our digital manufacturing ecosystem
Digital Platform
Global Manufacturing Network
People on the ground
features
Instant Pricing
Manufacturability Feedback
Fulfillment Transparency
3D Printing
Processes Available
CNC Machining
Finishing Options
Injection Molding
Urethane Casting
3D Printing Materials
Plastics
Metals
Urethane Casting Materials
Digital Manufacturing Resources
Resource Center
Content Categories
Learn about fictiv
Help Center
Topics
featured reads
DFM for CNC Machining
2020 State of Manufacturing Report
Introducing Fictiv Radical Transparency: An Industry-First Solution for Production Visibility
Article
search
content type
filter by
Role
▸
Topic
Industry
Manufacturing Processes
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We may use the info you submit to contact you and use data from third parties to personalize your experience.
Thank you for subscribing!
Christine Evans
04.25.2015 New Product Introduction
You’ve ran your tests and iterated until you can iterate no more (well, you could but you won’t). Now finally, (finally!) you’re ready to bring your product to the masses.
But what’s the best way to get it out there? Kickstarter and Indiegogo have brought some real success stories to market over the past few years and many more companies are choosing to go their own way with pre-orders not backed by any platform.
Whether you’re a team of 1, 10 or 100, there are great opportunities to finance your hardware product; it just comes down to picking the right platform.
Less stringent approval means you can start your campaign fasterIndiegogo is the only large international optionFlexible model means you can keep some money even if your project is unsuccessful, provided you’re able to uphold promises to pledgers.
Alternatively, some startups choose to forgo crowdfunding platforms altogether and finance their products via pre-orders on their own website.
The numbers around this financing path are more elusive as there’s no central authority keeping track. However according to Techcrunch, in Q1 of 2015 about 1/6th of hardware campaigns (in dollars) were hosted via pre-order campaigns.
If that’s true then total hardware crowdfunding dollars are bumped up to about $85 million in this first quarter alone. Pretty amazing stuff.
To sum it up, there’s no one way to do it.
We know startups who have done incredibly well on all three of the platforms mentioned, so the key is to look at the facts available and choose the best path for your product.
+ Want to generate more buzz around your upcoming campaign? Apply to be featured in our Hardware Spotlight series here.
Learn More