Mindblown Labs’ Educational Game Scores Over $75K on Kickstarter

For many startups looking to generate funds through crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, it’s hit or miss–and any seasoned or budding entrepreneur will tell you that it’s not as easy as it seems.  There’s a special technique, “secret sauce” if you will.

Based in Oakland, California, education technology startup Mindblown Labs found the recipe to that “sauce,” surpassing their Kickstarter goal of $75,000. The startup raised $77,522 for the company’s financial literacy game, Mindblown Life (MBL). Set to debut in 2013, MBL merges life-simulation elements and wit to teach young Americans money management and financial literacy skills. Similar to The Sims, the game allows users to create a customizable avatar, choose their career and engage in various social experiences as they would do in their real life.  Mindblown Labs collected more than $44,000 in the first 10 days of the project and made history in the process. MBL, which is currently in private beta, has reportedly raised more money than any other mobile-only game in the crowdfunding platform’s history. The previous record was set by Zombies, Run!, which raised $72,627, in October 2011.

“We are excited and appreciate that so many people have contributed their hard-earned cash to help us launch Mindblown Life,” said founder and CEO Jason Young in a recent press release. “Not only has our campaign helped us get one step closer to bringing an innovative personal finance solution to milli

ons of young adults, it’s also demonstrated that, by contributing to a project like ours, people can help tackle seemingly insurmountable problems without waiting for the bureaucrats and politicians to catch up.”

Young, who started his first business at the age of nine and three others prior to college, shared with BlackEnterprise.com what made his latest venture successful:

Research, Plan…and Plan Some More

The Harvard graduate started preparing for the launch of the Kickstarter campaign more than six weeks before launch.  “We [Mindblown Labs] performed a detailed analysis of both successful and unsuccessful campaigns,” Young said.  “We called some of the folks behind the stand-out campaigns for advice.  Based on all of our research, we developed and executed a robust action plan.”

Tap Into Personal Network(s)

The Mindblown Labs team started off strong, notifying everyone in their network about the Kickstarter campaign.  “If you knew us, then you also knew that we were launching a Kickstarter campaign on October 2 at 11:30 a.m. PT/2:30 p.m. ET,” said the chief executive.  “As a result of these outreach efforts, we had a very big first day, obtaining $30,000 in the first 24 hours.”

Get Your Social (Media) Status Up

Young admits his company’s social presence was close to nonexistent prior to launching their crowdfunding campaign. Starting with Twitter and Facebook, the Mindblown Labs crew began actively building the company’s social media footprint. They also built a partnership with “I Love Being Black” to further establish its presence on Facebook.  “Our use of social media was huge!  Thirty percent of our contributions came from social media outlets,” Young said.

Offer a Unique Product

“We spent numerous hours making sure that our message balanced the gravity of our mission with our irreverent sense of humor and fun personalities.”  While they are offering an educational product, Young wants to ensure the tech company’s game comes off as engaging and fun.

To learn more about Mindblown Labs, visit mindblownlabs.com. The company recently launched the Hidden Genius project, a non-profit that teaches software development, software design, and entrepreneurship to inner-city, black male high school students in Oakland. For more information on that initiative, go to hiddengeniusproject.org.