I "cloned" Kickstarter in Shopify and have released it as an open source project. [0]<p>So why not use Kickstarter? A few reasons:<p>- OWN. YOUR. NOOK. There’s power in owning your nook of the ‘net — your domain name, your design, your archives — and it’s easier than ever to do so, and run a crowdfunding campaign at the same time.<p>- The feel of the platform has changed dramatically over the last decade — from indie upstart with low-key projects, to a kind of machine used by big companies to pre-sell coolers with USB ports. There are still tons of inspiring self-made folk on Kickstarter, but it doesn’t quite have the “small village” vibe it once had.<p>- By building atop a platform like Shopify, you can save up to ~7% on platform fees when running a campaign.<p>- Kickstarter doesn’t allow for coupons<p>- Kickstarter doesn’t allow for multiple goals — stretch goals are kinda hacked onto campaigns.<p>- Design control is severely limited.<p>- A platform like Shopify has direct integration with all kinds of fulfillment options, dramatically simplifying shipping and customer service.<p>- Once the campaign is over, your project lives like a kind of museum piece on Kickstarter’s servers. Who knows if Kickstarter will be around in five years, or how their design will change.<p>The real change in the last decade, though, is that platforms like Shopify have become extremely capable. I am blown away. Shopify is one of the best pieces of "big" software I’ve used in recent years. It consolidates the entirety of a campaign and its extensive markup language (in-house designed Liquid templates, which are a joy to use, and local development tools like their “theme” software that auto-syncs with the server) allows for the base-functionality of a site like Kickstarter to be easily duplicated.<p>Would love your feedback / improvements. It's running live on a campaign now[1].<p>[0] https://github.com/cmod/craigstarter<p>[1] https://shop.specialprojects.jp/products/kissa-by-kissa