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News

Kickstarter becomes a Public Benefit Corporation

For a long time, Kickstarter’s founders expressed that they had no interest in selling the company and that they wanted Kickstarter to be a public trust somewhat like Craigslist (but without the religious aversion to graphics in the site interface). While Craigslist keeps its finances notoriously close to its vest, though, Kickstarter has been quite transparent about its metrics.

Now Kickstarter has codified its public interest by becoming a Public Benefit Corporation. In a nutshell, that means the company must consider its public good alongside of and sometimes ahead of maximizing profit. This includes measures such as charity, transparency, avoiding tax loopholes and running an ecologically conscious company — a better defined set of obligations than Google’s famous “Don’t be evil.” unofficial motto. One aspect of the new structure that will directly benefit backers is

Kickstarter no doubt has good intentions and has been a great resource for creators, but it — like Indiegogo — has had its feet held to the fire for projects that have not come to fruition and the steps it has taken or avoided to try and resolve such costly disappointments for consumers.  For now, the FTC has started going after the creators themselves when fraud is suspected. But Indiegogo has recently experimented with insurance that backers can buy to protect themselves against projects failing. Hopefully, Kickstarter’s company’s stepping up its commitment to do good will inspire it to find better ways to protect consumers.

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Podcasts

Backerjack Podcast #16: Cyclops Cameras, Talking Trash, and Smart Homes vs. Smartphones

In sweet Episode 16 of the Backerjack Podcast, Steven Sande and Ross Rubin check out some of the latest products seeking funds and preorders:

  • Flex Cam PIC, a whimsical and inexpensive still and video camera that wraps around objects and comes in a range of colors and silly characters. It has some similarities to Podo.
  • GeniCan, a clip-on to your garbage can or recycle bin that builds your shopping list by scanning the barcodes of products you’ve consumed. As we note, it has the same goals as SmartQsine.
  • Oomi, a comprehensive and tightly integrated Z-Wave-based home control system that features easy setup. It rivals another recent ambitious smart home project, Paigo.
Categories
Announcements

New wearables innovation report now available

It’s no surprise that the record for most-funded Kickstarter project was set — twice — by Pebble, a pioneer in smartwatches. After all, wearables require a level of imagination, attention to personal style and leading-edge tech that have been the hallmark of crowdfunded projects.

Part of the Product Innovation Pipeline Report series produced by Reticle Research, the latest Wearables report includes complete campaign data and profiles for all wearables featured on Backerjack in the fourth quarter of 2014. Those 45 curated projects, which include smartwatches, child locators, video glasses, pet finders, and stress management products, are essential to understanding innovation happening in the red-hot field of wearables.

Categories
Podcasts

The Backerjack Podcast, Episode 8: Special Pebble Time Edition

Pebble wristWhat time is it? It’s Pebble Time! In this special edition of The Backerjack Podcast, Steve and Ross discuss all facets of the Pebble Time watch. We start out talking about how it quickly smashed its its funding record for the original Pebble, and its inevitable march toward being the most funded Kickstarter project ever. We then move on to the mostly good but some bad of its hardware design, user interface, and how it is positioned against the forthcoming Apple Watch. Be sure to get the full picture before deciding if you want to pile on to the Pebble avalanche.

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