I like crowd-sourcing as much as the next guy, and in the last month I’ve gotten sucked in for a bit of coin.
I Indiegogo fifty bucks towards a tee-shirt company that’s trying to make sweat-proof tee-shirts (or something) in the US of A.
And, at a friend’s suggestion, I’m helping kickstart a TV show that some young friend of hers is involved in. If all goes well (from the creative guy’s point of view, if not mine: not that I’m hoping his campaign fails or anything, but in truth I’d rather spend the money on something else), and the funding level’s reached, I’ll be putting in an appearance as an extra in one of the episodes. Which is kind of an ugh reward that I may well take a pass on. If the camera adds another 20 pounds to the 20 pounds I’ve already added on my own, well, I really don’t want a credit as the fat old broad in the bathing suit in episode three.
Even if I weren’t a participant in a couple of these social ventures, I’d still find them interesting - especially when there’s a crowd sourcing overlap with something else that piques my interest. In this case, beef jerky.
Not that I’m a fan, but beef jerky does seem to appear on my mental radar screen more often than one might think, given that the very thought of it makes me gag. Usually I’m so there for a combination of salt and grease, but not in the case of jerky.
Sure, I’m thinking Slim Jim here, but still.
Anyway, kickstarting and beef jerky converged in a highly entertaining way when a something or other – individual? entity? con men? spoof? – named Magnus Fun tried to raise a bit over $2K to help them fund their beef jerky enterprise, which was going to make high-end Kobe beef jerky.
They were touting:
The worlds first 100% Japanese
Kobe Beef Jerky. Made from beer fed cattle. Wet aged & infused with sweet & savory gourmet flavors. (Source – for now, anyway: Kobe Red on Kickstarter.)
And had all kinds of backstory about being a Japanese-American who first experienced Kobe beef on his uncle’s ranch. There were also claims that they’d done taste tests at SXSW, and iPhone-ish shots of all kinds of thumbs-up messages from happy taste test takers.
Most of the backers – i.e., those who had put their money where their mouth yet wasn’t – were on the small side: fewer than 200 had pledged at the $100 level. But, as we know, a dollar here, a dollar there. And, in the case of Kobe Red, it all added up to over $120,000. Or would have…
That’s when a couple of guys who were making a film about Kickstarter – a film entitled “Kickstarted” - started hearing from suspicious minds who thought the campaign might be a fraud. That wasn’t Kobe Red Jerky they were smelling: it was a rat. And they went public with the claim that they had “uncovered the biggest fraud in Kickstarter history.”
On their voyage of discovery, these hardy boys found that:
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Magnus Fun Inc had created another project - a mini coffee table book – that failed only 2 days before Kobe Red was launched.
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The project creators never released their names, photos or other personal details.
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Their taste test testimonials were mostly from iPhone screen caps. The names of the people giving the testimonials were not discoverable in thorough Internet and social media searches.
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Many commenters began asking legitimate questions about how the beef jerky could be made – and pointed out many issues that the creators never addressed. Most questioned the cost structure of making actual Kobe beef jerky, as it would likely be much higher than the reward levels indicated. This project simply did not make sense financially given the price and quantity needed to fulfill their backer orders. Also, according to many commenters, Kobe beef wouldn’t be good for making jerky. The marbled fat of Kobe would likely lead to very greasy jerky.
(Very greasy jerky? Isn’t that what jerky’s supposed to be?)
They – that would be Jason Cooper, Jay Armitage and team “Kickstarted” – also sleuthed out some of the backers who were attempting to counter the mounting Kickstart suspicions. And found that they seemed to be one and the same as Magnus Fun.
At some point along the line, the folks at Kickstarter entered the fray and suspended the project before the Magnus Funsters were able to collect the pledges.
Amazingly, when I checked out other jerky projects, there were four active ones on Kickstarter at the moment, including one for bacon jerky. (Now there’s a combo!) So, if you’re interested in funding a jerky project, just go to Kickstarter and search on jerky and you will be amply rewarded with investment options.
Who knew there was such demand for all things jerky?
Actually, I should have known that something wazzup.
After all, just last September I’d blogged about Grass Roots Jerky, which had been profiled on Bloomberg/Businessweek.
I don’t know how successful Ryan and Eric Turri have been in their quest to slip the surly bonds of the financial services industry and forge new careers in the jerky biz. They now have a website, but there’s not much to it.
If they still want “to take the jerk out of jerky”, which they claim they do, they might want to get on over to Kickstarter and set themselves up for some crowdsourcing.
There are, apparently, thousands of folks out there who aren’t afraid to add something really jerky to their investment portfolios.
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