If December 31, 2020 were a fruit, it’d be kumquat.
These zesty little things hit you with an unprecedented bitterness. That bitterness surrounds a tangy pit. And then there’s a sour aftertaste.
It’s not entirely pleasant.
But if you commit to the experience and chew them over for a while, the natural sugars come out and, hey, you know what? Maybe kumquats really aren’t all that bad. Yeah! They’re supposed to be pretty healthy, too.
Huh? Oh, no… I couldn’t possibly eat more, thanks.
One is plenty…
Time to reflect.
And find something else to eat.
A slight change of plans.
I’ll admit that when I saw the end of 2020 rolling up, I considered rushing my project, Visonic Dome, onto Indiegogo* to meet my self-imposed deadline. I wanted to launch it this year. The project wasn’t ready, but I wanted so badly to celebrate the 31st anniversary of my father’s design.
Ultimately, I realized that would’ve been pretty foolish. And so, as we move into 2021, it looks like we’ll be celebrating Year #32, instead.
Here’s the reasons why I came to my senses and decided not to launch my crowdfunding campaign in December:
Best & Worst Months To Launch Your Crowdfunding Campaign
According to various blogs and experts (and toy companies), the best months to launch your crowdfunding campaign are March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October.
In other words, all the months that aren’t December are golden.
The further you stay away from December, the better. 👌
December is often cited as one of the worst months to launch a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign. And the reason is pretty obvious.
People are busy preparing for the holidays.
That logic carries over to November and January, too.
Meeting friends and family means less time in front of the computer and less time browsing Kickstarter or Indiegogo.
Interestingly, February is a bad choice for a different reason: it’s very competitive. That’s according to toy company (and Kickstarter veteran) Pers. So many projects launch after the holiday break that backers are spoiled for choice. Some projects just get left in the dust.
By far, the most in-depth analysis of the best months to launch your crowdfunding is by Kick Notify.
Unfortunately their website seems to be offline so their interactive graphic is no longer… active.
But their YouTube video is still up! And you can watch it for yourself above.
Based on almost a decade of data and over 300,000 projects, Kick Notify found little difference in success rates between most months. The only notable exceptions were January and (guess who?) December. Those two are still best avoided.
“The data tells us that most of the projects get launched in March. But May is the month that gets most backers per project.”
– Kick Notify
Tax Season & Your Crowdfunding Campaign Launch Date
Here’s an aspect of choosing your best crowdfunding launch date that I rarely see discussed: taxes.
In fact, the only article I’ve found on the subject is by “The Magazine” on their Medium blog.
If you’re about to launch a campaign, I highly recommend you read the full article. It certainly saved me from making a very expensive mistake.
In the United States, January 1 through April 15 is tax season.
Taking in a lot of revenue (like from a successful crowdfunding campaign) before you have a chance to use it could be a huge tax liability.
“Because crowdfunding campaigns can take months or even years to fulfill, if you launch a campaign late in a year, all the revenue comes in late in the year and is taxable in that year, whereas expenses come in the next year or even a subsequent one for big projects.”
The Magazine
Think about it. When you file your taxes, you tell the IRS how much money your business made (profits) and how much you had to spend (losses).
Profits in, losses out – tax what’s left.
But if you run a successful campaign right before tax season, you might be in a situation where your profits are high – and you haven’t even spent anything on creating your product yet.
Come April 15 and you’re on the hook for a hefty tax bill that’s based only on your profits.
How will you pay for that? Will you still be able to fulfill your backer’s rewards if you give Uncle Sam 20% or more?
For businesses that are running continuously for years, it’s not as big of a deal.
But for a small, one-time campaign like mine, that’s an expense I couldn’t cope with. I need all of my profits and losses in the same tax year.
So 31 Turns Into 32
The goal of this website –
(and the upcoming Indiegogo Kickstarter* campaign; eternally upcoming)
– is to celebrate the legacy of my father’s lifework and his timeless design.
The Visonic Dome is as beautiful and useful and needed today as it was in 1989 when he debuted it to the world in New York City.
2020 seemed like the perfect year to do it.
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
But perhaps, like the kumquat, this delay can end up being good for us. Maybe the sweetness of 2020 just needs some time to come out.
Like, sometime after April 15, 2021, for instance.
*Heads up!
Since the time that I wrote this blog post, there’s been yet another change of plans. Visonic Dome is now heading exclusively to Kickstarter in Fall 2021 to mark the 32nd anniversary of my father’s design. To read more about the change of platform, click here.
Thanks!
