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Will your list fund your goal on day one?
Funding fast is what gets Kickstarter to push your campaign to its own audience. So the number that matters isn't your goal, it's whether the people already on your list can clear it in the first 24 to 48 hours. Put your numbers in and find out.
Enter your goal, average pledge and list size below to see the numbers.
Your numbers
The target
Your list today
A VIP is someone who put a small deposit down to reserve a place. Paying filters browsers from buyers, which is why they convert so much harder on launch day.
Does that look too hard to reach?
Almost every founder I work with runs this the first time and finds a gap. It isn't a verdict on your product, it's a measurement of how much runway you have left, and it's far better to see it now than on launch day.
I have a plan for closing it. It depends on your category, your price point and how long you've got, which is exactly the sort of thing an hour sorts out.
Book a £60 consultant callSixty minutes on your actual campaign. If the honest answer is that you should move your date, I'll tell you that too.
How this is worked out
- Backers needed is your goal divided by your average pledge. Not sure of your average? The pricing calculator works it out from your reward tiers.
- Wait-list signups convert at about 2% on launch day. That is a warm list that has heard from you regularly, not a list collected once and left cold.
- VIPs convert at about 25%. A VIP is someone who put a small deposit down to reserve a place. Paying filters browsers from buyers, which is why one VIP is worth roughly thirteen wait-list signups on day one.
- The goal is 100% on day one, not a third of it. Funding fast is what makes Kickstarter surface you, and everything the platform sends afterwards depends on it.
- This is day one only. It says nothing about what you keep. For that, run the same goal through the fees calculator.
Common questions
How many backers do I need on day one? +
Your funding goal divided by your average pledge. A £20,000 goal at a £60 average pledge needs 334 backers on day one. The aim is to be fully funded inside 24 to 48 hours, because that is what gets Kickstarter to surface your campaign to its own audience.
What percentage of my email list will back on day one? +
About 2% of a plain wait-list signup, and about 25% of a VIP who has paid a small deposit. That gap is the whole argument for a VIP stage: one paid VIP is worth roughly thirteen ordinary signups on launch day.
Why does funding on day one matter so much? +
Kickstarter's algorithm pushes campaigns that are already moving. Fund fast and you get surfaced in category rows, Discover and the newsletter. Sit at 20% on day three and none of that happens, so the platform traffic you were counting on never arrives.
My list is too small. What now? +
Build it. That is the honest answer and usually it means moving the launch date rather than launching short. Twelve to sixteen weeks is the realistic floor to build and warm a list from a standing start, and a VIP stage will do more for your day-one number than the same effort spent on raw signups.
Is a paid VIP deposit worth it? +
On these numbers, yes. A deposit filters browsers from buyers, so the people who pay convert at roughly 25% on launch day against 2% for a free signup. Fewer names, far better information, and a day-one forecast you can actually plan against.
More on why this number decides the campaign: what a Kickstarter day one should look like · the three-page pre-launch funnel · am I ready to launch?