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Ever since they hit the block in April of 2009, Kickstarter has raised over $1.5 billion in pledges from 7.8 million backers to fund 200,000 creative projects – 200,000! Projects such as the recent Pebble Time and Coolest Cooler have had no problem raising 8-figure pledges – the Pebble Time alone is currently sitting at over $16 million with 22 days left to go in their campaign.
But for every successful cooler, watch, video game console or ceramic mug design, there are at least a dozen products like it that failed to hit the mark. For many, this is due to a lack of either proper marketing strategy for a crowdfunding campaign (including the production quality of the video and images), overseeing manufacturing details including ‘safety nets’ for manufacturing and fulfillment constraints, or simply – just a product that has been done too many times or lacks any sort of appeal.
While Kickstarter isn’t necessarily responsible for holding somebody’s hand throughout the project development and crowdfunding process, they do hold some responsibility to ensure that there are quality products – after all, they only make money when project starters make money.
The company has announced an open position for somebody to join the team at their Greenpoint, Brooklyn HQ whose sole responsibility will be to act as a quality control filter who not only has a background in product design, CAD, manufacturing and marketing, but is also a crowdfunding market-watching master:
“Our ideal candidate has a knack for gathering different types of information, spotting trends and patterns, and synthesizing data meaningfully,” reads the job description.
“This position calls for a love of solving puzzles, the communication skills to present complicated information in a way that everyone can understand, and most importantly, a deep capacity for empathy.”
In addition to reviewing design and technology submissions from around the world, the Integrity Specialist is expected to help boost “top-notch products” to hopefully level out the good from the bad, or at least help make some dreams come true that otherwise wouldn’t without your magic touch:
“In addition to performing detailed assessment of submitted projects, you’ll also help moderate our site for appropriate content, tone, and compliance. You’ll be ensuring that our Design and Technology categories are filled with top-notch projects, so a deep interest in the design and development of new products and some knowledge of prototyping and manufacturing are a must!”
If you love product design and want to help weed the bad eggs from the good, head over to Kickstarter to apply.
Read Kickstarter Looking For “Integrity Specialist” to Overlook Product Design Quality Control at SolidSmack.
Read more about CAD, product design and related technology at
SolidSmack.com