AC Shade
A simple home improvement product with no email list, no warm audience, and a tight pre-summer launch window. AC Shade came to The Scale Up Lab with one question: could we turn this into a fundable Kickstarter campaign in time? They closed at 5,936% of goal, $415,568, raised from 3,793 backers.
Overview
AC Shade came to us with a simple product: a shade that protects outdoor AC units from direct sunlight and helps reduce cooling costs. What AC Shade needed wasn’t product validation, but demand creation, launch momentum, and a clear scaling strategy.
Our role was to turn AC Shade from a good idea into a high-intent, revenue-focused crowdfunding campaign that could fund fast and scale.
The Challenges
Despite a strong product foundation, AC Shade faced early challenges that required strategic solutions to achieve a successful and scalable crowdfunding launch.
No Pre-Existing Audience
Early Creative Fatigue
Seasonal Time Constraint
Our Approach
To overcome these challenges, we deployed a proven crowdfunding system covering every stage from pre-launch to live campaign execution.
$1 VIP Funnel Implemented
Creative Testing & Iteration
Live Campaign Scaling
The Result
AC Shade launched with strong momentum, reaching full funding within 9 minutes!
By driving traffic and backers from multiple channels, we turned a simple home improvement product into a scale-able crowdfunding success, raising $415,568 from 3,793 backers and achieving 5,936% funding in total
It’s our pre-launch system for turning early interest into stronger buyer intent. We run Meta ads to high-converting landing pages where interested buyers reserve their launch perk for $1, helping filter out casual browsers and build a list of people who are more likely to back on launch day.
We help founders validate demand before launch, build pre-launch infrastructure, test what converts, and warm their audience ahead of day one. The goal is to replace guesswork with a clearer, more structured path to launch.
Yes. We handle the strategic direction and the execution across funnels, landing pages, ads, emails, and campaign pages so everything works together as one cohesive system.
We typically need product photos or renders, brand assets, your campaign funding goal, and a target launch date. The more complete your inputs, the stronger the first draft and the smoother the process.
A common recommendation is to allocate around 15–20% of your fundraising goal toward marketing. In most cases, 70–80% of that budget goes toward Meta ads, with the rest supporting the other tools and tactics needed for launch.
No. While crowdfunding is a core focus, we also help brands after the campaign through ecommerce growth, Shopify support, and post-campaign systems designed to turn backers into long-term customers.
No one can honestly guarantee a specific funding result. What we do provide is a process built around testing, optimization, and conversion principles designed to put your campaign in the strongest possible position before launch.
Yes. We support brands after the campaign through Shopify buildout, post-campaign support, PledgeBox setup, backer communication systems, and paid acquisition designed to help you keep momentum going beyond crowdfunding.