The interest in this blog and self-publishing makes me think in all of the "2010" year in review stories I have been surprised how little attention Kickstarter has received. With the success of Diaspora ($200K) Glif ($150K) iPod Watches ($1MM) it seems like they are one of the major new developments in the world of tech and startups.
These all seem like edge cases, but think back to the first YC class that had 6-8 teams. It was an inauspicious start, but has become the shaping force in SV. Beyond the big 3 projects listed above there was also a book about Obama's design that raised $90K, a lockpick startup that raised $85K, and a bunch of other companies that raised nice sized "seed" funding. Think about what this model will look like in 5 years.
These all seem like edge cases, but think back to the first YC class that had 6-8 teams. It was an inauspicious start, but has become the shaping force in SV. Beyond the big 3 projects listed above there was also a book about Obama's design that raised $90K, a lockpick startup that raised $85K, and a bunch of other companies that raised nice sized "seed" funding. Think about what this model will look like in 5 years.