Raised $41K on Kickstarter from 1,203 people

When we first launched a Kickstarter campaign, we were looking to raise $25,000 to test 1/3 of a non-existent piece of technology (with no experience in water quality testing), for a wildly massive capital project that was going to cost $21.5 million. Every part of that seemed. Raising $25,000, to a few people had little to no experience in fundraising, seemed near impossible.

Within 6 days of our 30 day campaign, due to an amazingly generous outpour of generosity of close friends and family, friends of friends, colleagues, people we met in surf shops (hey Saturdays!), and a little help from the press, we had hit the goal of $25,000. By the end of 30 days, we had raised $41,647 from 1,203 people. 1,203 PEOPLE! That was the most incredible part of the whole thing. A thousand people, literally, gave their hard-earned money to an idea. An idea that some friends were pushing because we thought the river, the city, and its people would be better with it.

It was definitely at this moment that we realized the journey of + POOL had only just begun. Now we had to figure out the science behind a filtration system, and share that information in a clear and compelling way to the people that would eventually needed to approve it for use.