Yeon Jin-guk, an intern researcher at the Funding Institute. Filled with determination and passion, Yeon Jin-guk has finally been assigned his first task.
“Hey, intern researcher, would you like to write a funding research log?”
Yeon Jin-guk, who got scolded on his first day of work for confusing "cloud" with "crowd" (
How on earth did you end up becoming a research intern?Will he actually be able to carry out the mission successfully?Here begins Yeon Jin-guk’s Funding Exploration Journal.
The world of crowdfunding has its own unique perspective. If you want to truly understand any culture, take a close look at its language.
The crowdfunding perspective also If you understand, you’re practically there. Funding terminology? Don’t be intimidated. Three terms are all you need!
Makers, Supporters, Stories. You might be more familiar with terms like seller, consumer, and product page.
You might think, “Oh, they’re all the same.” However, since each term ultimately defines what this platform is and how it should be used, it’s important to use them carefully.
A “maker” is, quite simply, someone who creates things. A “supporter” refers to a fan or backer. A “story” is, as the word suggests, a narrative. When you put these terms together, crowdfunding is the act of creators and their supporters sharing a story. The exchange of funds and rewards is what happens after the story unfolds.
In today’s exploration journal, we’ll be looking at a book with a story—‘Story’—a concept that tells a story.
If we see your sincerity, we’ll respond with funding
When I first saw the Wadiz story, my reaction was, “Wow, this is long.” No matter how far I scroll down, it just keeps going on and on, like a roll of toilet paper. But it reads just as smoothly as a roll of toilet paper unrolling? It’s to the point where I wonder if every creator has won a writing award—that’s how well-written most of the project stories are. Why is everyone such a great writer? What power does a story hold that makes backers willing to fund a product even though there are no reviews to go on?
To put it simply, In storytelling, you can go beyond simply saying, “Our product is great!” or “It has these features!” to explaining, “We created this product with this philosophy in mind,” or “Our product was made through this process.” After all, supporters are fans who listen to and support the maker’s story.
They are ready to listen to the story. So even if the product itself doesn’t have any groundbreaking features, as long as it feels genuine, they’re happy to back it with their funding.
The Story Behind the 26,664% Funding Goal: Capturing the Journey
There is a creator who successfully raised over 130 million won with rewards priced between 10,000 and 30,000 won. Do these rewards offer something as extraordinary as an invisibility cloak or a bamboo helicopter? No. If you were expecting some special feature, you might be disappointed by these rewards, which are Korean & World History Timelines.
The process of creating a timeline to introduce the project story is explained in detail. As you follow the narrative flow, you’ll see how 1,700 pages of past exam questions were organized—and before you know it, you’ll come to trust the rewards.
The creator explains that they used the street-cleaning method of “Bepo,” the street sweeper from the novel *Momo*, to efficiently organize keywords. You can truly feel the sincerity behind the effort they put into organizing such a vast amount of data and presenting it in an accessible way.
Source: Cosmos Korean and World History Timeline at a Glance
Is the story particularly captivating with its vibrant colors? To be honest, no, it isn’t. But the way it quietly introduces the process of creating the timeline, letter by letter, and calmly explains what history means to the creator—that’s what makes it so impressive. I suspect that the 26,664% funding goal was achieved by fans who were won over by that very approach.
Given the creator’s hope that children won’t find history difficult or burdensome, I get the feeling that the rewards will resonate with me in the same way. / Source: Cosmos Korean & World History Timeline at a Glance
A Story That Captivated Our Supporters: Capturing the Maker
In the summer, the produce section is so vibrant with a dazzling array of fruits from all over the country that you might mistake it for a farmers’ market. This year, in particular, peaches have reportedly overtaken watermelons as the most popular summer fruit, and thanks to makers catering to supporters’ needs, we were able to see a variety of peach projects on crowdfunding platforms. Honestly, unless you’re a peach expert, terms like “honey peach,” “chadol peach,” “Daegukcheon peach,” and “Geumbong peach” might as well be foreign words. “Weren’t there just ‘mulbok’ and ‘ddakbok’?” It’s confusing. So even after reading the project descriptions, I end up going back and forth between different projects, agonizing over which one to back.
Amid the flood of "Peach Project" A heartwarming project that feels like watching *Human Theater*
The opening line, “Peach Funding Started by Begging Mom and Dad,” immediately piques curiosity about the creator’s story. The story begins with how the creator came to introduce their parents’ peaches—which had gained a reputation among friends and family for being delicious—to supporters, and the process of how they ended up “begging” their parents.
Isn’t the post-credits scene usually the part you regret missing the most in a movie? The part that best captures the essence of this story is precisely that post-credits scene, “Behind the Scenes.” Behind the Scenes 1, which introduces Baekdo and Hwangdo as the characters Pink and Yellow, reveals the Maker family’s adorable, heartfelt devotion to peaches. If they hadn’t studied various peach varieties in depth, would they be able to distinguish and describe the personalities of peaches like this?
Peach friends who even have their own MBTI types / Source: [Legendary Arrival] The peaches set to take this summer by storm! Pink and Yellow are coming!
In "Behind the Scenes 2," we see photos of a couple who have returned to the countryside—scenes that feel like they could be taken straight from a documentary—while "Behind the Scenes 3" features photos of the Maker family, who seem just like any ordinary family. In these candid shots, devoid of any sense of staging, you can’t help but think, “These really are the peaches of a farming couple.”
Source: [Legends Arrive] The peaches set to take this summer by storm! Pink and Yellow are here!
Source: [Legends Arrive] The peaches set to take this summer by storm! Pink and Yellow are here!
This story, overflowing with warmth and cuteness, resonated deeply with supporters and was rewarded with successful funding. This can be seen.
Supporters who were moved by the story and contributed to the campaign
A supporter who clearly understood the creator’s “worldview” (?)—which introduced Hwangdo and Baekdo as “Yellow” and “Pink”—left a review saying that a fun story makes for a great start!
Great Stories: Their Real Stories
Stories offer a richer narrative experience than product detail pages. This is possible precisely because stories are not just pages filled with detailed descriptions, but narratives in their own right. Through stories, creators can share all the meaningful aspects of their brand—including its philosophy, their passion for their products, and the journey that brought the brand and products into the world.
Think it’s hard to write a good story? Not at all. After all, isn’t “sincerity” the most important thing in anything? If you express what you want to say with sincerity, that’s exactly what makes for a story that touches people’s hearts. Even when a product doesn’t have any amazing features, and even when the creators don’t have flashy speaking or writing skills, most crowdfunding project descriptions are compelling because they’re not fabricated—they’re “the real stories they want to tell.” That’s why, at least here, everyone is a master storyteller.
Finally, we conclude Day 3 of our crowdfunding exploration series with an interview with the creator (Nongshim, leader of the N-Start team) behind the “Simplate” dried food project.
Q. You could have used other methods to promote the product, so why did you choose crowdfunding?
A. I really liked that I really liked that I could freely share the product’s story. Given the nature of the platform, it felt completely natural to explain how the product was made and how it solves customers’ problems. If this had been a product page on another e-commerce site, I would have focused on the theme, “Our product is so generous and delicious!”
출처 : 폴인 <한 끗 다른 F&B 기획의 비밀> 2화 –1억 펀딩을 달성한 농심 신제품 기획 비하인드
View other logs 👀
Episode 1: “My First Assignment Has Been Assigned”
Episode 2: “Funding: One Name, Several Meanings”
Episode 4: “We Are Gen Z, Launching Fundraising Campaigns”
Episode 5: “Is There Such a Crowdfunding Campaign? People Deeply Dedicated to a Single Cause”
Episode 6: “Is There Such a Crowdfunding Campaign? Everyone’s Own Way of Thinking About the Environment”
Episode 7: “Let’s Go on a Special Trip with Crowdfunding”
Episode 8: “Workation: I’m Going on One Through Crowdfunding!”
Episode 9: “Trendy Restaurants from Social Media, Now on Crowdfunding!”
Episode 10: “Showcasing Delicacies from Across the Country Through Crowdfunding!”
Episode 11: “Crowdfunding: A Dash of Excitement for Your Best Life”
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