Attaining overnight crowdfunding success like latest star, UNIZ

As the first month of the year draws to a close, UNIZ, makers of the fastest 3D printers, don’t have to worry about finance for a while as their crowdfunding campaign continues to hit goal after goal. They broke records when they reached their initial goal of $30,000 after only an hour. 24 hours later, they had earned another $100,000. Now, they are at $220,000 and the money keeps rolling in.

The company is raising money to fund the release of their new professional and prosumer SLA-3D printers. They have now established a new stretch goal of $250,000 which adds an extra zUDP Resin bottle to all pledges if they can reach their goal before the campaign ends.

“UNIZ is not unique in their overnight success with fundraising. In 2013, a company based in New Zealand called Minaal, launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $30,000 for their custom-designed travel bag. They reached their goal in less than 7 hours and 8 hours, after that, they had raised over $50,000. “ – Business Loan and Development Specialists – BridgingLoans.co.uk

An even more impressive crowdfunding feat was pulled off by the Coolest Cooler which raked in a whopping $13 million, shattering Kickstarter’s records in 2014. Anyone would want to be in the founder’s shoes. After all, the campaign’s goal was a modest $50,000.

Lessons to learn from successful crowdfunding campaigns

While every product and every campaign is unique, there is no harm in digging deeper to discover what has worked for the most successful crowdfunding campaigns. When these cases are considered closely, it begins to seem like it is more an art than a science. While the hope to reach the goal is there, overnight success always comes as a surprise.

One of the key factors these successes tend to have in common is they don’t tend to come out of anywhere. Not that it is impossible for an unknown to be successful, but it is more likely for a campaign to surpass its goal if the people behind it have a strong foundation which, might be in form of online or offline connections. Recognition and trust are crucial in the world of fundraising, however, you choose to do it.

Unlike VC capital or angel investment, crowdfunding is not about the numbers. A campaign has to inspire a community deeply enough to make members of that community want to back the project. To reach overnight success, you need to be able to do this regardless of whether you already have a community following or not.

There is certainly an advantage in the model used by crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter. It makes it easy for backers to impulsively contribute to your campaign, knowing they can get something in return, which is a way of holding the campaigners accountable. The factor of being able to get their money back if the campaign does not reach its goal is another advantage as transparency is key.

Resilience and learning from past mistakes

Crowdfunding shares a few similarities with other forms of funding; one of those is rejection and everything else in between success and failure. Consider that the founder of the Coolest Cooler, Ryan Grepper, had actually launched his campaign for the first time a year before his phenomenal success. At first, he had set his goal at $125,000 but was able to make only $100,000. By the time he tried again, he had made improvements to his design and only set his goal at $50,000.

Overnight success sounds like bliss, but it happens so rarely that you cannot bet your chances on it. Like traditional financing, getting the money is not easy, but of course, a big score is always a possibility.

Melissa Thompson

I’m a single mother of 2 living in Utah writing about startups, business, marketing, entrepreneurship, and health. I also write for Inc, Score, Manta, and Newsblaze

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