the story i always tell is about a girl named emily, who raised money very early on to sail around the world alone. ironically, this is probably not a project we’d allow now. but, she wanted to sail around the world and one of her rewards was for $15 and she would take a polaroid from somewhere on her trip and she’d mail it to you when she got into port. about six months ago, i got an envelope in the mail with a stamp i didn’t recognize and i open it up and there’s a map and one side of the map is a letter written to me and it describes this jungle, this island, and what she sees around her. and as soon as she finished writing that letter, she took a picture with the polaroid, which was stuck inside. and the polaroid has a jungle in the forefront and then a strip of white beach and then the crackling blue ocean just past that. and it’s amazing and it’s romantic. and that was a really great experience; i have the letter and the polaroid all framed in my house. but that was just an example of something so out of the ordinary and so emotional, so real and it really surprised me. i was just someone who gave her $15 on the internet and i got this. so that to me crystallizes what i see is so special about what kickstarter does.

- yancey strickler, kickstarter: funding ‘creative independence’ | via pcmag