Plano, Texas entrepreneur and father of eight, Josh Malone has raked in $929,160 from his Kickstarter campaign, backed by 21,455 investors for his invention Bunch O’ Balloons. From the funding, Malone plans to use 55% on fulfillment costs, 15% on promotion, and 30% on manufacturing equipment. Bunch O’ Balloons will be available for mass purchase in 2015.
The product is just that, a bunch of balloons–100 to be exact–attached to a nozzle that fits over a hose or faucet allowing you to fill the water balloons in less than a minute. A small elastic band seals off the water. Malone came up with the invention because he and his family spend hours lobbing water balloons at each other, but tired of the tedious task of filling and tying one balloon at a time.
Malone’s Kickstarter campaign was launched on July 22 and spread like wildfire, earning well over its intended $10,000 goal in just 12 hours. Within two weeks, the campaign reached more than $100,000. Â That’s when Malone added a stretch goal of $1.67 million.
“We launched on Kickstarter to raise some seed funding and test the market for a fun little invention. Obviously the response has been greater than we could have dreamed, resulting in worldwide demand for the product,†Malone posted on the site. “Thus, we have adjusted our goals and plans accordingly. For every dollar pledged, we will spend $.70 on rewards and expenses, and we’ll put $.30 toward improving production. If we get to $1.67M, that will provide for a $500,000 deposit on a multi-million dollar automated assembly line. That way we can deliver Bunch O Balloons to retail outlets and e-commerce sites all around the world.â€
Founder and principal of Tinnus Enterprises, Malone is a serial inventor and entrepreneur. He
holds patents for six inventions with several more pending. Much of his inspiration comes from working on projects with his wife and kids, finding ways to make things more efficient and more fun. After many summers and thousands of water balloons, he figured out a faster and easier way with Bunch O Balloons. He attended the International Toy Fair in New York City in February, but received no interest from big toy companies, all skeptical about buying the new idea. That’s when he turned to crowdfunding.Malone didn’t reach the $1 million mark on Kickstarter, but there are others who not only raised that amount but did so in record time.
Check out the six fastest campaigns to reach a million dollars on the next page:
This campaign, to expand a line of “high-quality plastic gaming miniatures,” had a Kickstarter fundraising goal of $30,000. It raised more than $3.1 million from 14,964 backers in 2.7 hours. It was funded on Oct. 26, 2013.
When the TV show “Veronica Mars,” starring Kristen Bell, ended in 2007, the show’s creator and executive producer, Rob Thomas, turned to Kickstarter to raise $2 million. It took just over four hours to hit the million dollar mark. The campaign’s total take was more than $5.7 million from 91,585 backers. It was funded on April 12, 2013, and the movie was released in March 2014.
Created by artist Stefan Pokorny, a self-described Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast, Drawven Forge is dungeon terrain for gamers. In just over five hours, his campaign raised more than $2.1 million, well past its $100,000 goal, from 3,950 backers. It was funded on April 8, 2014.
This campaign for a role-playing game quickly reached its
initial funding goal of $900,000, and went on to surpass the million dollars mark in the first seven hours. It raised more than $4.1 million from 74,405 backers. The project was funded on April 5, 2013.QUYA: A New Kind of Video Game Console
The campaign for this Android-based video game console raised its first million in a little more than eight hours. The final tally was roughly $8.6 million from 63,416 backers, with only a $950,000 target goal. The project was funded on Aug. 9, 2012.
Bring Reading Rainbow Back For Every Child
Actor LeVar Burton returned to the spotlight with his Kickstarter campaign to bring back the beloved children’s series, which quickly reached its $1 million goal in 10.83 hours. That success led Burton to stretch his target to $5 million. The campaign’s month-long run ended at $5.4 million from 105,857 backers.