Ep.241 ~ $475,000 Kickstarter Campaign with 16,000 Backers ~ Mark Zhang

“But by far Facebook Ads account for about 90% of the pledges that came from outside of Kickstarter” Mark Zhang Last fall in Bangkok, I was attending a conference full of entrepreneurs from around the globe. There were around 250 attendees and out of all of them just a few stood out.  There were a few guys running around in yellow t-shirts that said: "Improve Your Sleep at the DCBKK Conference." They were handing out free sleep masks to the attendees.  Mark Zhang was one of those guys and he was using an excellent marketing technique to beta test Manta Sleep Masks. Fast forward to today, Mark and his team launched a Kickstarter for the sleep mask attracting 16,000 backers and raising over $475,000. Today, you will learn exactly how he did this! Mark’s Kickstarting History: Ran 3 Kickstarter campaigns in the past 5 years. 1st Kickstarter 2012: Slip Stopper - Raised $5,173 2nd Kickstarter 2014: Purggo - Raised $40,219 3rd Kickstarter 2017: Manta Sleep Mask - Raised $475,193 “We can come in here (Taipei) as a U.S. based business, pay the people better than they would be getting at most of the larger corporations here in Taiwan, and then still be saving in terms of cost from the labor perspective compared to the states.” Mark Zhang 01:33: Taipei, Taiwan - Finding Cheap Labor and Paying Them Well 03:41: Who is Mark Zhang? 06:50: Having Multiple Businesses Under One Holding Name 08:47: What is Mantis Sleep? 11:13: The 80/20 Process and Steps for a Successful Kickstarter Pre-launch email list Facebook ads Cross promotions Kickstarter momentum 15:52: Turnaround Time on Facebook Ads for Mark’s Kickstarter 17:27: What Mark Would do Differently Next Kickstarter 20:54: Profit from Kickstarter Honorable Mentions: Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/ DCBKK http://www.tropicalmba.com/dcbkk-in-25-photos/ Dynamite Circle http://www.tropicalmba.com/dc/ Contact Info: https://mantasleep.com/ http://markzhang.me/ Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/entrepreneur-house-live-in/id1069958541?mt=2