By Peter Berton
WALNUT, Calif. – Not so long ago, entrepreneurs and inventors could fund their latest innovative ideas in one of several real-world ways: They could us their own savings; obtain a loan from family, friends or a bank; apply for grants or seek angel investors.
While those options still exist for a limited number of startups, the internet provides a way to take pleas for development money directly to the people most likely to buy the finished product: rank and file web users. The process is called crowdfunding, and Kickstarter is one of the most popular networks.
Kickstarter doesn’t allow adult products and services on its massive network, though, so what are adult entrepreneurs to do?
Enter Offbeatr, often called “Kickstarter for porn.”
YNOT.com spoke with founder and corporate director Ben Tao to get the details.
YNOT: How does Offbeatr work?
Ben Tao: Offbeatr is a crowdfunding platform for creatives to raise money for their adult art projects. It’s also a marketplace for content creators to sell adult digital goods like photos, ebooks, comics and more.
For the crowdfunding portion, the project creator posts their project to gather votes. If they receive enough votes, they can raise money by offering rewards for helping to support their project.
In the marketplace area, approved sellers get their own online storefront to sell their products.
How did the concept arise?
We were inspired by mainstream crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter. However, the sites’ terms of service explicitly prohibit adult-oriented projects.
We talked to different project creators, and they said it would be great if they could use something like this. So we decided to build it.
How did you get started?
Leveraging our experience from other projects, we used connections to people who said they would want to run a project on the platform. So, we gathered a group of initial project creators and launched with them.
What projects seem to be most and least successful at gathering funds?
Success rates vary, but we’ve found the most successful projects tend to incorporate drawn art like comics or games. We’ve also noticed that “furry”-related projects do well.
The least successful projects are ones where people are looking for funds to build a website. Often those projects can’t get enough votes to get to the funding stage.
Have you been able to determine which fundraising approaches are most effective?
Whether adult or mainstream, the tactics for running a successful crowfunding campaign are the same. The most important is knowing your audience and creating something they would like or want. After that, crowdfuning is about finding creative ways to market.
What are your future plans for Offbeatr?
We’re working to expand the marketplace and looking to find good adult content producers. In order to open a store now, users must be approved, as we are looking to build a community of high-quality content creators.
