Small business
How do you turn a side project into a business?
Turn a side project into a business with a campaign that works as a presale: test the price, fund the first real batch and only jump if enough say yes.
Short answer
Use a campaign as a presale for the business version of your project. Price the product as you would sell it, set a goal that covers the first real batch and the setup a business needs, and let the result tell you whether to make the jump. If enough people pay before the deadline, you claim the funds and start with customers already waiting; if not, every backer takes their pledge back and you have lost very little. Backers buy the product, never a share of the business.
Key facts
- All or nothing: the money only comes to you if the goal is met.
- No company, no bank account and no approval queue to run the campaign.
- Backers get rewards, never shares of the business or financial returns.
- Whoever shares it can earn up to 18.5% of each pledge they bring, if you set it.
- Each pledge pays 1.5% plus a flat $0.99.
When is a side project ready to become a business?
When strangers ask to pay for it and you can't keep up in your spare time. Friends praising it is not the signal; repeat orders, a waiting list and requests from people you have never met are.
If you are not there yet, keep it small for now. How to fund a side project, from the free course, covers that first step.
Why use a campaign to make the jump?
Because it answers the scary question before you spend or quit anything. A campaign is a presale with a finish line: people pay the real price now for something they get later.
All or nothing makes it a clean test. If the goal is met, you have the money and your first customers. If it is missed, backers take their pledge back, and you learned the answer before you left your job.
What should the goal cover?
Everything between the hobby version and a product you can sell again and again. The usual lines:
- The first real production run or bulk stock.
- Tools or equipment you have been borrowing or working around.
- Packaging and shipping for every reward.
- An accountant to set up the activity properly.
- A website and the tools to take orders after the campaign.
For example: a first batch of 200 units at $15 each is $3,000, packaging and shipping $800, equipment $1,200, the accountant and setup $500. That's $5,500, so set the goal near $6,000 to leave room for fees. At $40 a unit, that is 150 backers. If you can't name where 150 people will come from, the goal is too big or the price too low. The goal planner runs the same sum with your numbers.
Which rewards turn backers into customers?
Rewards built around the product you'll keep selling, so a backer today is a buyer next year:
- The first edition, at a launch price lower than retail.
- Founding customer status: a name on the website or the packaging.
- A bundle of two or three, for gifts.
- A personalised version, for a higher tier.
- A wholesale pack for shops that want to stock it.
- A workshop or a behind the scenes visit.
Keep it to three or four tiers, and check the margin on each one after making and shipping it.
Do backers own part of the business?
No. On a reward campaign, backers pay for rewards, and the business stays yours. Nobody gets shares, tokens or a cut of the profit.
If you want a partner who owns part of it, that is a separate decision. How to find a cofounder and the cofounder equity split cover it.
What does it cost?
Writing and previewing a campaign costs nothing. Opening it costs $5 on the free plan. Each pledge pays 1.5% plus a flat $0.99, and any share reward you set comes out of the pledge too.
The percentage fee on a pledge follows the plan of the account making it. It's taken when the pledge is made, so it isn't returned if the campaign misses its goal. Paid plans aren't on sale today, so the published fee is the free plan's fee.
What if the goal is missed?
If the goal isn't met by the deadline, you take your pledge back from escrow with one tap, and nobody has to approve it. What comes back is the amount held for you: your pledge minus the fees taken when you backed (the platform fee, the flat fee, any tip and any share reward the campaign pays).
For a business test, a missed goal is cheap research. You still have your job, your side project and a list of the people who did back it. Change the price, the product or the audience, and try again.
How do you start?
- List what the business version needs and what each item costs.
- Sign up in the app with email or Google.
- Write the story: what you've made so far, who buys it and what the money unlocks.
- Set the goal, the deadline and the reward tiers, priced as you would sell them.
- Publish, and send the link to your past buyers first.
Everything you can fund has a guide for each kind of project, and every other question is in the answers.