Crowdfunding

Kickstarter, Indiegogo and their equivalents let a creator take payment before the product exists, which suits a documentary, a book, a board game or a piece of hardware far better than it suits ongoing running costs. Backers are buying an outcome and they expect it to turn up.

Fulfilment is what people underestimate. Postage, packaging, customs paperwork, replacements for parcels that arrived smashed and the hours spent answering backer email all come out of money already spent on production. Campaigns rarely fail on the pitch video. They fail 18 months later, with the creator still posting tote bags at a loss.