The worst Kickstarter projects of all time according to 2 podcasters who call out the most egregious
In the past decade, sites like Kickstarter have changed the landscape of fundraising â average people now have a platform to raise money for bold, new ideas without the red tape and financial barriers associated with traditional fundraising methods.
As it turns out, a lot of those bold, new ideas are absolutely terrible.
The podcast "Your Kickstarter Sucks" wades into Kickstarter's murky underbelly. For the past two and a half years, the podcast has documented the worst projects that crowdfunding sites have to offer. Hosts Jesse Farrar and Mike Hale have become unofficial historians of bad Kickstarters, rounding up poorly-thought-out gadgets, tasteless creative projects, and blatant grifts from the world of crowdfunding.
The duo compares Kickstarter to a modern-day QVC, where an endless stream of hyper-specific products promise to improve the lives of customers. But unlike QVC, Kickstarter has no barrier to entry.Â
"It's not just full-on scams," Hale said. "There's also just dumb guys who have dumb inventions that they usually make in their garage or something, and [with Kickstarter] they have a megaphone now."
A Kickstarter spokesperson told Business Insider that the platform has a list of rules for campaigns and prohibits certain projects, including medical treatments, drugs, pornography, sweepstakes, and weapons. Campaigns that abide by these rules are fair game â Kickstarter doesn't "pass judgement on the quality of those creative projects," the spokesperson said.
Farrar and Hale spoke to Business Insider about the most egregious Kickstarters they've seen over the years. Here are some of the projects â or types of projects â that stand out for their tastelessness, dubious financials, or just plain bad ideas.