“I think that’s one of the inherent difficulties of trying to run a Kickstarter,” said Albers, comparing the process to pitching to venture capitalists and angel investors, where questions and concerns can be easier to predict. On the other hand more experienced users who knew how the process operated were coming in and supporting the efforts. They noticed a number of artists who weren’t regular Kickstarter customers arriving at the company’s page to offer praise without necessarily contributing to the campaign. “We started recognizing there were two very different populations here,” Albers said. One of the things that Albers noticed about people coming to their campaign was how distinct the audiences were. Through their campaign, Albers and Fulbright were able to get coverage from Popular Science, Gizmodo, The Coloradoan, The Denver Channel and other publications.īoosting their visibility helped draw more customers to their company and created a stronger awareness of their product. After successfully funding his company’s Kickstarter campaign, Albers gained insights into a few of the lesser known – but equally valuable – ways entrepreneurs can take advantage of crowdfunding. Benefits besides moneyĪlthough it tends to be highlighted most frequently, cash isn’t the only thing that can help grow a business. Living Ink was covered by local and national media. “People, I think, often make the incorrect assumption that you make a lot of money from a Kickstarter campaign that’s going to support your company for a long time,” Albers said. The Kickstarter campaign they created ended up raising over $60,000, surging past their original goal of $15,000. “The impact was huge on our company,”Albers said. Video of Living Ink’s time-lapsing ink from their Kickstarter. With round-table sessions that gave the co-founders access to consultants, leaders in finance, product development, and crowdfunding, Albers and Fulbright were able to develop a strategy to jump start their company, Living Ink. “The Venture Accelerator program was really valuable to help us open our eyes.” “Through this process we’ve learned to know what we don’t know, and to try and make connections to fill in those gaps,” said Albers. “We were going to learn by doing.”īut succeed or fail, he wanted to come away with the knowledge of how to create a startup and develop a company. “I made it explicit that one of our goals was we wanted to start a company,” said Albers. Through developing a solution they came to monkii bars, a portable suspension training kit that can be used over tree limbs, doors, and even off the side of a hot air balloon.Įnter the Venture Accelerator program in the College of Business’s Institute for Entrepreneurship, which provides advising and mentoring to CSU students working to bring their ideas to life. What Hunt and his co-founder, Dan Vinson, settled on was addressing the poor-quality outdoor gym equipment. “So on a day to day basis I’m looking around the world, kind of noticing problems,” said Hunt, “And thinking, ‘Okay, how could I solve that with a business or a product.’” “It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur.”Īs a student in an entreprenureal graduate program, he was surrounded by faculty and classmates who supported his business-oriented mindset. But less than five years later, the College of Business Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise MBA graduate’s newest project, monkii bars 2, broke the $1,000,000 mark in 42 days, launching the exercise company he co-founded into high gear.Īfter Hunt’s company eclipsed $50,000 in an hour, he had a simple reflection on the experience. David Hunt, College of Business MBA graduateĬo-founder and CEO, The Wild Gym Company/monkii barsĭavid Hunt’s first Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign only had nine followers and didn’t even hit a quarter of its goal.
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