Kickstarter CEO: ‘We’re here to help people take over the mainstream’

Kickstarter CEO, Yancey Strickler has said that his hopes for Kickstarter are that it will allow the talented but unrecognised be able to make an impact and one day perhaps even take over the mainstream of industries.

Yancey Strickler has been speaking following the events of the Kickstarter Funded film “Kung Fury”: “The same day that these Hollywood heavyweights come out with big movies that each lose $100m, this no-name guy from Sweden makes a movie by himself in front of a green screen that becomes the standout movie of Cannes,” He added that “We’re there for those outsider voices, we’re there to try to empower people, and potentially take over the mainstream – over a long period of time.”

With Kickstarter just having celebrated its 8th Birthday it has released figures showing over three billion dollars has been successfully raised funding more than 120,000 projects.

While Kickstarter does have many ‘happy endings’, there are unfortunately also a growing catalogue of ‘horror stories’.

With successes such as Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions, Oculus Rift and “Kung Fury” there also a lot of semi-successes, failures and outright scams.

While researching this article, it has honestly been difficult to find successes that have fully achieved what they set out to do with seemingly the vast majority of even successful campaigns having delays or under-performing. A notable example of a strong Kickstarter that failed to achieve its ambition was the Ouya android Gaming console.

That being said, Kickstarter, without a doubt, does provide a good medium for people with a dream to make it happen, and if you don’t have a dream, maybe a potato salad will be enough.