a product that costs hundreds of dollars.

Mummert said he doesn't see Kickstarter as a way to raise funds for his ideas as much as a vehicle to build a pre-order list.

"It's a way of doing market research," he said. "It lets us spend a few hundred bucks to build the prototype and lets the customers pay for the initial run. It helps us know what options people really like or don't like."

It hasn't been all success for the team, though. Their first two attempts at crowd-funding projects on Kickstarter failed.

He had created a smartphone dock to help amplify the sound coming from its speakers. There wasn't much interest in the project from customers. A second try with the same project also failed. iSkelter no longer offers the product.

"We sold some of them on Etsy, but the demand wasn't there," Mummert said.

Etsy, like Kickstarter, is a place for independent artists and designers to market and sell their own products directly to the online consumer.

Mummert's furniture company, iSkelter, wouldn't have been possible without the use of the Internet, Kickstarter and his targeting of tech-savvy customers who aren't afraid to buy new, small-run products on sites such as Etsy, he said.

Mummert started his first businesses in 2008 after he graduated from high school. He'd taught himself graphic design, and he and his business partner, David Stuebe, founded Taste of Ink, a Scottsdale company that specialized in high-end business cards.

They sold the business in 2011 and parted ways until creating iSkelter in 2012.

They have big plans for their business. They said they hope to launch a new product on Kickstarter every four to six weeks.

Kickstarter's rules say that a project creator must completely send out all its rewards to backers before starting another funding effort. Mummert and iSkelter are circumventing those rules with multiple accounts.

He said iSkelter hasn't had trouble fulfilling orders so far because they can produce up to a couple of hundred items a day in their Phoenix warehouse.

They've had some scattered complaints about slow shipping on their Kickstarters but have eventually fulfilled all the rewards for all the projects they've fundraised for so far, Mummert said.

Mummert said that his company is already discussing getting a bigger space to keep up with the demand for its products. iSkelter is locked into its lease for a 2,200-square-foot commercial space in the Ahwatukee-Foothills area for another year and a half, he said. However, he is considering leasing a second location to increase production and have additional storage.

Mummert and his team are already coming up with ideas for their next projects, including a mechanical version of the Lift standing desk.

The current Lift Kickstarter ends on Sept. 9. Once the projects are fully funded and the backer period is over on Kickstarter, customers can buy them on iSkelter's website, Amazon or Etsy.