Welcome to the first installment of Pepe Diaries, a new blog series chronicling my experiences with BackerKit after the conclusion of the #SavePepe Kickstarter campaign I managed with my brother Matt. This series aims to highlight all the key steps I take during this process as well as explain how I use all the features and services included with BackerKit. Keep in mind, this is not a “how to” series to be used for guidance, but rather a “how I did it” series to be used as an in-depth look from a creator’s perspective on how BackerKit can be implemented from beginning to end.
A common misconception is that creating and successfully funding a crowdfunding project is the “hard part”. While it definitely does take a lot of work and patience, I consider it half the battle (Go Joe!). When the #SavePepe campaign concluded, I felt a great swell of pride since we were supported by 300+ people and tripled our funding goal. Sure there are projects out there that make boatloads more, but to me, Kickstarter helped us discover our somewhat small yet completely dedicated fanbase. But when the dust had settled, I realized there was still a lot of work to be done.
Some crowdfunding projects have huge teams with a clear view of how to start and how to finish their campaigns. The #SavePepe team is basically just two people, my brother and I. So when it comes to customer experience and service, two people just won’t cut it. My main goal once the project concluded on Kickstarter was to find a way to positively “bookend” our customer’s experience. The last thing I wanted was to have a fun and positive campaign sullied by a negative exit survey and shipping experience. Basically, as a small team we needed some major help. That’s where BackerKit comes in.
I had previously heard about BackerKit through friends that used the service and had a positive experience. I was told that it was the necessary next step in any campaign to ensure the best customer experience possible. Near the end of the #SavePepe campaign, BackerKit reached out to me and invited me to their San Francisco Headquarters. During my visit they pitched me their service, showed me how it all worked through a detailed demo page setup, and detailed all the benefits BackerKit could provide our project. Needless to say, I was convinced that this was the next step for my project.
I have a bit of an unorthodox journey from here. After my pleasant and productive visit (Thanks Alex!), I felt compelled to get involved even more so I decided to look into actually joining the BackerKit team. Making a somewhat long story short; I applied for a position, I interviewed with co-founders Maxwell and Rosanna, I talked to the team in more detail about how I could help and get involved, and ended up joining the team as a Content Creator. A romance story for the ages! I’m now in a great position to dive in head first and give you a detailed account of my experience with a unique perspective.
So what’s next? From here, you should stay tuned to the BackerKit blog where new installments will be posted. I’ll detail my overall experience, dive into all the features that make sense for my project, and hopefully discover more uses that I haven’t discovered yet. It should be an exciting adventure, thanks for joining me.
For a more detailed “How-to” experience, please check out BackerKit’s help and resource page. And if you’re interested in sealing the deal with BackerKit, you can sign up today on our homepage and embark on a journey of your own!