The Kickstarter Typo
Kickstarter campaigns had raised $6.29 billion by September 2021. The Pebble watch campaign garnered a record-breaking $20 million, making it the largest campaign ever on the website. The last thing anyone wants to do is put that, which is obviously a lot of money changing hands on the site, in jeopardy with a typo, but it does.
Author and designer Cameron Moll was organizing a Kickstarter campaign for a letterpress version of the Brooklyn Bridge. In essence, it was a picture of the bridge made completely of typographic letters. The finished product, a 2416 print, was available to backers. Those who pledged more, however, were also eligible for signed copies and additional benefits. And it achieved great success. Moll received financing for less than $65,000. However, he only ended up with roughly $7,900. So what took place? A typo.
Before he even discovered this error, Moll had managed to rack up a sizable debt, including $15,000 for a loan to pay for visits to Brooklyn, camera gear, and other such charges. $10,000 more was spent on printing. Shipping and handling cost almost another $10,000. He ended up with a profit of almost $14,000. Then someone noticed that the "L" and "Y" in "Brookyln" were flipped in the print. He had to spend an additional $7,000 to fix it. Makes you wonder if anyone managed to bank any of the $6.29 billion.
- Cost: $58,000
