A Disappointment ⇥

Craig Hockenberry reflects on the unique fundraising method for Chameleon:

When we released Chameleon at the end of last month, we thought we’d try something new to raise funds for the project. Selling T-shirts and stock icons seemed like a pretty good way. Boy, were we wrong. Since March 22nd, we’ve sold 17 shirts.

The shirts go for $250, which sounds ridiculous until you realise you’re not buying a shirt, you’re buying into the constant development of a project which helped you port your iOS app to OS X. Clearly these shirts are perks, “PBS tote bags” (nobody donates to PBS for the bag).

I’m disappointed at both the lack of response and at my inability to help (I can’t justify spending $250 for a t-shirt and code I’ll never use). But I think there are a few things that could have been done differently, in hindsight, that might have improved this crummy situation:

  1. The Iconfactory could have offered a non-limited edition shirt for average people like me. I’d happily pay $25-30 for an awesome David Lanham-designed t-shirt.
  2. If someone donated more than $100 to the project, they could get the non-limited edition shirt for free. If someone donated more than $250, they’d get a limited edition shirt for free.
  3. The limited edition shirt should have a set edition amount (say, 50), and perhaps each could be numbered. People love exclusivity. The limited edition shirts should only be included in the $250-and-up donations, and not available for sale on its own.

Maybe, just maybe, these ideas could have improved the situation.

And I’d have a shirt.