15 Years of Skin in the Game: Our 2026 Transparency Report and the Future of Launching

A straightforward look at what we did, what the numbers mean, and what we are building next.

When I started this journey in May 2010, the crowdfunding world looked nothing like it does today. Back then, it was mostly hope, hype, and founders learning in public. In 2026, hope is not a strategy. The launches that win are the ones that validate demand early, protect trust during the campaign, and execute after funding with disciplined logistics.

I'm writing this because I believe in radical transparency. AI can now prototype fast and even "vibe-code" a product demo in minutes. But the real challenge is not building. It is validating the market, staying sane through manufacturing constraints, and surviving the logistics gap that starts the moment you get funded.

Last year was our most transformative yet. In 2025, we officially moved from being a marketing agency to becoming a Full-Stack Launch and Logistics Partner. This report is a straightforward look at what we did, what the numbers mean, and what we are building next.

Data note: figures referenced below are "since May 2010" unless a section explicitly states "in 2025."

The MVP Revolution: 45 Software Successes

The most important metric of our last 12 months is not a dollar amount. It is a delivery count.

Why This Number Matters

A lot of founders still get pushed into spending big before they have evidence. The common pattern is: build first, spend second, learn last. We do the opposite. Our internal approach is built around a 6-step validation system designed to pressure-test a product before scale, using a validation funnel to force real market signal.

What We Saw Across These 45 MVPs

These 45 were not the result of "luck" or "hype." Out of the dozens of projects that approached us, these made it through because they had enough signal to support a real launch plan.

Across these launches, we helped founders adjust the parts that usually break campaigns later, including:

• •Pricing that looked good in a pitch deck but failed in real conversion
• •Feature sets that sounded impressive but did not move purchase intent
• •Offer structure and bundling that left money on the table during the campaign
• •Positioning that was too broad to convert, or too niche to scale

The Practical Outcome

For hardware founders, this work happens before they cut their first steel tool. For software founders, it happens before they hire a full-stack team to build a product nobody asked for. The goal is simple: reduce expensive guessing, increase validated execution.

Scaling the Peak: 125 Campaigns and $504M Raised

Our "skin in the game" model has reached a milestone.

In 2025 specifically, our 41-person team managed and launched 125 crowdfunding campaigns across:

• •Kickstarter
• •Indiegogo
• •GameFound

The Human Scale Behind the Numbers

These are not vanity metrics. They represent founders who trusted us with their reputations and capital. A campaign is not "just marketing." It is a public launch in front of the internet, where every mistake is searchable forever.

Operating across our New York HQ and our London and Lisbon studios, we've built the kind of real-time support founders expect when the stakes are high. If an ad account goes down at 3 AM, it is not a ticket waiting in a queue. It is handled by an actual person who understands what being offline costs during a live campaign.

What This Reflects Operationally

Managing 125 campaigns in a year is not just ad buying. It is campaign operations: creative production cycles, page optimization, analytics integrity, email sequencing, daily performance triage, and the discipline required to make good decisions when metrics move fast.

Beyond the Launch: The E-commerce and Retail Ecosystem

A successful launch is not the finish line. It is the opening act.

In 2025, we focused heavily on the "day after funding" reality: what happens when the campaign ends and the real business begins.

The Shopify Shift: 7 Migrations Completed

In 2025, we successfully completed 7 complex migrations from WordPress to Shopify. The goal was not aesthetics. It was conversion-rate security, operational stability, and a platform foundation that can scale under traffic without breaking.

Retail Readiness: 12 Best Buy Listings Secured

In 2025, we secured 12 Best Buy listings for our top-tier electronics partners. That matters because it bridges the gap between a digital backer and a physical shopper. It is a different standard of readiness: packaging, compliance, channel requirements, and inventory discipline.

Why We've Leaned Into This Stage

Crowdfunding is where demand is proven publicly. E-commerce and retail is where a brand either becomes real, or disappears quietly. The creators who win long-term treat post-funding execution as seriously as pre-launch.

Some of the Awesome Campaigns We've Seen Launching in 2025

While we focus on the infrastructure behind the scenes, we are constantly inspired by the sheer level of innovation hitting the platforms. In 2025, we saw a new "Gold Standard" emerge across these high-performance projects:

• Elements of Truth by Veritasium — A masterclass in educational crowdfunding, raising over $1.2M by turning tabletop science into a global community experience.
• Odin 3 by AYN Technologies — This OLED handheld proved that the demand for high-performance, mobile gaming hardware is only accelerating.
• The Smith Blade by Hacksmith — A legendary $10M+ campaign that broke records for EDC (Every Day Carry) tools through sheer engineering excellence.
• Peak Design Pro Tripod — Their $4.6M launch showed how a legacy brand can reinvent its core architecture to meet 2026 professional standards.
• AnkerMake EufyMake E1 — A historic $44M+ campaign that redefined the technical limits of personal UV printing.
• Mous (2025 Crowdcube Raise) — A brilliant example of a brand moving beyond rewards and into equity crowdfunding to fuel their 2026 expansion.
• Amofit S — A deep dive into wellness tech that leveraged structured validation to build a massive, loyal user base.
• iContact Camera Pro — A technical solution to the "video call gap" that emphasized the 2026 trend of professional-grade remote tools.
• Xeric Retroscope — Continued the tradition of accessible horological artistry with their unique jump-hour retrograde movement.

Q2 2026: Closing the Logistics Gap

The biggest tragedy in crowdfunding is a funded campaign that never ships.

We have seen the same failure pattern too many times: the campaign succeeds, cash arrives, timelines stretch, logistics become chaotic, and trust erodes. Sometimes it is incompetence. Sometimes it is undercapitalization. Sometimes it is a founder who never had operational control in the first place.

What Changes With an In-House Fulfillment Hub

By handling 3PL and shipping in-house, we reduce the number of handoffs where accountability dies. It is designed to tighten control over fulfillment execution and give creators an operational backbone they can actually rely on.

The Outcome We Are Aiming For

From the first pre-order to the final global unboxing, we're building the infrastructure that closes the "logistics gap" where trust breaks most often.

This does not magically eliminate every risk in global supply chains. But it does put execution closer to the same team that owns the launch, the customer communication, and the brand reputation.

Closing Thought: What Launching Looks Like Now

Crowdfunding used to be about who could create the most excitement. In 2026, launching is about who can prove demand early, scale responsibly, and ship cleanly. The market does not reward noise forever. It rewards execution.

If you're building something serious and you want a launch plan built on validation and operational accountability, this report shows exactly what we're building toward.