The Crowdfunding Quick-Guide
Inside The book Giovanni Brees FAQ Articles Get it on Amazon
Crowdfunding · Entrepreneurship · 2nd Edition

How to raise six figures for a product that doesn't exist yet.

By Giovanni Brees

The Crowdfunding Quick-Guide distils nearly two decades of campaigns - and $600M+ raised on Kickstarter and Indiegogo - into 31 chapters you can act on before, during and after launch day.

As featured in Forbes · The New York Times · Bloomberg
The Crowdfunding Quick-Guide book cover by Giovanni Brees
Written by Giovanni Brees
Crowdfunding · Entrepreneurship · 2nd Edition

Raise six figures for a product that doesn't exist yet.

By Giovanni Brees

The 31-chapter playbook from the strategist behind $600 million+ raised on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

As featured in Forbes · The New York Times · Bloomberg
The Crowdfunding Quick-Guide book cover by Giovanni Brees
Written by Giovanni Brees
About the book

You build the crowd before you build the product - and this book shows you exactly how. Crowdfunding isn't luck. It's a system.

Most first-time creators learn the hard way, after a campaign stalls. The Crowdfunding Quick-Guide hands you the playbook up front: the three phases of a campaign, the four sources nearly all the money comes from, and exactly what to do at each step - refined across nearly two decades and more than $600 million raised on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Where the money comes from
Pre-launch email list
Paid advertising
PR & media placement
The platform crowd

The four sources behind nearly every funded campaign - covered in Chapters 2-4.

Inside the book

31 chapters, in the order of a real campaign.

·Introduction, How to Use This Book, Crowdfunding Demystified & the 3 Phases
·Getting Started: From Idea to Prototype · Do It Yourself or Hire Help?
01Finding Your USPs & Target Audience
02Testing Your Audience & Offer
03Landing Pages, Email & Community
04Paid Ads, Creative, PR & Influencers
05Choosing Your Platform
06Rewards, Pricing & Pledge Tiers
07Budgeting & Setting Your Funding Goal
08Your Campaign Page & Video
09Go-Live: The First 48 Hours & the Full Run
10Manufacturing, Fulfillment & Pledge Management
11Life After the Campaign
12Launching a Game: the Complete Playbook
13From Campaign to eCommerce
14PR & Press: the Full Playbook
15Going Global
16The Go-to-Market Deep Dive
17The Crisis Playbook
18The AI Toolkit (2026)
19Equity & Alternative Funding
20Campaign Two
21Product Photography & Visual Assets
22The Campaign Video, Shot by Shot
23Meta Ads: The Complete Deep Dive
24Manufacturing & Sourcing
25Fulfillment & Logistics
26Building Community
27Influencer & Creator Partnerships
28Financial Management
29Real Campaign Teardowns
30Founder Mindset & Resilience
31Sustainability & Ethical Manufacturing
·Why Campaigns Fail, and How to Be the 37%
·Appendices A to G: Legal, Benchmarks, Template Vault, Glossary, 90-Day Timeline, Tools, Update Templates

Every chapter ends with a checklist. Most include a fill-in worksheet.

400+ pages, paperback and Kindle.

Get the book on Amazon →
Back cover of The Crowdfunding Quick-Guide by Giovanni Brees
From the back cover

No fluff. Just the steps - with the worksheets to implement them.

✓ Pre-launch audience building that funds you on day one
✓ The $5-$10 reservation deposit that creates buyers early
✓ Reward tiers, pricing & funding-goal math that adds up
✓ A 90-day launch timeline, swipe emails & a press pitch
★★★★★

"A must-read for everyone thinking of running a crowdfunding campaign!"

- AJ Welsh
Giovanni Brees, founder and author
About the author

Giovanni Brees

A serial entrepreneur who, from 2010 to 2025, built and ran a group of marketing companies, including a product-launch operation that took more than 4,500 products to market and helped raise over $600 million. He wrote The Crowdfunding Quick-Guide to distill that playbook into one short, practical book.

Today he is the founder behind Meet Oscar, CiteEngine and KentoHQ, and author of The Zero-Employee Company (2026), about what it actually takes to replace a workforce with a system: the parts that work, the parts that break, and the parts the genre keeps leaving out.

He is also an investor, backing companies since 2007, while his own newest companies run on AI agents he designs and governs. Featured in Forbes, The New York Times and Bloomberg.

Frequently asked

Questions about the book

What is The Crowdfunding Quick-Guide about?

A step-by-step workbook for planning, launching and funding a product on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. It follows the real sequence of a campaign: positioning and audience testing, the pre-launch funnel, platform and pricing, the campaign page and video, launch day, fulfillment, and what comes after.

Who is the book for?

First-time creators, inventors, makers and founders preparing a reward-based crowdfunding campaign, and second-time creators who want a system instead of a guess. It assumes no agency, no big following and no prior campaign.

What is inside?

31 chapters and 7 appendices across 400+ pages. Every chapter ends with a checklist, and most include fill-in worksheets: the one-line USP, pre-launch targets, the reward ladder, unit-cost and funding-goal math, a 90-day launch timeline, swipe emails and a press pitch.

Does it cover Kickstarter and Indiegogo specifically?

Yes, plus GameFound and BackerKit for tabletop games. It explains the fixed, all-or-nothing model both platforms now use, native late pledges, how the discovery algorithm rewards early momentum, and how to get in front of the editorial teams.

Is there a chapter on ads, PR and board games?

Yes. There are dedicated deep dives on Meta ads, PR and press, launching a board game, the campaign video shot by shot, product photography, manufacturing and sourcing, fulfillment and logistics, and the AI toolkit for solo creators.

Which edition is this and where can I buy it?

The Second Edition, fully expanded and updated (ISBN 979-8-9867165-0-3). Paperback and Kindle on Amazon. View it on Amazon →

Contact & booking

Work with Giovanni Brees

For speaking, press, advisory and venture enquiries, get in touch directly.

hello@giovannibrees.com
Speaking & press
Talks and interviews on AI-run companies and product launches.
Advisory & consulting
Selective work on launches, growth and agent systems.
Ventures & partnerships
Meet Oscar, CiteEngine and KentoHQ collaborations.

Get funded. Skip the guesswork.

The Crowdfunding Quick-Guide by Giovanni Brees - 31 chapters, real checklists, $600M+ of hard-won experience.

The Crowdfunding Quick-Guide by Giovanni Brees
giovannibrees.com LinkedIn Privacy ISBN 979-8-9867165-0-3 · 2nd Edition, 2022