In the competitive world market, innovation is not particularly difficult to find. Whether you are reading the latest SkyMall issue or if you happen to look at the ads in a YouTube sidebar, you have probably noticed that people are always coming up with new inventions and never-before-seen accessories that will supposedly enhance your life in some way. In other words, there is no shortage of creativity, but quality innovation is often hard to come by.
Separating the superior from the mediocre, crowdfunding sites Kickstarter and Indiegogo allow the typical internet surfer to decide which inventions are worthy of release. Unlike crowdsourcing, crowdfunding is not a means to divide a project amongst many contributors; rather, it is the method in which many contributors donate funds for a single inventor to succeed in his or her innovative endeavors.
Thankfully, the relationship between crowdfunding and fresh sports technology has never been stronger. Sport technology is recurrently a hot topic, and the scores of ambitious people donating time and effort to create the latest gear drives competition upward, especially on sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Before divulging into the plethora of sports related projects and start-ups, a little background is necessary to explain the path to success for each site.
Launched in 2009, Kickstarter is a site where anyone around the world can create a project concept and ask for donors to send money for his or her cause. Once a project is approved by the Kickstarter team, the project leader may set a funding goal (the average goal is roughly $5,500), describe the value of this new creation, and offer incentives to those who donate (possibly an honorary mention, a copy of the finished project itself, etc.).
If a project does not reach its desired monetary goal in 45 days, the contributors are not charged and the project leader owes nothing to Kickstarter. If the project is a success, the inventor must pay a 5% processing fee to Kickstarter, and a 3% processing fee to Amazon.
Projects may be for profit, non-profit, or unincorporated companies; however, Kickstarter asserts that each project must be entirely original. Consequently, there is some limitation as to what may be submitted for crowdfunding because of the strict standard of originality.
Nonetheless, Kickstarter has proven itself as an extremely effective method to assert your presence in a variety of business sectors. As of 2014, over 5.7 million users have collectively pledged 1 billion dollars to 57,000 projects. Remarkably, 44% of these innovative campaigns have successfully reached their funding goals.
Kickstarter patrons have a particular strength in the development of athletic training gear. Radiate Athletics is a prime example of revolutionary sports gear successfully funded by Kickstarter pledges. After raising over $530,000 dollars from 8,556 backers, Radiate Athletics released a line of exercise shirts and arm sleeves fully capable of identifying the muscles being utilized in your ongoing workout.
Radiate gear changes color to reflect your personal heat signature. As you workout, the muscles exerting the most force will emit higher temperatures. Using re-engineered NASA technology, a Radiate shirt will illuminate specific muscle groups to help you strategize and maximize your workout–essentially, thermal vision clothing. The unique material in Radiate shirts and sleeves also carry heat away from your body and wicks moisture from your skin faster than any rival apparel company.
Since becoming the 13th most funded project in Kickstarter history, Radiate Athletic apparel has received recognition from the Wall Street Journal, CrossFit, and ABC News. In this case, backers who pledged twenty or more dollars received official Radiate shirts or sleeves as a reward for donating.
While the expensiveness may turn off some recreational athletes (the cheapest mens shirt is currently being pre-sold at $49 on their official website), such innovative material will not be overlooked by athletes passionate about improving their workouts in new, interesting fashion.
Along similar lines, entrepreneur Liz Dickinson hit the Kickstarter jackpot after introducing the Alpha wrist watch. Dubbed the “Holy Grail of Heart Rate,” Alpha is a fresh take on the classic heart rate monitor; it is ECG tested, accurate at speeds up to twelve mph, and does not require the traditional chest strap.
Alpha is able to calculate an extremely accurate reading solely from finger-touch technology. Sensors on the watch can pick up your heart rate with ease, regardless if you are standing, walking, or running–notifying you if your HR during the last run was low, in the optimal zone, or too high.
Not only does Alpha record your heart rate, but the watch computer also displays time, speed, pace, GPS, and is compatible with the latest smartphones.
Again, this product is not cheap ($200 for a base model), but it does not diminish the value of this technology in the sports world. Using an active heart rate watch allows athletes to optimize their workouts by monitoring which segments may be working their hearts too little, just right, or too much. Alpha grants athletes a chance to better control the intensity of their workouts and helps limit athletes who tend to overwork themselves in the offseason.
Indiegogo, on the other hand, offers a slightly different crowdfunding experience to users but prompts similar, ambitious inventors and business people to introduce start-ups and innovative sports tech through their site.
Indiegogo policies allow for a wider range of projects because it is not required that users submit an entirely unique and creative idea. Personal items, vacations, and most other endeavors are fair game on this.
Indiegogo also does not follow an all-or-nothing model like Kickstarter; if a project fails, the creator(s) are allowed to pocket the funds they raise after paying Indiegogo 9% of the earnings. If the project is successfully funded a 4% fee is awarded.
Indiegogo project creators do not have nearly the level of success as Kickstarter creators, and it was recently revealed that 80% of campaigns fail–34% higher than Kickstarter’s failure rate.
Nonetheless, Indiegogo has had its own individual impact on sports. Although inventors and innovators of the sports world have a presence on Indiegogo, general funding for leagues, trips, and typical business campaigns make up the backbone of this market.
For example, a prospective women’s football player in Portland, Oregon is seeking to raise $1,000 dollars to join the Portland Shockwave, a women’s football team in the Women’s Football Alliance, a full-contact, nationwide league. Like Kickstarter, the creator of this venture offers incentives depending on how much a donor contributes.
Similarly, a group of AFL football players are currently leading an effort on Indiegogo to raise funds for a trip to the gang-controlled country of El Salvador to rebuild a school and host free sports clinics called the Central America Sports & Education Project. Of course, an excursion of this nature is hardly original, but any sports-oriented, humanitarian effort to an impoverished country is a cause worthy of charitable donation.
Campaigns such as these dominate the Indiegogo sphere and visibly outnumber projects devoted to innovative sports apparel, tech, and performance enhancement.
Both companies have established presences online and attract millions of internet surfers, but in the sports realm, Kickstarter’s influence outclasses that of its crowdfunding rival. Ultimately, Kickstarter’s requirements for unique creativity prompt a greater number of inventions that will change sports in dynamic fashion.
The fact that Indiegogo is responsible for the fulfillment of numerous personal sports wishes does not take away from the site as a whole, but Kickstarter truly levels the playing field for unknown innovators to make a lasting difference on amateur and professional athletes.