Conor Lewis — Raising $3.1M on Kickstarter & Community-Driven Product Development

On the show today is Conor Lewis. Conor is the founder of FORT, which creates magnetic pillow forts for kids.

I wanted to bring him on because Conor launched one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns out there. Not only was the campaign a massive success, but it was also a ground-breaking case study on community-driven product development. Conor has also been sharing everything he's learning about getting FORT off the ground on Twitter.

You'll hear about how he built an audience before Kickstarter, how he leveraged niche online communities during the pandemic, and what key factors made the campaign so successful.

More on Conor:

• @conorblewis on Twitter
• FORT

Mentions:

• PR email template

Sponsored by Riverside — It’s what I use to record both my podcasts, Everything Is Marketing and Default Alive, but I was using Riverside long before they became a sponsor. I used to use Zoom until someone interviewed me using Riverside and I knew I had to switch. I love it because they take local recordings on each side, which gives you a reliable connection and the highest quality audio and video tracks. Separate HD recordings, an iOS app, automatic transcription… It’s made specifically for podcasters. Folks like Guy Raz from How I Built This, Courtland Allen from Indie Hackers, and even Hillary Clinton uses it if you can believe it. Check them out and all the other features they have at riverside.fm

🙌 Thank Conor for coming on the show with a quick tweet

If you've got a question or takeaway you want to share from this episode, you can do so in the Swipe Files community. You can chat with guests of the podcast as well as a bunch of other top-notch marketers. Join a community that will help you do your best work and be prolific. Check it out at swipefiles.com/membership

I write an occasional newsletter about cutting-edge, comprehensive, and sometimes even crazy marketing ideas. Subscribe to become a better marketer, one idea at a time at swipefiles.com You can also get my free newsletter Marketing Weekly. It's a curated digest of the best marketing content in your inbox every Sunday morning.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts or your podcast player of choice? It takes less than a minute and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!

Looking for marketing jobs? Check out Hey Marketers, a free job board I created just for marketing jobs.

★ Support this podcast ★