Understanding the Agency Ecosystem for Kickstarter Creators

Published in

Launch Studio

7 min readJan 13, 2021

A lot of creators ask us about working with agencies. The most common questions we get are: “do I need an agency?” and “who can I trust?”

We get why these questions are on the top of everyone’s minds.

To launch a product on Kickstarter, you need to assemble a team that brings together the skills required to create a compelling video, run effective online ad campaigns, develop enticing copy, secure press coverage, and more. Creators often need external assistance to round out their capabilities.

There are many agencies out there, but finding one with the right expertise and culture can be challenging. You usually hire an agency because you lack expertise in a specific area, and your lack of expertise is also what makes it difficult to assess agencies’ capabilities.

Keep in mind that when I use the term “agency,” I am also referring to production studios, consultants, and other paid third-party service providers.

In this piece, I’ll provide an overview of the various types of agencies that have experience helping creators launch products via crowdfunding. This is a really deep topic, so we’ll just scratch the surface here. Check out this companion piece for a deep dive into the process of finding and screening agencies.

Do you need to work with an agency?

During the many years that I’ve worked with entrepreneurs and designers launching products on Kickstarter, I’ve noticed a correlation between funds raised and their team’s size and the depth of their expertise.

In other words, the more money you are trying to raise, the more likely you will need to work with experts.

It’s common for creators who are raising as little as $20k or $30k to work with a freelancer or consultant. They most often enlist support for video production and photography or to dip their toes into online advertising.

Creators with big ambitions quite often rely on agencies for many other activities, ranging from campaign planning to press outreach, content development, backer engagement, and even project management.

For a deeper dive into how to align your team with your Kickstarter goal, check out this piece that we published on the BackerKit blog.

What type of agency should you work with?

Agencies come in different shapes and sizes.

Most creators work with one or more agencies focused on specific domains, such as comms & PR. Only well-funded creators with big budgets and ambitious goals can outsource all the work to full-service agencies. To identify what type of agency could be a good fit, you need to determine where external partners can have the most significant impact on your project and have a clear sense of your budget.

Crowdfunding is quite different from e-commerce. That’s why it’s best to work with agencies that have Kickstarter expertise. Here is an overview of the types of agencies and compensation models you’ll encounter in the crowdfunding space.

Agency Types

Agencies range from highly targeted shops that specialize in specific areas to full-service organizations that can manage all aspects of a campaign. Here is a brief overview of the most common types of agencies you’ll encounter:

Content Production: Companies that create content, ranging from video production to photography, copywriting, graphic design, and more.
Comms & PR: Service providers that engage with media and influencers to secure press coverage and generate buzz around a product or brand.
Audience Building: Companies that build and activate audiences. Their efforts usually focus on building email lists, waitlists, reservation lists, and social media followings.
Live Campaign Online Advertising: Shops that run online advertising campaigns to drive pledges to live projects. These teams only work with projects that are live.
Full Service: Agencies that can plan, develop, and manage all aspects of a campaign. They often work as integrators, subcontracting work to other shops. Many full-service agencies offer a la carte services.

Size matters. It’s vital to consider an agency’s size when doing your search. Every agency has a hierarchy of clients, and each client’s financial value primarily drives these hierarchies. If you are a small creator partnering with a large agency, you will likely work with one of their junior teams.

Compensation Models

The most common compensation models adopted by agencies in the crowdfunding space are:

Consulting model, where fees are fixed for a predefined scope of work, based on an hourly rate, or calculated as a percentage of media spend.
Performance model, where fees are calculated based on funds raised or some other performance metric.
Mixed model, where project fee is combined with a commission or a performance bonus.

The main benefit of working with performance-based agencies is that the upfront investment is usually lower. If the return on ad spend is strong enough, you can then quickly scale up your efforts. The downside is that agencies working on commission often drop clients if they cannot achieve positive results rather quickly.

The main benefit of working with consulting-based agencies is that you will know the level of support you can expect from the outset. So if your campaign is not performing well out of the gate, they will still be committed to supporting your project. You’ll also have a better sense of the full scope of your agency expenses from the get-go, and you’ll likely save money if the campaign really blows up.

It’s crucial to consider the full costs of your online advertising campaigns during the planning phase. Agency fees do not include media costs, and you also need to account for other expenses, most notably Kickstarter fees. This can be more difficult when working with a performance-based agency due to their fees’ variable nature.

Illustration of full costs associated with an online advertising campaign. Assuming a 20% agency commission and 3x return on ad spend (ROAS), a creator would end up earning just 38 cents of every dollar raised through their advertising efforts.

How do I know what agency to trust?

Finding the right partner is mission-critical and challenging. Many companies claim to be crowdfunding experts, but only a few live up to that promise. That’s why we created this list of trusted agencies, consultancies, and production houses.

To develop this resource, we talked to a large number of creators in our network. We identified agencies with strong track records of delivering a positive impact and engaging with creators honestly, transparently, and respectfully from these conversations.

This list is well-rounded, but it is not necessarily comprehensive. There are other agencies with experience in crowdfunding, and I’m positive that some are trustworthy. If they are not on this list, this just means that creators in our network have not vouched for them (yet).

This list is not a substitution for your own research. You should look for agency candidates beyond this list, especially if you’re working on a niche product. Only you’ll be able to assess which service providers might be a good fit for your specific needs.

This list doesn’t include freelancers. I know that most creators running small projects will likely rely on freelancers rather than agencies. That means this list won’t be as useful for you if you are part of this cohort (sorry!)

Just the tip of the iceberg

Choosing to work with an agency and then building a shortlist of candidates are the two first steps in the process of finding a good partner. The decisions you make during this phase are foundational and can cast a long shadow on your project’s trajectory.

We’ve only touched on the tip of the iceberg here. This is a nuanced topic that could provide fodder for an entire book. Check out this companion piece that dives deep into the process of finding and screening agencies.

We’re planning a few more pieces on this topic over the next few quarters. So stay tuned.

Thank yous

I want to shout-out a few people who provided valuable perspectives, and whose input had an impact on the development of this piece. Most notably, Lina Gantar from Nuuk, Iddo Sternberg from Jellop, Beatriz Tejeiro from Backercamp, and Jackson Wightman from Proper Propaganda

Questions & feedback

Just leave your questions, tips, or feedback, here in a comment, or email me at julio@launchstudio.com.