So, I Crowdfunded… What’s Next? [Part I]
I did a TikTok livestream on Wednesday with Seppy Yoon at Fight in a Box Games. The topic was what do you do after you crowdfund. I thought there were some interesting takeaways.
There are a couple of ways to break down next steps, either as tactical blocking and tackling, or more amorphous workflows. I like to think of them in terms of who your deliverables and tasks are targeted towards.
Delivering on your promises to existing backers
Planning for ongoing sales
Laying the groundwork for future projects
In this article I’m going to focus on that first segment – how to manufacture, and fulfill your games to your audience. And, in future articles we’ll go into more depth on the other segments.
I. Delivering on your promises
The most important thing is to deliver an excellent product, ideally on time, and with great communication to your early supporters. That means that everything you do should be uncompromising in doing right by your backers.
The workflow of tasks after your crowdfunding will be driven by what you got done before you crowdfunded. Some campaigns save development work and are still sourcing illustration through their crowdfunding event.
Our games are 100% buttoned up and ready to ship to manufacture before the crowdfunding event. That means all the illustration, graphic and component design is done. If we add an unexpected stretch goal, or someone catches a rulebook typo – of course we’ll fix that. But, substantially we are ready to send our print files to manufacture.
I also assume that you’ve done your work already in finding a manufacturer.
Backer Surveys & Updates
One of the first tasks after crowdfunding will be closing the loop with backers. First this means posting monthly updates to keep backers abreast of your progress. It means being responsive to comments and backer requests.
It also means opening up a pledge manager (if you are using one), finalizing shipping costs, and following up with backers who are late on their surveys.
This is also when you’ll open up late pledges, although we’ll talk more about ongoing sales below.
Managing Manufacture
Let’s talk about the manufacture workflow:
File Proofing
Tooling
Components
Printing
Assembly
When you hire a manufacturer you are hiring not just for their in house capabilities, but as a project manager sourcing components from other manufacturers in their region. It’s a pretty interesting ecosystem that I went in depth on in one of my articles: Industrial Clusters.
Along each step your manufacturer should be communicating around the components they’ve sourced, and you can troubleshoot issues. For instance, we had to reprint our dice.
Between steps 4 & 5 your manufacturer will produce a Manufacture Production Copy (MPC) for you to sign off on before final assembly.
This is the step we’re at with Nut Hunt, and are expecting our MPC within the next few weeks. After signing off on an MPC it will take about ~2 weeks for final assembly.
Managing Freight
I touched on estimating freight costs in a separate post: Freight Port Fees & Tariffs.
We haven’t managed the freight process yet. But – I would recommend talking to some of the other members of your supply chain who can help you troubleshoot a lot of the issues and uncertainty that will come up.
Your manufacturer will have a set way that they generally palletize games. Typically if you are over a certain unit count (~5,000 games depending on box size), that you don’t palletize, and instead pack a full 20’ or 40’ container.
Your local fulfillment providers can help you figure out the proper documentation for your games.
A good place to start are the resources below that designer Ben Downton (Micro Dojo) shared with me for the EU & UK (CE testing will require separate documentation):
Some best practices I’ve seen form Kickstarters that I’ve backed is consistent communication around where in the supply chain your games are. It adds a sense of realness when creators share a map with the actual boat location.
One route from China to New York is through the Suez Canal, in this case with an intermittent stop in the UAE
Managing Fulfillment
Like manufacture, you should have a pretty good sense of who your fulfillment providers are before you hit the launch button. Obviously, things can change – you might add, or remove hubs depending on the size of your campaign, or you might find more efficient ways to get games to backers.
Jamey Stegmaier has excellent resources for figuring out Shipping & Fulfillment.
As with all the other steps, the most important thing is to maintain communication with backers. Addresses will change, games may get lost or damaged.
Closing the Loop
Every creator has different goal with their projects. For some it’s a one off game and they aren’t planning ongoing sales. Other creators (like us) are building a business with big plans for future games and expansions.
Regardless of our goals and plans, what’s most important is that we do right by our early supporters. That we deliver a product we are proud of, and do are best to deliver on time or ahead of schedule.
Things can always get delayed, but as long as we keep what’s best for our backers first and foremost we can lay the groundwork for whatever our future plans are.
What campaigns have stood out in terms of delivering on their promise, and communicating well?
