I raised $200K on Kickstarter for my sunrise alarm clock. The lessons I learned while preparing the campaign were just as valuable.

Emily Byrne, founder of Rise Centered, launched a natural sunrise alarm clock on Kickstarter in 2023, raising nearly $200,000 from about 1,500 backers in a single month. Beyond the funds, the campaign helped Byrne understand customer input and the financial realities of running a product business. She built an email list of potential customers and used Launchboom, a crowdfunding education platform, to promote the campaign.

The feedback from Kickstarter provided valuable insights for refining the product and aligning it with customer desires. Byrne also learned the importance of purchasing inventory ahead of time and managing production timelines to avoid delays. Since then, Rise Centered has grown to nearly $1 million in cumulative sales and received media attention from publications like ELLE and CNN.