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Comment by CjHuber | Hacker News Reader

Is it just me or was kickstarter just a failure in general? I mean there is pebble ofc, but other than that and a few games? IMO it always seemed like kickstarter was just for people who wanted to write startup entrepreneur in their CV, but were too unserious to be able to raise money otherwise even during ZIRP

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I’m not even sure I’d consider this a failure. Kickstarter is all about using community funding to get unique enterprises and products off the ground. This product is unique, and the designer obviously has learned a ton about manufacturing in China and going from “idea” to “fulfilled orders”.

That’s what Kickstarter is for. Missing deadlines is almost expected, and in most cases it wouldn’t surprise me if I never get the product at all. I’m helping fund someone’s passion project first and foremost; actually getting the item is almost entirely secondary for me.

I've backed 3 kickstarter items, 2 have been great, 1 was not very good quality but still worked. I don't do this much because I'm generally skeptical. One of the successes did take an extra ~6 months to arrive and mine was slightly defective but they did immediately replace it for me.

All the BattleTech minis have been huge successes. I’ve supported some local ones, like a machined metal wallet, but anything with technology scares me.

I’ve gotten items for many kickstarters over the years. TBH, the only ones that have failed me were supporting local ones.

My first Kickstarter pledge went great--an led lamp that looks like a book. None of the others panned out

It could be worse; there's also IndieGoGo.

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