Veronica Mars: The end of Kickstarter?

Controversy over the recent success of the Veronica Mars Kickstarter has erupted over the past few days.  Recently Rob Thomas started a Kickstarter campaign to create a movie for the highly popular, but cancelled, show Veronica Mars.  This controversy is centered on the fact that this project isn't for some small entrepreneur who has an idea, but doesn't have the resources to develop it, instead the campaign is to sponsor a film for Warner Bros.  As Rob Thomas says on the Kickstarter posting, "Warner Bros. wasn’t convinced there was enough interest to warrant a major studio-sized movie about Veronica and the project never got off the ground."  Now the public is doing the funding in place of Warner Bros., and it has been very successful.  At the writing of this article the campaign has raised $3,557,220, a very large sum over the requested $2,000,000.  It's obvious these fans want to support something they love, but in this case it seems like they are supporting Warner Bros.

The sociology and economics of clowning - Observations

Walking through a park in Monterrey guarantees that a person will get accosted by clowns.  While they're antics bring a smile to my face, the tactics they employ are what drew my curiosity.

Like any other street performers  the goal of these clowns is to draw an audience and for that audience to give money.  This is the source of the performers' income so they have a strong incentive to not only attract a big crowd, but also find methods to get this crowd to give them money.

While one may think the talent of the clown is the main driver of revenue I would have to respectfully disagree. Carefully thought out, and practiced techniques are the key to these clowns earnings.

Business Observations: Diamond Dash

Recently for the sake of coworker competitionn I started playing a game entitled Diamond Dash (this is a screenshot on the right).  It has everything a game needs: points, flashing lights, and addictive gameplay.  The goal is to find groups of three or more blocks of the same color and touch them, thus destroying them and increasing your score.  Each week you are entered into a competition with all of your friends who play the game.  Beating them gives you bragging rights.

The goal is to beat your friends, and the only way to do that is increasing your score.  The items on the left provide you with a means of drastically increasing that score and this is what drew my interest.

The only way to the coins you need to buy the items on the left is to play the game (or pay).  When you get a powerup it is automatically used in the following game.

You have to buy several of the "Mystic Bombs" and "Time Bonuses" to unlock the "Color Splash" (the game gives you five "Color Splashes" when it is unlocked).  Chances are by the time you unlock the "Color Splash" you no longer have enough coins to buy the the other two power ups.  As the game uses up your "Color Splashes" you soon realize that you could get a significantly higher score if you combined the "Color Splash" with the other two.  But without the coins to buy the items you can only imagine it.

This is the point where they gain the most of their customers.  The desire to show superiority over one's peers can be fulfilled with the payment of a few dollars.  But what happens when one's peers start paying too?

The game is fun, but I think I'll be uninstalling it pretty soon.  Wasting money to beat people in a pointless game?  Not my cup of tea.

Business Observations: People in Mexico don't like pear juice...

...Is one of the possible reasons why I was able to buy 7 liters of organic pear juice at a nearby grocery store (HEB) for just 104.3 MXP ($1 to 12.96 Mexican Pesos, Total = $8.05).  Out of curiosity I'm going to explore alternate explanations for my good fortune and figure out whether it makes good business sense to sell pear juice in Mexico.  Before I start, I'm going to provide some background information

While bottles of this type of juice

Crowdfunding Part 3.2: The Process

Continued from: Crowdfunding Part 3.1: The Process

Now with everything set up, Elly presses the start button and goes to tell her friends and family about the widget campaign. Everyone is a little anxious to fund the project at first.  On one hand, they are excited for the opportunity to help bring something new into the world (and help Elly), while on the other hand they know that if Elly raises the $10,000 and is unable to send the widget, the funders get nothing.  Luckily Elly has a strong network, and there are people out there who have a lot of faith in her and know what she is capable of, so they rush in to support the campaign.

Crowdfunding Part 3.1: The Process

Let us return to Elly's tale of entrepreneurship.  Elly knows she wants to crowdfund her widget, the question now is how?  After numerous hours of researching online, comparing crowdfunding websites, and creating content for her campaign, Elly has everything prepared.

On the front page of her campaign there is a compelling video describing what the widget is, how a person will benefit from funding the project, and how Elly is going to use the $10,000 (to finish designing the widget, build it, and ship it).  Underneath that is a short paragraph  again describing what the widget is, as well as other details of the project.  To the right of this there are a few numbers shown: the total amount raised, the total amount needed, and the number of backers.

Living in Monterrey, no not in California

[caption id="attachment_49" align="alignright" width="240"] In Fundidora be prepared to see people taking wedding pictures. You can clearly see one here, and in the back there is another. Not pictured was the third group to the left...[/caption]

Monterrey is an industrial city with headquarters scattered across its domain.  But, when you get out of your can and walk around, you may find it quite romantic.  Why romantic?

In a stroll through Centro (or any other part of the city for that matter) you'll quickly find the streets swarming with couples in such tight embraces you could use a crowbar to get them apart.  And they are everywhere, it is a useless endeavor to try and keep track of the number.