She Podcasts is hosting a large-scale learning and networking event this year where women podcasters can learn the core skills of podcasting from other women podcasters. To fund the event, Jessica Kupferman launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of raising $25,000. In 40 days, they raised $50,000 without announcing a single speaker or sponsor. In this interview, Cate picks Jessica’s brain about how to effectively use crowdfunding and how to plan a large-scale event.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to use crowdfunding to do the things you want to do.
• How to choose the appropriate crowdfunding platform to launch your event.
• How to leverage your strengths and the strengths of people you know to plan a large-scale event.
• Jessica tells us how She Podcasts raised $50,000 in 40 days without announcing a single speaker or sponsor for their live event.
• Jessica tells us how she’s designing the She Podcasts event based on the experience she wants to have at live learning and networking event.
• Cate picks Jessica’s brain about how to plan a huge live event.

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Jessica’s Facebook
• She Podcast
• Be a coach
• Have a conversation
• Discover more about Body Thrive 
• Body Thrive Book

Show Highlights:

• 00:45 – Cate and Jessica talk about how they met and how Jessica launched the She Podcasts event using Kickstarter.
• 11:13 – Jessica talks about how she’s designing the She Podcasts event based on what she wanted for and from events she has attended.
• 14:40 – Cate asks Jessica for her tips on how to use Kickstarter to launch an event and how to design a larger event.
• 28:08 – Cate and Jessica talk about the value of having a partner or consultant to help plan a large event and how to decide what to outsource and what to do yourself.
• 35:58 – Cate and Jessica discuss the various platforms for fundraising, including Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Indiegogo.

Favorite Quotes:

• “One of the things I feel like I’ve learned over the years, as I’m becoming a little more savvy . . . , is I’ve stopped thinking that some people have something I don’t have. Instead, it’s like ‘Who knows how to do this? Who already knows how to do this?’ Because chances are it has nothing to do with what I know or what I have or don’t have. It just has to do with ‘Who already is pro at this?’” — Cate Stillman
• “I do not want to have too many lessons learned. I really don’t. I want to leverage someone else’s lessons learned.” — Cate Stillman
• “I’m much more interested in what we would do together than what I can figure out alone.” — Cate Stillman
• “Kickstarter, I’ve learned, is, I think, very specific to funding a product or service that has never been created before. . . . I only did Kickstarter because Podcast Movement did Kickstarter. I don’t know that it was necessarily the right vehicle.” — Jessica Kupferman

Guest BIO:

Jessica Kupferman is the co-host and co-founder of the She Podcasts brand, which currently supports over 12,000 female podcasters and has a digital marketing reach of over 50,000 content creators. She Podcasts LIVE, the live event created for the She Podcasts community, was funded spring 2019 via Kickstarter for double the goal and sold 200 tickets with 30 days.

Jessica specializes in marketing and monetizing within the podcasting industry, and has been featured in magazines and websites such as Entrepreneur, Forbes, Business Insider, Social Media Examiner, and Yahoo Finance. She has also been a featured guest on podcasts such as Entrepreneur On Fire, Peter Shankman’s Faster Than Normal and the New Media Show. She has has been honored to speak at The NAB Show, blogHer, Social Media Marketing World, Podcast Movement, and many other blog and podcasting conferences. Connect with Jessica on her facebook.