After many high-profile scampaign and crowdfail incidents in 3D printing, new site FitForLaunch wants to change crowdfunding for the better.

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The core principle behind Kickstarter is a belief in the wisdom of crowds. A sound idea can go from concept to reality thanks to the support of people from all around the world. And many 3D printer manufacturers have their roots in crowdfunding success, including Formlabs, Zortrax, Robox and Printrbot.

But more recently there’s been a sequence of high-profile failures. There are episodes of products failing to ship, lacklustre quality, misled backers, or tawdry tales of misspent funds. The examples of Peachy Printer, XMachines, and Next Dynamics are just a handful.

Of course, there’s no such thing as a guarantee with Kickstarter. There never has been. You’re not buying a product, you’re investing in an idea with rewards for your support if successfully funded. But there’s no denying that the crowdfunding industry would benefit from a means of building trust and offering guarantees.

This is why FitForLaunch could be an important step forward. It’s a new initiative by Michael Armani, whose company M3D has had several successful crowdfunding campaigns for their 3D printers. M3D has raised over $20M to date using platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Celery, and Shopify.

Armani has recently intervened in the failure of several 3D printer projects by offering substantial discounts on his company’s hardware. As a logical next step, Armani wants to educate consumers about potential pitfalls before they back a project at all.

It’s an important strategy, not least because the consumer 3D printer market is to fragile. With the scampaign becoming commonplace — which typically competes for attention by offering impossibly low prices on their “rewards” — an individual burned by one project is unlikely to support similar projects in the future.

FitForLaunch Wants to Make Crowdfunding Better

Currently in Beta, FitForLaunch is a crowdfunding service that offers a delivery guarantee. This is a promise to either finish a product itself when possible, or totally refund backer money should a campaign fail to deliver. There’s even potential to organise legal action against a fraudulent scampaign.

This is a huge departure from how crowdfunding sites usually operate, because the backer is the one assuming the risk. But FitForLaunch reckons it can offer this guarantee by deep vetting the companies submitting campaigns, then charging them a warranty percentage before the campaign launches.

The end result would be a collection of projects which are significantly more likely to deliver a functional product to backers. Essentially, you’re pre-ordering an item because you like the sale pitch — just like Kickstarter — but have greater assurances about the individuals behind it.

FitForLaunch isn’t confining itself to desktop 3D printing, either. The site has scope for games, designer products, and consumer technology as well. Each category has a dedicated specialist who assesses the likelihood that a campaign will be successful if funded.

Currently, FitForLaunch is soliciting “Creators” for the first round of projects to be launched. But while the emphasis on greater responsibility is most welcome, a big challenge is going to be awareness. For better or for worse, Kickstarter is now a household name; it’s where the majority of projects are hosted because it’s where the majority of backers can be found.

But irrespective of whether it builds the momentum it needs to succeed, here’s hoping the ideas proposed by FitForLaunch are adopted by the wider crowdfunding industry.