Kickstarter

The video below describes Kickstarter. It is about 30 mins long but the second 15 minutes is Q & A so you can learn a lot by watching just the first half (although the second half is very informative). Kickstarter was founded by Yancey Strickler, the guy in the video who I find very appealing, sort of like Ferris Bueller made good. He seems so unassuming and natural and his ideas so easily presented and organized. Like - oh yeah - this makes total sense even though in some ways it seems completely implausible. The fact that it works and is as successful as it is says something. Maybe about the culture. I do not know why I say this but to me Kickstarter has an Occupy Wall Street feel to it -  a sort of adamant innocence about holding onto something before the world takes it from you (Footnote 1) - the idea that you can do what you want to do (even if what you want to do is just figure out what you want to do).  Anyway, I think Kickstarter is neat.

Footnote 1: Holding onto something before the world takes it from you is a big issue.  About 20 percent of five year old children given a choice to eat one marshmallow now or wait ten minutes and have two, eat the one now. Those same children who eat the one now go on to have a 50% higher rate of substance abuse, lower educational success, more legal issues and generally are less successful than the five year olds who choose to wait in order to get two marshmallows later. Bad habits seem to involve the notion of harm being a long way off - suicide on the installment plan. Good habits seem to be motivated by a belief that the pay off is within reaching distance.  If you ask people,  I think most will say that 20 years is a long time. Some will say it feels like it will be here tomorrow. I think that a "it will be here tomorrow" perspective would ward off tobacco cravings (no one would smoke if they thought they would get lung cancer in a month) while also stemming motivation to practice piano (everyone would practice piano if they thought they could learn to play well in a month).


What that has to do with Occupy Wall Street or Kickstarter, I do not know. 

2011/06 Yancey Strickler from CreativeMornings on Vimeo.