Kickstarter was hacked earlier this week, the crowdfunding site informed users on Saturday. While the company says the hackers didn’t gain access to credit card numbers and only two users were affected, it advised all users to change their passwords.
Five years after co-founding Kickstarter, Perry Chen is moving up to the chairman’s office and being replaced by his co-founder Yancey Strickler. Another co-founder, Charles Adler, is moving to an advisory role. Kickstarter now boasts 5 million backers who have pledged close to a billion dollars.
Kickstarter launched its UK site Wednesday with about 200 projects, part of a larger planned international expansion. Now U.K. creators can begin using Kickstarter to fund their creative projects.
After a recent story highlighted how Kickstarter made it harder to find failed projects, Kickstarter’s co-founder Yancey Strickler explains. It’s about showcasing current projects that can be funded. Also, creators were asking for their projects to get de-indexed from web searches because they ranked high.
One of Kickstarter’s founders has come under fire for saying that the service will provide more funding this year than the the National Endowment for the Arts, but the reality is that the service has become a significant platform for movies, books and other artistic projects.
Since Kickstarter’s launch in 2009, 3,500 film and video projects have been funded by donors — over $35 million has been raised for documentaries, independent features and web series. But what is it about Kickstarter that works, and what should creators know before seeking out funds?
