Kickstarter is a website that lets you contribute money toward getting people’s business ideas started. The idea is pretty simple – someone comes up with an idea they’d like to implement but they don’t have the money. They post the idea on Kickstarter with a video and a description of what they’d like to do, and ask for the money needed to start the project. Individuals offer to contribute toward the total. Depending on the amount pledged, contributors are awarded with different gifts. If the total required to get the project started is contributed by the end date set for the project, then the project gets the money and the gifts are awarded. If the project isn’t fully funded, then nobody pays, but there are no rewards, either.
I’ve pledged on a handful of projects, both successful and not. My first project was for a roleplaying game called “Human Contact”, which is by an author whose other game I already own. He posted about the project on his web site, and I thought is was an interesting idea, so I contributed. With the funding from Kickstarter, he was able to write the new book and have a first batch printed, for both rewarding contributors and for future resale.