2009 founded Standing
funding · kickstarter.com
Kickstarter
the moat is real
17 years 114 days and counting
Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, Charles Adler, 2009. Still where a board game becomes real.
Why it lasted
- All-or-nothing crowdfunding plus a public page is still how a certain kind of object gets born.
- Games, hardware, and art found a ritual there that Indiegogo never fully stole.
- It became a PBC and leaned into not being a store. That narrowed it and saved it.
Times it almost ended
- Scam campaigns and late hardware trained skepticism. The ritual survived.
- Patreon took the ongoing. Kickstarter kept the launch.
What would finish it
- TikTok shops and a platform that already has the audience (YouTube, Discord) adding a checkout that feels like a campaign.
Questions
Is Kickstarter still up?
Yes, with a Standing verdict: the moat is real. Founded 2009.
How long has Kickstarter been around?
Kickstarter has been up since 2009-04-28.
Why did Kickstarter survive?
All-or-nothing crowdfunding plus a public page is still how a certain kind of object gets born.
Could Kickstarter still die?
TikTok shops and a platform that already has the audience (YouTube, Discord) adding a checkout that feels like a campaign.