REWARDS-BASED TRACK
How to launch a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign that actually works.
A free, complete course for anyone bringing a product, game, comic or book to crowdfunding. Thirty-three lessons, in order, from “is this even a good idea?” to shipping the last parcel. Every lesson covers both platforms — what applies to each, and where they part ways.
33 lessons · 4 stages
Kickstarter & Indiegogo
Updated for 2026
Free & accessible, all of it
Written for both platforms — because the right one depends on your project, and the answer changed in 2026.
START WITH THIS TRUTH
Your campaign is won or lost before you launch.
Most people think a campaign succeeds because the page is good and the product is clever. Then they launch to silence and can’t understand why. The truth is less romantic: almost everything was decided in the weeks before the launch button — whether anyone actually wants this, and whether a group of people were ready and waiting to buy it on day one.
Neither platform will rescue you. Both reward creators who bring their own backers. Bring five and the platform may hand you a few more. Bring none and it hands you nothing. The difference is how much it multiplies what you bring — and that number is very different on Kickstarter than on Indiegogo. Lesson 8 does that maths honestly.
So this course spends its first half on everything that happens before you go live — including how to find out, cheaply and early, whether you should go live at all.
READ THIS FIRST IF YOU’VE RESEARCHED BEFORE
Most crowdfunding advice online is now out of date.
In July 2025 Indiegogo was acquired by Gamefound, and in October 2025 the whole platform moved onto Gamefound’s technology. A lot of what you’ll read elsewhere — including guides published this year — describes a platform that no longer exists.
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Flexible funding is gone. The “keep what you raise” model that defined Indiegogo was retired for new campaigns. Both platforms are now all-or-nothing.
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Pre-launch reservations were discontinued on Indiegogo, and secret perks were replaced by a different mechanism.
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InDemand is now called Late Pledge, and feeds into a built-in pledge manager.
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Kickstarter added its own pledge manager and late pledges, closing a gap that used to be a genuine reason to choose Indiegogo.
The two platforms are now more alike than they have ever been — which means the old shortcut answers (“Indiegogo if you want to keep the money”) are simply wrong. This course is written against how both platforms work now, and it says so plainly whenever a recommendation applies to only one.
The two platforms at a glance
The short version. Lessons 4 to 8 do this properly, with the maths.
Kickstarter runs on an all-or-nothing model: you're only charged if you hit your goal. It takes a 5% platform fee plus payment processing, and because backers are charged at the end of the campaign, you should expect a share of pledges to fail at collection. Its biggest advantage is reach — a much larger audience and stronger organic discovery, so the platform itself helps bring backers to you. The trade-off is stricter rules: hardware projects need a working prototype, and photorealistic renders are banned. Pre-launch runs on followers and a listing in the Upcoming section, though you never get those followers' email addresses. After the campaign, a built-in pledge manager and late pledges keep the revenue coming. It's usually the better fit for tabletop games, comics, publishing, and design-led products.
Indiegogo is also all-or-nothing now — its old flexible "keep what you raise" funding was retired in 2025. It charges the same 5% platform fee plus processing, but holds roughly 5% in reserve for about six months, so plan your cash flow around that. Backers pay at checkout rather than at the end, which means far fewer payments drop off. Its audience is smaller and prominent placement is gated behind early funding, so you'll need to bring nearly all your own traffic. In exchange, the rules are more permissive: concept-stage projects are allowed, and renders and AI assets are fine with clear disclosure. Pre-launch offers preview pages with updates and comments, though reservations are no longer offered, and afterward its Late Pledge and pledge manager work even for campaigns run on other platforms. It's usually the better choice for concept-stage products, gadgets, mobility projects, and creators in countries Kickstarter doesn't serve.
Fees, rules and features change. Every figure here is one you should confirm on the platform itself before you rely on it.
FREE TOOL
Not sure where you stand? Start with your Launch Readiness Score.
Eight questions, two minutes, an honest score out of 100 across the areas that decide whether a campaign works — on either platform. You’ll get a clear GO or NOT-YET verdict and see exactly which parts of your campaign are weak, before you spend a penny on it.
The Free Kickstarter & Indiegogo Course
Four stages, thirty-three lessons, in order. Start at lesson one — the early lessons decide whether the later ones matter.
EACH LESSON IS MARKED
BOTH
KICKSTARTER
INDIEGOGO
1
Validate
Before you spend real money — is this the kind of project that works here, which platform fits it, and what would it cost to find out?
1. Why most crowdfunding campaigns are lost before they launch
2. What actually works in rewards crowdfunding — and what doesn’t
3. Is your project right for rewards crowdfunding at all?
4. What changed in 2026: Gamefound, Indiegogo, and the end of flexible funding
5. Kickstarter or Indiegogo: how to actually choose
6. The rules compared: prototypes, renders, AI, and what gets a project rejected
7. Your unit economics: what you really earn per backer on each platform
8. The platform multiplier: how much traffic each one actually gives you
9. The smallest budget that can actually test your idea
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INDIEGOGO
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2
Build the funnel
The pre-launch machine that gathers your day-one backers — and tells you the truth about your product. This is where the two platforms differ most.
10. The pre-launch machine: the parts that are identical on both platforms
BOTH
11. Kickstarter pre-launch: followers, the Upcoming list, and their limits
12. Indiegogo pre-launch: previews, drafts, and what the migration removed
13. Why you still need your own landing page and your own email list
14. The $1 reservation: how it works, whether it’s fair, and where it lives now
15. Tracking in 2026: pixels, CAPI and links, without the jargon
16. Your first ads: from engagement to leads to reservations
17. The emails that turn a stranger into a day-one backer
18. Reading your data: should you launch, or stop?
KICKSTARTER
INDIEGOGO
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That’s the half most people skip. If you only ever read lessons 1–18, you’ll already be ahead of the majority of campaigns you’re competing with — and you’ll know whether yours deserves the next eight weeks of your life.
3
Build the campaign
The page, the video, the rewards, and the money maths that decides whether success is survivable.
19. Scaling what works without breaking it
20. Building a campaign page that converts — on either platform
21. Your video — and why you’re about to overspend on it
22. Reward tiers that people actually buy — and each platform’s limits
23. Setting a funding goal that won’t bankrupt you
24. Stretch goals and add-ons: the trap that eats campaigns
25. Shipping, fulfilment and the real cost stack
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4
Launch & run
The first 48 hours, the long middle, the final push, everyone who’ll try to sell you something — and the money that arrives after the campaign ends.
26. Your final six weeks: the complete task list
27. Your first backers and the launch hour
28. The first 48 hours, hour by hour
29. Marketing a live campaign — and spotting the scams
30. Influencers and reviewers: finding them, choosing them, paying them
31. PR: what works, and what’s just theatre
32. The slump, the final push, and closing strong
33. After the close: pledge managers, late pledges and the second revenue window
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Want this done for your campaign?
The course is free and always will be. If you’d rather not do it alone, there are several ways I can help — on either platform.
What I won’t do. I won’t promise you’ll get funded — nobody honest can. I won’t tell you a platform is right for your project because it’s the one I’d rather work on. Your product still has to stand on its own feet, and if the data says it doesn’t, I’ll tell you and we’ll stop. That’s not a disclaimer. It’s the reason the course above exists.