Kickstarter has announced that they are simplifying the rules that fledgling entrepreneurs must adhere to and making it easier for people to launch new projects with a feature called Launch Now.
According to a post on their site written by Yancey Strickler, the new, simplified rules have been boiled down to three key points:
- Projects must create something to share with others.
- Projects must be honest and clearly presented.
- Projects cannot fundraise for charity, offer financial incentives, or involve prohibited items.
The new rules don’t change the requirements all that much but as Kickstarter says in their post they open Kickstarter up to new kinds of projects, including bath and beauty products and more types of software. They are also allowing hardware projects to offer multiple quantities of a reward.
You can find a more detailed breakdown of what you can and can’t do on Kickstarter here.
As far as their new Launch Now feature goes;
We want creators to have the support and freedom they need when building their projects. That’s why we’re introducing a feature called Launch Now. It gives creators a simple choice: go ahead and launch your project whenever you’re ready, or get feedback from one of our Community Managers first.
Over the past five years, our Community Managers have offered their expertise to more than 100,000 creators — sharing advice, encouragement, and support to give creators the best chance of success. We love doing it, and we’re always here to help. But we’re pleased to offer creators a simpler process for sharing their projects with the world, and the flexibility to choose how much help they need.
The Launch Now feature will be rolled out in stages and is currently available to 60% of potential project launchers.
Kickstarter may have tweaked their rules and added the Launch Now feature in an effort to stem the tide of deserters who have found other crowdfunding sites less restrictive, but either way this can only be a good thing for entrepreneurs and those looking to raise a little seed money.
