Last year, Zach “Danger” Brown, took Kickstarter by storm when he launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $10 so he could make… a potato salad. Although he quickly gained popularity for his salad project (and even used the funds for a big event in Columbus, OH along with donating to the homeless), he was immediately rejected by the platform his latest project.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, Brown returned to Kickstarter to secure $4,000 purchase a Jet Ski watercraft and, using space and machinery at the Columbus Idea Foundry in Franklinton, to grind the entire watercraft into powdery dust. He wrote:
“I was at a small man-made lake here in Columbus and saw this kid doing donuts in a sweet Jet Ski. At that moment, I knew I wanted to be a Jet Ski owner. Unfortunately, there’s a lot that goes into being a Jet Ski owner. You need to tow it. You need to live near water. A few weeks later, my friend Mike and I were talking about starting an art project where we shoot a time lapse of us filing a car down to powder and I was like “buddy, we’ve got to buy a Jet Ski.
“I’m going to rent a space at The Columbus Idea Foundry (the largest maker space in the world) and store it there. I’m going to do a time lapse of the thing being drained of oil, disassembled, and powderized. I’d really love to partner with Blendtec and see if you can blend a whole jet ski. That’d be awesome.”
Brown revealed that he is a huge Seinfeld fan and would give backers samples of the destroyed vehicle in glass vials (“a Jet Ski you can carry around in your pocket.”)
Despite initially being approved (but needed some improvements), the project was changed to declined. Brown revealed:
“They had [Kickstarter outreach team member] Taylor call me eight hours or so after he sent that really supportive email and tell me it was off. He said they were worried about perception. I asked if there was anything I could change, and he said, ‘no.'”
Responding to the crowdfunding giant’s decision Brown decided to go with its competitor, Indiegogo, for the project. He noted:
“I am starting to think that Kickstarter is in bed with the houseboat lobby, who obviously don’t want Jet Skis to be hot this summer. I’ll be pro-Kickstarter forever, but this decision makes me sad. It’s a boring decision and I don’t typically think of Kickstarter as being a boring company.”
A Kickstarter spokesperson reportedly told thedailydot.com on Thursday:
“We wish him well; we think he’s very funny and talented.”
Brown’s new campaign is set to launch on Indiegogo this Monday.
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