My team recently started a fundraising project on kickstarter. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/floppyent/lil-sherman?ref=card

Obviously, we're not off to a very good start, and we recently got an email from this A.I.M.A.group. http://aimakickst.wordpress.com/

It looks a little fishy to me, and I'm wondering if anyone has had any experiences with this group.

Any info would be appreciated

Its certainly fishy that any sort of worthwhile investment group would host their page not only on WordPress period, but using WordPress' own free hosting. Plus there are basically zero details about how their investment works (presumably they go through kick-starter to lock in everyone else's funds), but then what's in it for them?

I'd say its either a scam, or some naive business-school flunky that thinks he can own 25% of your game by locking up the last 25% of crowd funding. It's also entirely possible that the kickstarter projects are not the target, but the bait -- and that the 'investors' will be the one's getting fleeced in the end.

I'd write it off personally, but the first thing I'd demand if you make contact with them is the credentials of the person running the show, and the investors themselves.

Er, 10.000$ annual fee or 1.000$ per month?

This is the right time to push that "Spam" button.

Somebody wants quick bucks in this whole kickstarter boom.

Er, 10.000$ annual fee or 1.000$ per month?

Yeah, I saw that part also. Seems odd to even ask that of someone without providing more info.

I've pretty much written this off as BS, but I'd still like to know if anyone can confirm this.

..and also if we can confirm it is a scam, I'd like to know how to warn the game dev community.

Just hope people are smart enough to google "american investors microprojects association" (you'll already find a little bit of info), and pray people in the community have some common sense. Write a blog post about it too. The more you give google bots to pick up on it being a scam, the better. I'd also spell out the full name in addition to the abbreviation of AIMA, just so google has more to pick up on.

They give a @gmail account....



However:

Kickstarter is pure business. But many come there wide-eyed, not realizing the kind of world they are entering.

Here is a golden rule:
- If you didn't initiate it, if you didn't solicit it - ignore it.

If someone offers you a pot of gold, if a prince died or if they are offering to refinance your loan - if you need to ask for advice on stuff like this, just ignore it. The games these people play are several layers beyond your current scope.

Yes, there is a tiny possibility that such deals may turn out positive for you. An incredibly tiny chance. But never at face value. Profit off such business can be made only by beating them at their game, whatever that is. Meanwhile, ~60% of general population cannot understand the statistics of gambling and are therefore unable to manage risks associated - which is why casino/house always wins - and so do such solicitors.


Further, anything that you were not physically present at (people, offices, homes) does not exist. Unless you mingled with these people in person, if you were at their offices and you verified ownership of these offices by meeting with the bankers/landlords, unless you had lunch with accountant that validates their business and their finances, .... They don't exist.

Anything of non-disposable value (such as Starbucks coffee) and anything with paperwork involved must be validated in person. Especially anything long term.

Investors live off playing people. It's their sole purpose, so until you have people employed to deal with such things, ignore them. Cards are simply stacked against you.


Or maybe you're feeling lucky (you will lose).

PS. Scam is a blunt word. Most business are not only legit, but fully within legal frameworks, yet they will make you lose. Scams are easy, police will deal with them it will be just a hassle. It's the losing propositions that are impossible to deal with, they are just bad investments.

some naive business-school flunky[/quote]

Naive?

People like these are way smarter and more down to earth than us. We work wages, they have other people bring them money. They have more understanding of business, money making and people psychology in their pinky than most of us will learn in a lifetime.

Nigerian scams aren't run by naive people - they are terribly profitable and viable business. That's why they are still around. It's the people who buy such things that are naive, simply because they cannot grasp something like that is possible or doable (technically, it's more complete lack of experience and exposure to such business world, which is the asymmetry these investors are exploiting).

That was scam *or* naive business-school flunky -- like I said, just some dude who might think he can get some financial interest in your game by making sure the kickstarter is successful. Anyhow, all the evidence points more toward the former, so the point is moot.

Of course it's a scam. How could any venture capitalist make money backing projects they aren't reviewing? Second, if it's a VC and they are a "big investor" group, why do they need $20 for you to "try it out"?

So my kickstarter project is "Hey I'm going to pick my nose as soon as we reach $1,000,000" and they'er going to guarantee I succeed? Sign me up.......

A real "big investor" group would just buy your project outright before it went to kickstarter. Why would they mess with some democratic framework?

It's common sense....