How to take your DIY Electronics Project for Crowd Funding?

Summary

This Circuit Digest video explores the journey of taking a DIY project to a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter. The host interviews Prien Par, a successful Indian Kickstarter campaigner, who shares his experience with 3D printing and launching his project, Pet Fusion. The conversation covers the challenges of launching from a non-supported country, the importance of a compelling video and detailed description, and the financial aspects of a campaign. Prien offers advice on making a project Kickstarter-worthy, emphasizing the need for both functionality and appealing design.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video discusses transitioning functional DIY projects into products via crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo.
• 🔍 Ashwin from Circuit Digest admits he lacks personal experience in crowdfunding, so he consults with Prien Par, a successful Kickstarter campaigner.
• 🎓 Prien Par is a 3D printing hobbyist and a YouTuber who used the money from his gaming channel to invest in a 3D printer and started his journey in 3D modeling.
• 🛠️ Prien's project, Pet Fusion, started as a basic DIY machine and evolved into a more refined, 3D-printable design.
• 🌏 Despite India not being on Kickstarter's list of supported countries for launching campaigns, Prien found a workaround by registering an LLC in the United States.
• 💰 Prien used Stripe Atlas to register his LLC for $400, a cost-effective method by following a YouTube review link, and registered with the U.S. Treasury Department's FinCEN.
• 🏦 He chose Mercury Bank for a zero balance account with no fees, which is necessary for the Kickstarter campaign.
• 📹 The importance of a high-quality video for the campaign cannot be overstated; it's the most crucial element for attracting backers.
• 📝 A detailed description of the project and an FAQ section are vital for providing potential backers with all the information they need.
• 💸 After a successful campaign, Kickstarter takes a 5% cut, and payment processing fees are around 3%, with the remainder going towards project development and shipping.
• 🔑 For a project to be Kickstarter-worthy, it should solve a problem, have an appealing design, and be both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is about crowdfunding DIY projects, specifically discussing the process of taking a project from a DIY stage to a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter.

Who is the host of the video?

The host of the video is Ashwin from Circuit Digest.

Why did the host feel the need to discuss crowdfunding in the video?

The host felt the need to discuss crowdfunding because many DIY projects end up collecting dust after creation, and crowdfunding can be a way to turn these projects into funded products.

What is the name of the successful Kickstarter project mentioned in the video?

The successful Kickstarter project mentioned in the video is called Pet Fusion.

Who is the person sharing his experience with crowdfunding in the video?

The person sharing his experience with crowdfunding in the video is Prien Par, a YouTuber and 3D printing hobbyist from India.

What was the initial challenge Prien faced when trying to launch a Kickstarter campaign from India?

The initial challenge Prien faced was that Kickstarter only allows campaigns to be launched from a selected list of countries, and India is not on that list.

How did Prien overcome the challenge of not being able to launch a Kickstarter campaign from India?

Prien overcame the challenge by registering an LLC in the United States using Stripe Atlas and then opening a bank account with Mercury, an online bank.

What is the importance of the video in the crowdfunding process according to the video?

The video is considered the most important aspect of the crowdfunding process because it is the primary way to showcase the product and convince potential backers to support the project.

What advice does Prien give for making a DIY project Kickstarter worthy?

Prien advises that the project should solve a problem and look good, emphasizing the importance of design and making the project both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

What is the role of the description in a Kickstarter campaign according to the video?

The role of the description in a Kickstarter campaign is to provide detailed information and answer potential backers' questions, ensuring they have all the information they need to make an informed decision.

How much money did Prien raise through his Kickstarter campaign for Pet Fusion?

Prien raised over 6 lakh rupees (approximately $7,116) through his Kickstarter campaign for Pet Fusion.

What is the process like for receiving the funds after a successful Kickstarter campaign?

After a successful Kickstarter campaign, there is a process where backers' payments are processed, and any 'drop backers' who could not be charged are removed. The remaining funds, after Kickstarter's fees, are then transferred to the campaign creator's bank account.

What is the significance of registering with FinCEN for non-US residents with an LLC?

Registering with FinCEN is significant for non-US residents with an LLC because it informs the US government about non-resident individuals who have registered a business in the United States, ensuring compliance with regulations.

Outlines

00:00

🛠️ DIY Projects to Crowdfunding Journey

Ashwin from Circuit Digest introduces the topic of crowdfunding for functional DIY projects. He explains that many DIY creators end up with projects that serve no further purpose after creation. The video aims to guide those with potentially marketable DIY projects on how to transition from a DIY stage to a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Ashwin acknowledges his lack of personal experience in crowdfunding and instead invites Prien par, a successful Kickstarter campaigner from India, to share his insights. Prien discusses his background in 3D printing and how he used the money from his YouTube channel to invest in a 3D printer, leading to the creation of his project, Pet Fusion.

05:01

🌐 Navigating International Crowdfunding Barriers

The second paragraph delves into the challenges of launching a crowdfunding campaign from a country not supported by platforms like Kickstarter. Prien shares his experience of registering an LLC in the United States through Stripe Atlas to circumvent this issue, as India is not on Kickstarter's list of supported countries. He provides a step-by-step guide on how to register an LLC, including the cost savings through YouTube review links, and the necessity of registering with the U.S. Treasury Department's FinCEN. Prien also discusses the process of opening a bank account with Mercury, an online bank, and the importance of preparation before launching a campaign.

10:04

📈 Kickstarter Campaign Success and Strategy

In the final paragraph, the focus shifts to the post-campaign phase, discussing the handling of funds and the process of receiving them. Prien explains the concept of 'drop backers' and how Kickstarter manages them. He provides a financial breakdown of his campaign, including the fees and the final amount received. The paragraph concludes with advice for aspiring crowdfunding campaigners, emphasizing the importance of product design and functionality. Prien suggests that projects should not only solve a problem but also be aesthetically pleasing, drawing inspiration from companies like Apple. He encourages viewers to engage with the content by asking questions in the comments section.

Keywords

💡DIY projects

DIY stands for 'Do It Yourself' and refers to projects where individuals create or modify items for personal use or as gifts. In the video, the host discusses the common issue of DIY projects ending up unused and collecting dust, highlighting the potential to transform these projects into marketable products, which is central to the video's theme of crowdfunding for DIY creators.

💡Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is the practice of raising small amounts of capital from a large number of people, typically via the internet. The video focuses on crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo as avenues for individuals with functional DIY projects to raise funds and potentially turn their ideas into real products, which is a key concept in the script.

💡Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a popular crowdfunding platform where creators can launch campaigns to raise funds for their projects. In the script, the host uses Kickstarter as an example to discuss the process of taking a DIY project to a crowdfunding platform, including the challenges faced by creators from countries not initially supported by the platform.

💡Indiegogo

Indiegogo is another well-known crowdfunding platform, similar to Kickstarter, where people can raise funds for their ideas and projects. The term is mentioned in the script as one of the platforms to consider for launching a crowdfunding campaign for a DIY project.

💡Pet Fusion

Pet Fusion is a specific successful project mentioned in the script that was funded on Kickstarter, raising over 6 lakh rupees. It serves as a case study in the video to understand the journey of a DIY project from conception to a funded campaign on a crowdfunding platform.

💡3D printing

3D printing is a process of creating three-dimensional objects from a digital model. The script features a creator who uses 3D printing as a hobby and as part of his DIY projects, illustrating how this technology can be integral to the creation and development of DIY projects that can be crowdfunded.

💡LLC registration

An LLC, or Limited Liability Company, is a legal business structure that provides personal liability protection to its owners. In the context of the video, the creator discusses registering an LLC in the United States as a workaround for launching a Kickstarter campaign from a country not on the platform's supported list.

💡Stripe Atlas

Stripe Atlas is a platform that helps entrepreneurs from around the world to easily incorporate a business in the United States. In the script, it is mentioned as the method used by the creator to register his LLC, which was a necessary step to launch his Kickstarter campaign.

💡Mercury

Mercury is an online banking platform mentioned in the script as the bank chosen by the creator for his LLC. It is highlighted as an example of the banking solutions available to those who need to manage finances for their crowdfunding campaigns.

💡Drop backers

Drop backers refer to individuals who have pledged support to a crowdfunding campaign but whose payment could not be processed. In the script, the creator explains how Kickstarter handles drop backers and how it affects the total funds raised for a campaign.

💡Product design

Product design involves the creation of the physical appearance and functionality of a product. The video emphasizes the importance of good product design in making a DIY project appealing to potential backers on a crowdfunding platform, suggesting that a well-designed product is more likely to succeed.

Highlights

Introduction to the concept of crowdfunding for DIY projects and the transition from a DIY stage to platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

Discussion on the prerequisites for launching a crowdfunding campaign, including the need for financial resources and company registration.

Exploration of the challenges of launching a campaign from a country where crowdfunding is not natively supported, such as India.

Introduction of Prien Par, a successful Kickstarter campaign creator from India, and his experience with the Pet Fusion project.

Prien's background in 3D printing and model designing, and his transition from a gaming YouTube channel to 3D printing.

The evolution of the Pet Fusion machine from an initial wooden board prototype to a refined 3D printable design.

Strategies for selling a DIY product to an international audience, including adjusting for cultural differences in buying behavior.

The process of registering an LLC in the United States for crowdfunding purposes, including cost and the use of Stripe Atlas.

The importance of a compelling video in a crowdfunding campaign and the role of professional editing for better presentation.

Advice on creating a detailed campaign description that anticipates and answers potential backers' questions.

The financial breakdown of a successful Kickstarter campaign, including fees and the actual amount received by the creator.

The steps involved in setting up a bank account for an LLC, especially for non-US residents using online banking options.

The necessity of a well-designed product that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing to appeal to a broader audience.

Prien's advice on evaluating whether a DIY project is suitable for a Kickstarter campaign and the importance of design.

Encouragement for viewers to consider their DIY projects for crowdfunding and to ask questions for further guidance.

Transcripts

here at circuit digest we have built a

lot of DIY projects and I'm sure people

watching this video have also built

things which are functional unuseful but

what happens after that at least in my

case our project sits on the office sh

collecting dust and which is why in this

video we're going to talk about

crowdfunding so if you're someone who

has a functional DIY project and you

think it can be made into a product then

this video is for you we're going to

discuss what it takes to take a project

from a DIY stage to a crow funding

platform like Kickstarter or Indigo go

and get funded this is Ashwin you're

watching circuit digest let's get

[Music]

started we will look into things like

how much money is needed to launch a

fixart a campaign do you need to be a

registered company if you want to raise

funds how can you launch a campaign from

a country like India where crowdfunding

is not supported is your project even

good enough to be on a crowdfunding

platform like Kickstarter and much more

first things first I myself do not have

enough credibility to talk about this

because I have not launched any

crowdfunding campaign yet so I went to

Kickstarter and under technology

projects from India I found this

successful project called pet Fusion

which has raised over 6 lakh rupees

funding successfully so I contacted

Prien par a YouTuber and a 3D printing

hobbyist from LNO to help us get answers

by sharing his experience so prank thank

you for joining us uh can you start by

telling us about yourself and how you

started with 3D printing uh my name is

pan and everyone who's watching and I'm

from LNO Pradesh and I'm pursing BBA in

uh international business as a

specialization and I have a keen

interest in 3D printing and uh 3D model

designing and that's what I do I am a

student and I design stuff so basically

uh I had this YouTube channel a gaming

YouTube channel when I was like 16 or 17

2020 probably and I through that channel

it went to like 130k subscribers but

after that I realized uh I mean I made

money from that channel like 1.5 1.6

lakhs in just 6 7 months and then I took

that money and at that point of time I

saw a video of uh uh somebody using a 3D

printer to 3D uh cool stuff so I thought

this is a great thing and then I bought

uh my first 3D printer Ender 3 and when

I bought that I go to this website

called thinkover printable at that point

of time I only know thinkover to be

honest so I used to go on thing search

for 3D model and download it and uh

print those thing but then I I should

also learn designing so uh I downloaded

vusion 360 put my student ID so it's

free for educational purposes so I

started designing first I designed some

basic thing then I I improved myself in

uh 3D modeling your project the pet

Fusion Mission has been successfully

funded from Kickstarter can you take us

through the Journey right from the

beginning so actually this uh pet Fusion

machine is like I started designing the

first version the first version was

basically a wooden board with the four

legs and all the things tied up at the

back and on the top and there's this

nozzle and this pool and motor that was

first model is basically like a typical

Indian DIY it should work should not it

doesn't matter how it look it should

work like all the exposed wire and all

that at the bottom pretty ugly so after

that what I did is I looked for more uh

then I improved the design a little bit

so I had this I had this thing in my

mind that I want the machine to be 3D

printable as much as possible I got a

the the hitting point was there's some

Indian guy who contacted me Indians are

like they don't usually buy a DIY

related I mean they Buy electronics but

if they have to make they don't buy

fully like a machine which is a DIY

machine but you go to that person

directly and ask them oh I want that

machine can you send it to me of course

you they know that you're going to of

course add your margins to it so I sold

that machine to that person and then I

realized oh if he's willing to buy I can

sell it to the first world people like

Americans and Japanese and Canadians

so I I I thought uh let's start with

Kickstart it's it's a good platform okay

so you're from India and a lot of people

watching this video are also from India

but unfortunately crowdfunding platforms

like Kickstarter or indigogo have a

selected list of few countries from

where you can launch a campaign and

India is not in that list so how did you

go about that let's start from the

beginning so I already had the design

like all the all the files that is

require that I'm selling design was

ready so now I went to Kickstarter but

as the kickstarter don't allow from uh

kickstar only allow people from specific

country to run a campaign so so the

loophole or you can say the another way

to do that is to have somebody in that

country someone you know a family member

anyone to launch the campaign or what

else you can do just get a LLC

registered in the United States that's

the method that I have used because I

had no one in United States or the

country which are supported by

Kickstarter so I got my LC registered

using strip at list I paid $400 but if

you go directly on stripe Atlas they're

going to ask you like $500 so the better

way to do that is to go to some review

video on YouTube where they are talking

about stripe Atlas because they always

going to provide you a link and if you

go through that link you have to pay

only $400 most of the time so go through

that link you're going to save the $100

and and once you go that you get your

LLC registered it's a super easy process

and after make sure you have a passport

to for the LLC you don't need a passport

but in the in the further process like

for getting a bank account and once you

get your LLC registered there's this

this organization of United States

United States Treasury Department finson

F

fcn on which you have to after getting

your LLC or EIN number you have to go to

the website and register yourself so

that United St government know there's

this non-resident people who have LLC

registered in this state and get your

LLC registered in Delaware or woming

these are two best places and then you

have after you get your LLC registered

then get a bank account so on stype

Atlas uh they recommend uh two three

like online banks uh so I saw first name

Mercury and then there was this NOA I

think I'm unable to recall the exact

name I

so I went with Mercury it sounds pretty

cool so I went to Mercury basically like

a zero balance account you get it you

don't have to pay any fees you don't

have to pay account opening Fe anything

just go there uh fill all the details

your company details uh your company's

address uh stripe at is going to provide

you a virtual address let me clear up on

that so if you have your project ready

you can directly go to Kickstarter and

launch your campaign it is completely

free and you don't have to be registered

as a company to do that but once your

campaign find is funded you have to give

5% cut to Kickstarter 3% for payment

processing and the remaining money can

be used to build your project and ship

it to your Bankers but if you're from

India or any other countries which does

not support crowdfunding then you have

to register yourself as the company in

us and also open a bank account it will

cost you roughly around $400 to $500 for

that but it's not a simple as it sounds

right you can't just log into

Kickstarter and launch your campaign it

needs a certain level of preparation

before you launch a campaign and even

after your campaign is launched so what

all did you do during this phase cuz you

you have a product ready okay a

prototype

or if you're working in a 3D files

that's I'm talking about from that

perspective so if you have like FES

ready every single thing and you're

talking about the description the video

so I'm already a YouTuber so the video

is not the issue for me so suppose uh so

recording a video took me just one day

took the machine I record a short video

make sure you you have a video of your

product it should be really put almost

all your efforts in that video if you

have to spend a little bit of money to

pay to the other supp you can't edit the

video get it done because video is like

the most important thing the most of the

most important thing and your

description should be like also in super

details should be just think from the

perspective of customer what he or she

wants what like if somebody coming to

your landing page he should get all the

answers for his question in his mind so

do that and also if you able to attach

uh some kind of agenda to it like

environmental

sustainability which I think is more of

a sham so to say just a marketing the

company do so so well to be honest I got

everything done by Char I uploaded all

the my information that this is what I

want this is how you have to do it and I

told a char I I like I give Char every

single detail and I asked it to create a

FAQ create a description for me create

even tables for me I do the calcul I got

everything done by Char okay so what

happens after your campaign is

successfully funded uh where does this

money go and how does it reach you so if

you go to campaign page you're going to

see

$7,100 if you see $7,000 on your screen

let me just give you a breakdown so $

7,116

I think and AR there are few drop

backers so drop backer are basically the

backer from whom the Karter was unable

to detect the amount from the credit

card or debit card uh from the backers

account actually and then what happened

is uh if suppose there's this issue in

the card um so the kickstarter un able

to do those so after 7 days what

Kickstarter does is they put them in a

Dro back list so now Kickstarter won't

going to try any further so obviously

there's going to be a certain drop

backer basic and still on the front page

you're going to see like oh $7,000 but

let's suppose from that I got I have

like uh 13 something drop backer so do

you like that much amount of money is

like 400 something so I in total and

after cutting all the fees and all that

I received like $6,000 okay now for the

final question how can someone know if

their project is uh Kickstarter worthy

like how can they evaluate it and based

on your experience what would be your

advice for people who are trying to

launch their first campaign uh well it's

my first time too so but still here my

few bits on this two uh first of all it

should be solving some kind of problem

and it should be it should looks good I

mean what I see most of the diyers what

they do is just they just make something

that should work I mean uh but if you

make it in a way that it looks good

because I follow these uh design pages

start following the design Pages the

first recommendation design looks matter

make it compact make it beautiful in

whichever way you can make it totally

depends on product to product because

when you're creating something just take

inspiration from Apple like make it

sleep beautiful because a first world

people I think they give a lot of I

might be wrong too but whatever whatever

understanding that I have from my

learning in business world is that uh

product looks matter so make sure you

make your di project anything you're

making it's beautiful it should be

functional and so work on your design it

should be functional that's the first

basic thing of course making something

it has it's going to be functional but

make it beautiful as much as possible

work on the design aspect too that'll be

really Greatful great so that's it for

this video guys I think I have given you

that slightest motivation and have

encouraged you to try your DIY projects

on crowdfunding platforms I know we have

barely touched the surface and there are

a lot of things to cover so if you have

any questions drop them in the comment

section and I will try my best in

answering them that being said have a

good day T bye-bye