Online success-story manufacturer Kickstarter threw itself a house-warming bash at its new Greenpoint headquarters on Saturday.
The crowd-sourcing company moved into an old pencil factory at 58 Kent St. in January and a rep said the get-together was a great way to recreate its galvanizing effect in real life, without all of the pressure of meeting a cash goal.
“What makes Kickstarter special is bringing people together to share ideas, and it is also really fun to do that stuff in real life and have people find each other and meet each other and learn from each other on the street,” said Kickstarter spokeswoman Julie Wood.
Many of the vendors at the party were companies that got their start using Kickstarter to gather money from friends and like-minded folks worldwide. The vendors included tiny-clothes maker Itty Bitty Project, three-dimensional pen manufacturer 3Doodler, and Brooklyn web radio station Bbox.
“We got our first seed money for the station and it has helped connect people to the music,” said William Ellis, who also goes by DJ For Play and spins on Bbox, which raised more than $16,000 to buy equipment and spruce up its studio using the platform. “Kickstarter and Bbox is a perfect cross-section of who I am, and I wanted to be a part of it.”
Other successful campaigners also gave Kickstarter a tip of the hat.
“When you are launching a project you are not sure people are going to like, it is a great way to test the market,” said milliner Satya Twena, who bought her Manhattan hats factory with funds accrued through the site and is now raising money to launch a new sun-hat line.
More than a thousand revelers turned out to the afternoon-long party.
