In this episode of WordPress Weekly, Jeff Chandler and I are joined by three gentleman who have gone through the crowdfunding experience.

Scott Kingsley Clark is a Senior Web Engineer at 10up. He’s also the lead developer of the Pods Framework and a number of other WordPress plugins. He used Kickstarter in September of 2011 and asked for $1,500. He ended up with $4,177 with 91 backers.

John Saddington is best known in the WordPress community for his work on the WordPress news site, WP Daily, which was acquired by WP Engine last year. He’s the lead developer of Pressgram, an iOS app to capture, edit, and publish mobile photos to your site or blog. He used Kickstarter in April of 2013 to raise $50,000. He received $56,500 from 498 backers.

Nick Haskins is the lead developer of the AESOP Story Engine platform plugin and service. Haskins used Crowdhoster in early 2014 to try and raise $15,000. He received $6,572 from 45 contributors.

There are two important lessons we learned from today’s show. First, always ask for more money than you think you need. Having more money is better than running out. Second, structure gifts to backers so that it works towards completing the project versus being a distraction. Although it’s a long show, there is a lot of great information.