building a kickstarter - rocket mass heater jamboree movie

Mark Brunnr wrote:I would suggest having a greater ratio of goodies at the $5 level than the $1 level, like twice as many at $5;

Maybe move a few from $1 to $5?

I feel like I want the $1 level to be extra, extra, extra heavy.  After all, in the last kickstarter, 100,000 people were told about it, but there were only 2,575 backers.  This makes me think that the barrier from not backing, to backing at any level is the biggest barrier.  If there are 50,000 people at the $1 level then I think the problem is that the $5 level (and higher levels) could be a bit sweeter.

Mark Brunnr wrote:if you cut the campaign to 14 days there may be pledges that are missed for those who need to wait to see if they have the money.

There are lots and lots of trade offs.  

If we look at my best kickstarter ever:

https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/paulwheaton/better-world-book/#chart-daily

It might have cut 15% out.  

At the same time, I kinda need this kickstarter to finish well before our summer events.  I wanted to get something going two months ago, but .... comedy happened.

I understand you want to finish the Kickstarter campaign so that you can apply your efforts to your summer events.  One drawback I can see if you go with the 14 day campaign is that some potential backers will not have enough time to hear of the opportunity, find out more, decide to back, AND earn the money.

Not everyone has easy internet access, nor a regular income nor a savings account.  For this set of people, I think the longer time is better.  They might even organize a group to acquire and share the offerings.

How would it work to accept the lull, take a 10-15 day break from promotion, and come back for a strong finish?

And a question, how will this be different and an improvement over the previous rmh Kickstarter projects?  This might be information that would influence potential backers.

And, I find all the “candy” and hype distracting and off-putting.  I can’t benefit from all the downloads because of my limited internet access, and limited storage capabilities.  I have to wade through all the stuff that is of no interest or value to me to find the physical dvd.  More hype and hoopla raises my suspicions that the product is not valuable, it feels patronizing, like I am a “mark” in a scam.  Perhaps I am not the only one who would prefer the dvd only, and would appreciate a fast track to the simple quiet unadorned option.

Best luck on your Kickstarter 😊

I’m back and forth between the two week and one month campaign. I feel like the fourteen day kickstarter gives more of a sense of urgency to help out. However one month still seems best to me.
I’m very appreciative of all the past candy I’ve received. Between downloads and the “My Stuff” page I’ve definitely got my money’s worth. It’s not the extras that keep me donating  though, it’s the content.
Ten years ago one of the hugelkultur videos appeared on an online magazine I was reading. The next day I began digging my first one. Two years later I bought property and started a permaculture farm. I just want others to be inspired like I was.

Comments on the draft trailer video...

I liked it, but the pacing was very... deliberate.  Bordering on plodding.  I kept wishing it would hurry up and say whatever it was going to say.  Although, in fairness, that could be influenced by the fact that I am already well familiar with RMHs.  Perhaps a newbie would appreciate the time to digest new info?  Still, it did not help that the background music evokes a slowly-ticking clock.  It reminded me of the 30-second timer music from the final round of Jeopardy.

I think you could easily cut 30s out of it for the same content; just tighter editing.  Or, at the existing play length, put a lot more content into it.

The YouTube generation has a short attention span and is accustomed to a more rapid flow of information.

The video could benefit from spending more time emphasizing what "newness" is being presented beyond what's already contained in the three previous kickstarters devoted to RMHs and in the multitude of RMH movies/videos produced by others. Out of 2 minutes, about 20 - 30 seconds make reference to new developments; the remaining 75% of the time feels -- frankly -- like repetition of the list of standard RMH talking points.

Dc Stewart wrote:... repetition of the list of standard RMH talking points.

Kinda hoping to find ways to reach people that have never heard or rocket mass heaters.

My opinion is that Kickstarter reaches more new people than fundraising through Permies. Yes it costs, but it also lets a lot of people know that a large group of people are already on board.  I would also keep it up for 30 days, not 14, as it takes new viewers more time to find it. Once it is closed fewer people will look at what was offered and why.
I like Mark Brunnr's  idea of linking previous youtube videos. Paul's 72 bricks was how I found Permies.

0:14-0:17  That blue cloud behind Paul is very distracting...I am not quite sure what it is.  And...my inner 12 year old giggles when the blue cloud moves to right behind him....

Also, I agree with Matthew about the pace...

paul wheaton wrote:It is super critically important to me to infect millions of brains with rocket mass heater stuff.  So as my mind buzzes with how to do that, I keep coming back to the idea that kickstarter stuff does seem to reach more people.   Further, I will be emailing 105,000 people about this.  For the SKIP kickstarter, I emailed about 100,000 and 2,575 backed the kickstarter.  Why wasn't it closer to something like 80,000?  What does it take to get a person to go from not backing, to backing?  how heavy do I need to load THANKS and CANDY?  How heavy do I need to load THANKS and CANDY so that people will share links to it and we get a half a million backers?  

After a few hours of pounding, here is what I have come up with so far

$1 THANKS
   ...

$5 CANDY
   ...

Will there be higher options with bigger candy, ie. $20 - complete plans and detailed instructions on how to build a 5-minute core?

Tim Osborn wrote:Will there be higher options with bigger candy, ie. $20 - complete plans and detailed instructions on how to build a 5-minute core?

From the first post

$1 THANKS
      - includes a new eBook on RMH riser designs
$5 CANDY
$10 MOVIE streaming
$20 TINY-DOWNLOAD
$40 HD-DOWNLOAD
$65 PLANS
       - includes 3-d plans of several of the creations
$100 FULL-EVENT
         - name in the movie
         + 10 hours of video from the event
$400 PYRONAUT
$1000 ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
$2000 EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
$3000 SUPREME EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

I would not mind at all if this ended up being more than the two hours. A possible one to two hours on the RMH side and another one to two hours on the cooking/dehydrating side or even as two parts where they could be purchased separate or as a package. Living off grid in Alaska the heater information is important for us and the current circumstances of sky rocketing fuel (propane, natural gas, etc.) make it just as relevant for the cooking side. Plus the possible shortages in the future or possible grid down situations, it's a can't lose proposition.

As someone with a standard 1950's house, to me it seems like RMH's are only for new builds, or wood cabins. Maybe you could point out the possibilities for how they can work no matter what your current housing setup?

I backed the SKIP book 100% for the candy, which I am still working my way through and loving. I'd already backed at a low amount, but the stretch goals totally sucked me in to back much higher. I didn't even realise the book would be relevant to me.

Rebecca Widds wrote:As someone with a standard 1950's house, to me it seems like RMH's are only for new builds, or wood cabins. Maybe you could point out the possibilities for how they can work no matter what your current housing setup?.

If you're gonna build a new house, build a wofati.

If you're gonna keep the house you have, put a rocket mass heater in it.

sorry i haven't read the whole thread, but I still want things to move forward with code more, and so I'm more interested in the book than this movie.  I may back it anyway because I love the work you do, but my self-interest is more in getting better designs legalized so my neighbors can be interested in doing this.  I wish I could say right now that it's a no-brainer to put in a legal, code-approved rmh, but at the moment I find the one I have just a bit underwhelming, and I think it's mainly because the code limits things.  No criticism of the Liberator folks, it just seems like I need to be allowed a stratification chamber to really keep heat in the mass, or I need more than 12' of pipe length and to be able to ignore the 18" clearance to combustables through the [obviously heat-retardant] mass.  

If this video can help change the code people's minds, educating them about what a rocket mass heater really is and how safe it is, that's what I want to support.

That's also my suggestion for the script--change "the main problem is knowledge" to something that implies that "knowledge" also includes that the Code doesn't "know" how safe and health-of-all-of-us-conducive this is (that's the point of the code overall, isn't it? to keep us safe? not to save us from our houses collapsing only to have our ecosystems collapse instead).  

Maybe this nuance can be communicated with an image on that shows a code inspector pointing and cross-faced and an image of a code person whose face says "This is the first wood stove that isn't a flaming death trap!" And a thought bubble of how they're gonna go home and build one themselves.  Eureka.

I know you always run successful kickstarters, so my input may not be on track.  Still, I agree that the demand right now is to get off gas and oil ($6/gallon in my state!), even if it's not the absolute cutting-edge thing.  "Codes, insurance, and venting the exhaust up the chimney."    My two cents.

Hi, I'm old school and don't understand kickstarter stuff.  I have some questions and comments I would like to pose, feel free to mull over things, accept or reject ideas etc. It's after midnight so I hope this is intelligible.

Paul, you wrote,

It is super critically important to me to infect millions of brains with rocket mass heater stuff.  So as my mind buzzes with how to do that, I keep coming back to the idea that kickstarter stuff does seem to reach more people.   Further, I will be emailing 105,000 people about this.  For the SKIP kickstarter, I emailed about 100,000 and 2,575 backed the kickstarter.  Why wasn't it closer to something like 80,000?  

When I was in business I would have been so envious of your 2.57% success rate from a mass mailing. What I mean is 1-3% of the people responded to my mailing, and about 10% of that closed on the deal. So you are so far above the general average.  WAY TO GO!!!  

OK now for the weird stuff.   Perception, perception, perception. Who is your target audience? The video I viewed looked like you were trying to reach off griders and homesteaders. Is that correct? I showed the clip above to a couple of city dweller friends and they were dismissive because they thought you were from people like Duck Dynasty, and the cartoon was too childish. (sorry but just a couple of people and their perception.) Nothing they would watch, and they didn't get hardly any content at all. I'm really trying to be helpful.

I might make more than one movie, with the same message in many different ways, or rather looks. Maybe shorter youtube things to get people interested. (I always liked Erica Wisner's "Flaming Dragon of Death."  Great title for a short clip.) Then have Hollywood types promote it on their accounts.  

If it is money you need maybe trying for a grant from the feds might help. Heck you could end up with a blockbuster in theaters and on line etc... of a full blown Hollywood like fictional movie. I used to help my professors with ideas for grants and even scored a couple in the "arts." The worst you could do is waste some time, but gain wisdom and knowledge from it.

If you want to go scary and get followed by the FBI then talk with ambassadors from other countries. Communist govts can order their people to .... If they don't need so much coal or oil or gas for heating what happens?  Or how about countries that get their heat fuel from Russia?  

I don't remember who said it but it goes like this.  The will to apply knowledge to a problem takes How long?   very long time.  How long did it take to remove lead from gasoline?

Anyway you have probably thought of these things already. Hope you do well.

paul wheaton wrote:

Rebecca Widds wrote:As someone with a standard 1950's house, to me it seems like RMH's are only for new builds, or wood cabins. Maybe you could point out the possibilities for how they can work no matter what your current housing setup?.

If you're gonna build a new house, build a wofati.

If you're gonna keep the house you have, put a rocket mass heater in it.

I think Rebecca is asking HOW to put a rocket mass heater in the house she has, a 1950s house.  Millions of houses are available for retrofit.  If you can’t include retrofit in this campaign, maybe it could be the main topic of the next one?

I can see where 30 days would be harder to manage and as was mentioned to keep the excitement going.
But for low income folks who only get paid every two weeks you risk falling in between a check where it all goes to bills and a check that has a litlle room for extras.

Of course it is your kickstarter and you who has to corral the staff and keep things running so it would be your choice in the end.

1. I think you've done enough kickstarters to be able to trust your instincts on this.
2. I think a 2-week kickstarter will still get funded, but whether it's the same amount/more/less - you'd have to wait and see
3. I agree: how to retrofit a fireplace is an awesome idea!
4. You could double dip and set up a 'kickstarter anniversary' price - so for 48 hours - people can get the same kickstarter deal (or say +$20) - that way if someone misses out because of a their pay cycle etc, they have another chance down the track.

Seems like in the last kickstarter the amount pledged went up a lot more in the last week. I don't remember the numbers but Seems like at 2 weeks you were about 50000 and ended 2 weeks later just under 150000. Seems like the longer run did considerably better. I'm no expert, just my 2 cents worth. And that's probably all it's worth

Regarding the 14-day vs 30-day spread... Sounds strange, but it may be worth considering how many people backed and stayed at the $1 level.

To sum up my rationale for this: it's often easier to convert repeat customers. It's easier to gain new customers with a quick, painless buy-in. I think this new-customer entry is what the $1 and even $5 levels do best.
Sweetening up the $5 level (like what was mentioned before: moving some items from the $1 level to the $5 level) can be a way to help those on the fence/level 0 on the WES gauge value on permaculture ideas.

If you had a lot of people first back with $1, then later on convert to $5+ levels (either in the same campaign and/or in later campaigns) then you may want to provide a longer period with a few more hype email messages that will convince those $1 folks to up their pledge a bit.

Best of success on this, whatever you choose...!

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote: I'm more interested in the book than this movie.

The full rmh book is still a good year away.  Maybe less.  Maybe more.  But this kickstarter will offer about 30 pages from that book - just on riser stuff.

Arthur Angaran wrote: I showed the clip above to a couple of city dweller friends and they were dismissive because they thought you were from people like Duck Dynasty, and the cartoon was too childish. (sorry but just a couple of people and their perception.) Nothing they would watch, and they didn't get hardly any content at all.

Understood.

I think the proper thing to do is



So it seems like the idea would be that we would create 100 different videos and then somehow get those 100 videos in front of these two people and see which one gets traction with them.  In fact, have an audience of, say, 100,000 people and then figure out which of the 100 works best.

Although if those two people sit through about any seven of our attempts, something might click and they might then be supporters.  

Since we cannot afford to try 100 approaches, we pick one, polish it up as best we can and then ... roll the dice!


They key to all this:  knowledge.   I want your city slicker friends to have some knowledge about rocket mass heaters.  Two years from now, they will meet somebody trying to figure out heat and they can say "This one time ... at band camp ... about two years ago ...  I saw a shitty video that said ..."

Those two people have a general understanding of how a nuclear reactor works.  But they don't own one.  Nor have they built one.  But they can converse on the basics.   I want equal brain space for rocket mass heaters.

Thekla McDaniels wrote:I think Rebecca is asking HOW to put a rocket mass heater in the house she has, a 1950s house.  Millions of houses are available for retrofit.  If you can’t include retrofit in this campaign, maybe it could be the main topic of the next one?

Check out better wood heat https://richsoil.com/wood-heat.jsp - we put a rocket mass heater into a double wide (manufactured home)

Vickey McDonald wrote:I can see where 30 days would be harder to manage and as was mentioned to keep the excitement going.
But for low income folks who only get paid every two weeks you risk falling in betweena check where it all goes to bills and a check that has a litlle room for extras.

Of course it is your kickstarter and you who has to corral the staff and keep things running so it would be your choice in the end.

I need to make some decisions to sort through a collection of bits and bobs - to try to get "all the things" to work.  

Roy Sullivan wrote:1. I think you've done enough kickstarters to be able to trust your instincts on this.
2. I think a 2-week kickstarter will still get funded, but whether it's the same amount/more/less - you'd have to wait and see
3. I agree: how to retrofit a fireplace is an awesome idea!
4. You could double dip and set up a 'kickstarter anniversary' price - so for 48 hours - people can get the same kickstarter deal (or say +$20) - that way if someone misses out because of a their pay cycle etc, they have another chance down the track.

The trick is the candy.  We offer heaps of candy because we do it in a way that we can hand it out en masse.  But to offer it again and again ...  suddenly it isn't as easy to do.


I do like the bit about "instincts" ---   I think that will probably be the final decision.   I am fishing for other bits and bobs I have not yet considered in this otherwise odd decision.

Saralee Couchoud wrote:Seems like in the last kickstarter the amount pledged went up a lot more in the last week. I don't remember the numbers but Seems like at 2 weeks you were about 50000 and ended 2 weeks later just under 150000. Seems like the longer run did considerably better. I'm no expert, just my 2 cents worth. And that's probably all it's worth

The kickstarters all tend to have a big spike at the beginning, three weeks of doldrums (although we are working super hard right then) and a big spike at the end.

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:Regarding the 14-day vs 30-day spread... Sounds strange, but it may be worth considering how many people backed and stayed at the $1 level.

To sum up my rationale for this: it's often easier to convert repeat customers. It's easier to gain new customers with a quick, painless buy-in. I think this new-customer entry is what the $1 and even $5 levels do best.
Sweetening up the $5 level (like what was mentioned before: moving some items from the $1 level to the $5 level) can be a way to help those on the fence/level 0 on the WES gauge value on permaculture ideas.

If you had a lot of people first back with $1, then later on convert to $5+ levels (either in the same campaign and/or in later campaigns) then you may want to provide a longer period with a few more hype email messages that will convince those $1 folks to up their pledge a bit.

Best of success on this, whatever you choose...!

I think the biggest leap is from not backing at all, to backing at any amount.  And the decision is largely made with what is at the $1 level.  

If I have backing similar to past kickstarters, plus 5000 more people at the $1 level, then I will feel like I did a damn good thing.  

Matthew Nistico wrote:Comments on the draft trailer video...

I liked it, but the pacing was very... deliberate.  Bordering on plodding.  I kept wishing it would hurry up and say whatever it was going to say.  Although, in fairness, that could be influenced by the fact that I am already well familiar with RMHs.  Perhaps a newbie would appreciate the time to digest new info?  Still, it did not help that the background music evokes a slowly-ticking clock.  It reminded me of the 30-second timer music from the final round of Jeopardy.

I think you could easily cut 30s out of it for the same content; just tighter editing.  Or, at the existing play length, put a lot more content into it.

The YouTube generation has a short attention span and is accustomed to a more rapid flow of information.

Thanks for your feedback Matthew!

We’re tweaking the video and adding  new info along the way to appeal to both newbie and experienced audiences. The experiments done during the jamboree are an awesome source of knowledge and seeing the experts figuring them out helped me a lot to understand these systems and how they can be pushed further.

Dc Stewart wrote:The video could benefit from spending more time emphasizing what "newness" is being presented beyond what's already contained in the three previous kickstarters devoted to RMHs and in the multitude of RMH movies/videos produced by others. Out of 2 minutes, about 20 - 30 seconds make reference to new developments; the remaining 75% of the time feels -- frankly -- like repetition of the list of standard RMH talking points.

Thanks for your feedback Dc!

We’re trying to appeal to both experienced and new audiences on RMHs.  We’re adding more info visually along the way to emphasize specs on the awesome experiments done during the jamboree.

Juliana Lazerevo wrote:0:14-0:17  That blue cloud behind Paul is very distracting...I am not quite sure what it is.  And...my inner 12 year old giggles when the blue cloud moves to right behind him....

Also, I agree with Matthew about the pace...

Thanks for the feedback Juliana!

The timing you’re referencing shows the splashing of the water being released from the dam, but now I can’t unsee your point jaja. This will get more animation love and Paul will be moved slightly

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:

If this video can help change the code people's minds, educating them about what a rocket mass heater really is and how safe it is, that's what I want to support.

That's also my suggestion for the script--change "the main problem is knowledge" to something that implies that "knowledge" also includes that the Code doesn't "know" how safe and health-of-all-of-us-conducive this is (that's the point of the code overall, isn't it? to keep us safe? not to save us from our houses collapsing only to have our ecosystems collapse instead).  

Maybe this nuance can be communicated with an image on that shows a code inspector pointing and cross-faced and an image of a code person whose face says "This is the first wood stove that isn't a flaming death trap!" And a thought bubble of how they're gonna go home and build one themselves.  Eureka.

Thanks for your feedback Joshua!

RMHs are indeed the safest  and most sustainable option to heating. Maybe the book she’s reading says this with text.

I think that there are those who get it and those who don't.  I am very interested in getting the RMH video and would not need any candy to be tempted.  As a visual and aural type person seeing and hearing is much better than having to trawl through a book.  Happy to sit through hours of videos and podcasts on the RMH.  Those who don't get it will probably not be tempted by the candy.  As a collector of stuff, I am finding that I find that I have already got a download and forgotten so more than happy to get a great movie and downloadable plans.  As for 14 or 30 days, most people have made the decision early and quickly so jump at the first chance according to what I have seen then there is an end flurry. Looking at $100 ($150 AU) to make sure it gets up.  Have it sitting waiting to go👍

There is something to be said about the school of thought where we send out precisely one email to tell people - and then they get it or they don't.  The end.  And it is a bit bizarre that for most kickstarters, more than half the funds come AFTER the first three days.  Maybe even 75%.  

paul wheaton wrote:

The trick is the candy.  We offer heaps of candy because we do it in a way that we can hand it out en masse.  But to offer it again and again ...  suddenly it isn't as easy to do.

Hmmm ... I thought occasionally you had packages of content for  a single price. In any case - I'm very skeptical that it's not easy. You're Paul Wheaton - you know, the guy who learned C and saved a company in a weekend.

paul wheaton wrote:

I do like the bit about "instincts" ---   I think that will probably be the final decision.   I am fishing for other bits and bobs I have not yet considered in this otherwise odd decision.

Actually - one thing that pissed me off a long time ago. Once was I was listening to your podcasts every day - and you didn't promote the kickstarter there so I missed it because I wasn't hanging around the forums/reading the emails. (Not bitching or complaining - just an expressive way of suggesting that you promote on all your channels).

Roy Sullivan wrote:
Hmmm ... I thought occasionally you had packages of content for  a single price. In any case - I'm very skeptical that it's not easy. You're Paul Wheaton - you know, the guy who learned C and saved a company in a weekend.

I think that says more about K&R than it does about me.  

As much as I learned C in a weekend - it did take me about four weeks to overhaul the software so the company was saved.  You would think they would have given me a fat bonus.

Actually - one thing that pissed me off a long time ago. Once was I was listening to your podcasts every day - and you didn't promote the kickstarter there so I missed it because I wasn't hanging around the forums/reading the emails. (Not bitching or complaining - just an expressive way of suggesting that you promote on all your channels).

I need to record podcasts again.  I'm dropping all sorts of balls all over the place.

There's the key.  There are lots of projects being done by lots of people and it does seems like people desperately need heaps of my time, but there is only so much of me to go around.  The good news is that there are lots of really great things coming in the next few months.  And there are a lot of people that getting better and better at reading my mind!  

So what do we think the title (60 characters) should be?  And the little blurb (135 characters)?  

Here's what it looked like for the SKIP Kickstarter.

Title:
SKIP: A book connecting industrious people with land owners.

Blurb:
A framework to connect industrious people with elderly land owners. Skip the rat race, skip the college debt and skip the mortgage.

I am also of those who prefer physical stuff like DVDs. I will back it anyway but I am willing to pay a little more for DVDs. I also backed almost all of your kickstarters, so like someone else said, I would love to see different add-on things for the upper levels. Living in Eastern Canada, I didn't think that Skip book really apply to me, but I backed it anyway because of all the goodies in upper levels. That's part of what makes all your kickstarter fabulous.

Melanie,

I hope that our earlybird stuff and our THANKS and CANDY levels will inspire you to back again!  Plus, I think the movie will be great.

I will look into some DVD stuff.

Kickstarter Title:

We need about 30 or 40 crappy titles to get started in figuring out the good title.  


Heat With a Negative Carbon Footprint - RMHJ Movie

Rocket Mass Heater Jamboree Movie

Environmental Bliss through Home Heat Choices

??

Kickstarter Blurb:


12 Rocket Mass Heater Projects.  Standard builds plus several innovations.  Heat your home for free in a way that is better for the environment than natural gas or electric.


??

blurb:  12 innovative, earth-friendly, build-it-yourself projects to heat your home, water, and food, with wood from right near your home.