Customers Prefer to Crowdfund Products They Can Improve

This partly explains how the Twitch and YouTube livestreamer market exists as an advancement over passive broadcast television: interactivity.

If you want to create an "Apple"-like lifestyle cultural brand heavy on goodwill, skew to either adopt a position of extreme minimalism and totalitarianism or radical crowdsourcing and customization. Waffling between them and corporate bullshit don't fly anymore in terms of cultural resonance.

"Summary: Platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have not only broadened access to funding to companies that might struggle in the capital markets but have also transformed the way companies connect with consumers during product development, replacing focus groups with real customers who have a stake in the final product. Despite crowdfunding’s many benefits, numerous campaigns still fail. To understand why, the authors embarked on an empirical analysis of 18,173 campaigns for physical products in the technology and design categories on Kickstarter. They found that many companies often present initial products that are so fully developed that customers don’t feel that their input will materially change the product and are reluctant to contribute as a result."