Ubuntu Edge: Campaign Lessons
Before the Ubuntu Edge project — an attempt to raise $ 32 million through crowdfunding on IndieGoGo for 40,000 high-tech smartphones — would disappear in the rearview mirror, here are some thoughts about what worked (and what didn't).
In a statement, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth said:
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There are only a couple of objections. Actually, the project did not “collect” any money; $ 12.2 million was pledged, but under a special agreement with IndieGoGo no amount could be deducted from any credit card (even the usual few percent for a failed project).
And second, it is incorrect to say that “almost 20,000 people were so imbued with our concept that they donated hundreds of dollars to the phone in advance”. The number of those who pledged is less than 75% of this number.
In general, applications were received for 14,738 phones, almost from 14,186 people and four organizations (it is impossible to say if anyone pledged twice - the system does not register such data.) The total number of pledges was much higher - 19,912, since then he made $ 20 with a shout of “Hooray, I like this idea,” another made $ 30, saying, “Damn! I do not want to pay for the delivery of the phone! ”, And someone laid out $ 50 -“ Hooray, send me a t-shirt! ”. (Actually, 4,344 deposits were paid at $ 20, $ 1,801 at $ 30, and $ 5.671 at $ 50. I did not count pledges at $ 30 in the total number of individuals, since they most likely came from people who had already ordered a phone. Unfortunately , even those who wanted to get a T-shirt will be disappointed.)
Of these 14,738 applications for the phone, 14,577 came from individuals, not from organizations.
Perhaps one of the mistakes of the Ubuntu Edge project was that they didn’t involve enough organizations in the fundraising process: out of 50 organizations that they hoped to attract for the purchase of $ 80,000 for 100 (and later for 115) phones, only one organization subscribed - and then, when the project has already passed for the third week and it looked like it would fail. Three more (unnamed) organizations pledged $ 7,000 for 10 phones and some Ubuntu services. But the first of them did, when there were three days left until the project was completed, and failure seemed already inevitable.
Of these 14,738 individual orders, 5,044 - which is more than a third - were made on the very first day when the phone was offered at a special price of $ 600. In the next 36 hours, another 2,498 phones were ordered (which is 17% of the total), since the price jumped to $ 625.
Over 50% of individual orders were received in the first 56 hours from the beginning of the project. After that, the interest was asleep and the project moved to the “dead zone” - it got out of the daily schedule, compliance with which was necessary for the successful completion of the campaign. As the daily schedule was fixed, the goal of the project became increasingly unattainable.
Only during the first three days, the number of orders exceeded one thousand per day - but this was not enough.
So what was Canonical wrong about Ubuntu Edge? Was the special price for first buyers a mistake? Should they attract more organizations?
Ben Redford and Matt Collier, managers of a successful project on Kickstarter (creating a projector for Instagram), said: “We asked for a much smaller amount, and received much more. In addition, crowdfunding favors independent developers. "
“We also used special offers for early buyers, as this is the best way to attract interest to our company.” They indicate that this action takes your project to the “popular” section, and attracts more people. But they believe that the lower the target price is more important: “The sooner the financing goal is achieved, the stronger the market excitement and press coverage of the project. The more additional investors, the greater the project guarantees of success. "
They point out that price could be the main problem for Ubuntu Edge. “Crowdfunding is a big risk for the guarantor - few people will go for it. $ 695 (originally: $ 830) is a large amount for a minimum deposit. In this case, a big risk means an uncertain benefit. ”
The question also arises as to why conduct a crowdfunding campaign for a product that you say is vital to you (Canonical implied this regarding Edge).
"Most of the projects on Kickstarter are not vital for people - this is the product of a mobile phone, and, usually, they want to try such products before they buy," Redford and Collier suggest.
Collier adds: “Another repulsive point was that there was no guarantee on the technical specifications; by the time the product was delivered, they could have changed. We do not know when the deliveries of this phone will begin, and other manufacturers may simply surpass these characteristics.
And yes, company contributions matter. For a project of this size, it is very important to get at least a few wholesale orders in order to bring your goal closer. In the end, one order from an organization equals approximately 115 individual investors. What is valuable not only from a financial point of view, but also in terms of supporting private backers.
“In general, I think the campaign was too ambiguous and had many variables in time / specifications that people supported the project, and it reached its ambitious goal. In reality, the crowdfunding market is still in its infancy and is not yet trusted so much that it can support a project of this size and complexity. "
Collier summarizes: "For a successful crowdfunding campaign, you need transparency, community confidence and details - Ubuntu Edge needed more guarantees and transparency."
Total The Ubuntu Edge campaign failed because not enough people got involved in it, the price was too high, and besides it didn’t receive support from the enterprises. This may in retrospect seem obvious, but for planning large projects this is something to think about. The most valuable thing is that they campaign Ubuntu Edge served as a lesson for those who follow.
In a statement, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth said:
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So ends this crazy month. We broke records, wrote and talked about us around the world, the F5 buttons on our keyboards became hot, and we learned a lot of invaluable lessons about crowdfunding. Our bold campaign to create a truly innovative device did not succeed in the end, but we can extract a lot of positive things from it.
We collected $ 12,809,906, making Edge the largest crowdfunding campaign. Do not underestimate this achievement. Nearly 20,000 people were so imbued with our concept that they donated hundreds of dollars to the phone in advance, just to help this idea come true.
There are only a couple of objections. Actually, the project did not “collect” any money; $ 12.2 million was pledged, but under a special agreement with IndieGoGo no amount could be deducted from any credit card (even the usual few percent for a failed project).
And second, it is incorrect to say that “almost 20,000 people were so imbued with our concept that they donated hundreds of dollars to the phone in advance”. The number of those who pledged is less than 75% of this number.
In general, applications were received for 14,738 phones, almost from 14,186 people and four organizations (it is impossible to say if anyone pledged twice - the system does not register such data.) The total number of pledges was much higher - 19,912, since then he made $ 20 with a shout of “Hooray, I like this idea,” another made $ 30, saying, “Damn! I do not want to pay for the delivery of the phone! ”, And someone laid out $ 50 -“ Hooray, send me a t-shirt! ”. (Actually, 4,344 deposits were paid at $ 20, $ 1,801 at $ 30, and $ 5.671 at $ 50. I did not count pledges at $ 30 in the total number of individuals, since they most likely came from people who had already ordered a phone. Unfortunately , even those who wanted to get a T-shirt will be disappointed.)
Of these 14,738 applications for the phone, 14,577 came from individuals, not from organizations.
Perhaps one of the mistakes of the Ubuntu Edge project was that they didn’t involve enough organizations in the fundraising process: out of 50 organizations that they hoped to attract for the purchase of $ 80,000 for 100 (and later for 115) phones, only one organization subscribed - and then, when the project has already passed for the third week and it looked like it would fail. Three more (unnamed) organizations pledged $ 7,000 for 10 phones and some Ubuntu services. But the first of them did, when there were three days left until the project was completed, and failure seemed already inevitable.
Of these 14,738 individual orders, 5,044 - which is more than a third - were made on the very first day when the phone was offered at a special price of $ 600. In the next 36 hours, another 2,498 phones were ordered (which is 17% of the total), since the price jumped to $ 625.
Over 50% of individual orders were received in the first 56 hours from the beginning of the project. After that, the interest was asleep and the project moved to the “dead zone” - it got out of the daily schedule, compliance with which was necessary for the successful completion of the campaign. As the daily schedule was fixed, the goal of the project became increasingly unattainable.
Only during the first three days, the number of orders exceeded one thousand per day - but this was not enough.
Lessons learned
So what was Canonical wrong about Ubuntu Edge? Was the special price for first buyers a mistake? Should they attract more organizations?
Ben Redford and Matt Collier, managers of a successful project on Kickstarter (creating a projector for Instagram), said: “We asked for a much smaller amount, and received much more. In addition, crowdfunding favors independent developers. "
“We also used special offers for early buyers, as this is the best way to attract interest to our company.” They indicate that this action takes your project to the “popular” section, and attracts more people. But they believe that the lower the target price is more important: “The sooner the financing goal is achieved, the stronger the market excitement and press coverage of the project. The more additional investors, the greater the project guarantees of success. "
They point out that price could be the main problem for Ubuntu Edge. “Crowdfunding is a big risk for the guarantor - few people will go for it. $ 695 (originally: $ 830) is a large amount for a minimum deposit. In this case, a big risk means an uncertain benefit. ”
The question also arises as to why conduct a crowdfunding campaign for a product that you say is vital to you (Canonical implied this regarding Edge).
"Most of the projects on Kickstarter are not vital for people - this is the product of a mobile phone, and, usually, they want to try such products before they buy," Redford and Collier suggest.
Collier adds: “Another repulsive point was that there was no guarantee on the technical specifications; by the time the product was delivered, they could have changed. We do not know when the deliveries of this phone will begin, and other manufacturers may simply surpass these characteristics.
Organizations matter
And yes, company contributions matter. For a project of this size, it is very important to get at least a few wholesale orders in order to bring your goal closer. In the end, one order from an organization equals approximately 115 individual investors. What is valuable not only from a financial point of view, but also in terms of supporting private backers.
“In general, I think the campaign was too ambiguous and had many variables in time / specifications that people supported the project, and it reached its ambitious goal. In reality, the crowdfunding market is still in its infancy and is not yet trusted so much that it can support a project of this size and complexity. "
Collier summarizes: "For a successful crowdfunding campaign, you need transparency, community confidence and details - Ubuntu Edge needed more guarantees and transparency."
Total The Ubuntu Edge campaign failed because not enough people got involved in it, the price was too high, and besides it didn’t receive support from the enterprises. This may in retrospect seem obvious, but for planning large projects this is something to think about. The most valuable thing is that they campaign Ubuntu Edge served as a lesson for those who follow.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/191966/
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