Yancey Strickler of Kickstarter tells the audience at the PSFK Conference in NYC how he and his team started the crowdfunding platform to simply help artists fund their creative projects. But the unexpected turns of some projects have caused them to expand their vision for the company.

Some highlights from the presentation:

• Kickstarter aimed to solve the problem of creative ideas only receiving funding if they were deemed profitable by larger companies (record labels, galleries, etc.)
• The company’s all-or-nothing funding model adds a gaming aspect and protects donors from losing money for insufficiently funded projects
• While the founders set out to help fund only art, music and performance-based projects, their network of creators have pushed them to embrace the potential for interesting inventions outside of those areas

Kickstarter