{"id":21860,"date":"2021-12-21T20:59:37","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T04:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backerkit.com\/blog\/?p=21860"},"modified":"2021-12-22T07:58:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T15:58:57","slug":"backerkit-year-in-review-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backerkit.com\/blog\/backerkit-year-in-review-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"BackerKit Year in Review 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2020, despite the struggles everyone was experiencing during the pandemic, creators remained motivated and demonstrated an impressive level of resilience. This year, we\u2019re seeing the same sort of perseverance from this community. In addition to the pandemic, we\u2019re now in the middle of the <\/span>Great Supply Chain Disruption<\/span><\/a>. There are global manufacturing and shipping delays, and it\u2019s forcing many creators to adjust their timelines. But the crowdfunding community is adapting. Once again, projects are being launched and creators are trying to provide the best experience possible for their backers. (<\/span>This update<\/span><\/a> from Tiny Treehouses\u2019 Lars Christian is a great example of how creators are explaining the issues they\u2019re facing and setting expectations for backers.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone at BackerKit has been working hard this year to help creators and backers through all of this. We develop tools and resources that simplify the crowdfunding process so that it\u2019s easier to manage the inevitable surprises \u2014 especially during times like these. This year we\u2019ve worked with 1,528,163 backers and 1,694<\/span> creators, helping them raise $332,915,515. We hit a major milestone: as of July 2021, we\u2019ve served more than <\/span>10,000 Pledge Manager projects<\/span><\/a>. We also added 13 people to our team to ensure that we\u2019re able to deliver the highest level of customer support and product offerings that meet creators’ ever-evolving needs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re happy to have the opportunity to connect with and assist so many amazing people in the crowdfunding community. As we reflect on 2021, we want to thank you all for your creativity and passion and for keeping us all inspired throughout the year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kickstarter health<\/h2>\n

We began <\/span>last year<\/span><\/a> unsure of how the <\/span>pandemic would affect crowdfunding<\/span><\/a>. And while the community faced unprecedented challenges as factories temporarily shut down and in-person events were canceled, creators still launched projects and backers were still showing up \u2014 month after month, pledges were often tacking above the 2019 average. This year, crowdfunding is still holding strong and, as a whole, actually thriving, despite world events.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"funds

Note: the “negative” dips may be because a creator of a larger project changed the project’s category.<\/p><\/div>\n

The orange line in the graph below shows the total number of pledges raised across all project categories since May 2021. The dotted goal line is the average funds raised in 2019. This is the second year that we\u2019ve seen performance trending above that pre-pandemic average.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BackerKit product updates and news<\/h2>\n

This has been a big year at BackerKit. The team grew, we forged new relationships with our crowdfunding industry friends, and we updated our Pledge Manager pricing structure. As always, every new development was guided by the continuous feedback and input that we received from our customers.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Product releases<\/b><\/p>\n

The pandemic forced our Product team to adjust how they collaborate with each other, as Senior Developer Lillie Chilen explains in \u201c<\/span>How Experimentation Kept Us Shipping Code and Growing Through a Pandemic<\/span><\/a>.\u201d But we continued to release new customer-driven updates to <\/span>BackerKit Launch<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Marketing<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Pledge Manager<\/span><\/a>. Here are a few that we are especially proud of:\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n