Guesswork

We crowdfund to raise money for print runs.

We print everything that we need for the next year.

In runs of 100-800 copies.

Tiny print runs.

Because they are small, they are expensive.

So we need a decent campaign total.

Some of that comes during the campaign.

Some during the pledge manager: shipping, extras, and late pledges.

We need to kick off manufacturing early. Boxes and wooden bits have long lead times.

Before we know what we’ve raised in the pledge manager.

We need to ensure the total raised is enough to fund the print runs and cover campaign shipping.

And VAT.

And Gamefound fees.

And royalties.

But also order enough to keep us in stock until the next campaign.

It’s a guess.

We’ve made our guesses.

Ordered boxes accordingly.

Now we are waiting to see if the pledge manager ends up where we guessed.

Or not.

Red

It’s a good news/bad news week.

When we do a crowdfunding campaign I feel the weight of the pledges.

People have lent us money. Lots of money. In some cases, huge amounts of money.

We owe them. We’ve promised them something in return. I don’t like to break my word.

Until the pledges are all fulfilled I feel those loans. Weighing on me.

More so when we’re late. We’ve broken our word. Let people down.

This week I shipped the last of the non-EU deluxe rewards. Almost four months late.

Paul shipped the EU rewards to ShipQuest. Some almost four months late. Some over two months early.

On their way!

Then he parcelled up the non-EU standard rewards and either posted them or booked shipping for them for today.

Two months early.

The loan is repaid. 

A weight is lifted.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that I miscalculated. Shipping is more than we’d planned.

We’ve had to lend Eurydice some money again to tide us over until the Expo in a couple of weeks.

I’d love to get to the point where we’re not utterly dependant on crowdfunding cash injections.

Regular website sales covering our monthly overheads would be great.

Need to work on that.

After the Expo, and Rocky ‘Roid though.

Spend

Our bank account lives a boom and bust lifestyle.

After a crowdfunding campaign it's stratospheric.

For us.

Then we spend on materials and components.

Photo by Igal Ness on Unsplash

Then again on shipping.

Then Paul's salary, conventions and advertising chip away at it.

Till it's paltry.

Then we crowdfund again to stay afloat.

We're in the spending phase now.

The last of the wooden bits arrive this week.

I've just spent £8,000 on the acrylic. Most of it.

And £2,500 on playmats.

Next up are the big boxes and the printing.

Then it'll be shipping again.

The balance is heading south...

Overheads

I worry about overheads.

There's something hanging over me.

Those costs you pay every month regardless of sales.

They sank my first company, Reiver Games, as the bank loan repayments and warehousing costs were bigger than sales most months.

So I worry about them.

Ours have increased.

We're lucky that we don't pay salary or rent. 

So ours are very low.

But still.

If we're not actively fulfilling a Kickstarter, our overheads are now often larger than profits, and sometimes even sales. 

There are two types, those that affect profits only (like depreciation and homeworking allowances) and those that affect profits and cash (like bank account fees and software subscriptions).

The latter are the worst.

We need to keep them down.

Or increase sales.