Would your digital workplace make it on Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is a crowd-funding platform for creative and innovative projects. I learned about it recently from my son, one of the founders of LoneShark Studios in Los Angeles. They are using it to try to get budget to make a sci-fi thriller called “Vivarium”.

Kickstarter is simple:

• You set a goal of how much money you need.
• You set a deadline for reaching your goal.
• You want people to pledge money to support your project so you set up a series of awards.
• You promote your project, you work your networks, etc.
• The more a backer pledges, the better the award.
• If you reach your goal, you get the money the backers pledged.
• If you don’t, they keep their money.

Sounds like a good approach for intranets!

The Kickstarter page is where you do your pitch: tell people why they should back you. You  show them details about your project. Down the right side, you define the awards ranging from a few dollars to $1,000 or more.

(Side Note: Please excuse a mother’s pride, and take a look at the LoneShark page and their trailer. The concept is the future where all plant life is extinct and “the only way to experience nature is in Vivarium, a perfect virtual reality of pristine Earth, as it once was…(where) Nature’s gifts have been twisted, corporatized into a luxury….the film explores the dynamics of humans in a world devoid of sunlight, fresh air, and the beauty of a flower. And more importantly it reveals how far heroes will go to get it all back.” Vivarium even got endorsed by William Friedkin (director of The Exorcist and the French Connection) who said: “It looks absolutely great and is a great concept.”)

Kickstart your digital workplace project

Back to our digital workplace context, can you imagine playing the Kickstarter game to get financing for your projects?

• Define your project – for example, a new feature, tool or enhancement.
• Figure out how much budget you need and by when.
• Find an appealing way of presenting your project: why should operational managers, middle managers and senior managers back your project? You’ll need different reasons for different backers.
• Define what your  backers will get in exchange for their pledges. What will the HR manager get from the DW? What will the operational manager in China get? And the senior manager responsible for a recent acquisition?
• Communicate, persuade, but most of all explain why they should back you.

This would be quite a new way of funding features and enhancements for a digital workplace. One result for sure is that you would think hard, as would your potential backers, about what the specific project brings to them and how much it’s worth to them!

What do you think?