Did you ever have a great idea for a film, work of art, game, book, design or technology but were at a loss about how to fund it?

Now with Kickstarter you can dream big and let millions of people from around the world decide if your project is worth doing. There’s no need to complain or save up for years, just upload a two- or three-minute convincing video that shows the world what you want to accomplish and let them decide if they want to pledge some dollars and back your project.

You can raise as anything from 500 to as much as 5,000,000 dollars for your project. Up till now, Kickstarter, which was launched in 2009, has given life to 47,000 projects with the help of 4.7 million people who contributed a total of 769 million dollars.

Since projects are independently created, anyone can start their own. The creator has to set a funding goal, for instance 100,000 dollars and a deadline by which this goal has to be met. But there is a catch – the project is only financed if it reaches its funding goal. So even if you're a few dollars short, you may not get any of the money some good souls have pledged for your project. But this has an advantage, too; it creates a momentum that gets more people rallied up to contribute. No wonder 44 per cent of projects created here get funded.

The ‘pledgers’ or supporters you’ll find funding your project are exactly the kind of people you want backing you up. These people have a fine appreciation of arts and an unrelenting trust in these projects. Take for instance, Amanda Palmer, who got 25,000 people to fund her book, album and tour.

But all this support makes you wonder why are all these people backing someone's crazy dream – do they get ownership of the work? The answer is "No!", you can keep the credit of your work, but offer non-financial rewards to your supporters, like a signed copy of the book, or an early unreleased copy of an album, tickets to the premiere of the film or private screening for your friends.

Legendary musicians like Mozart and writers like Mark Twain were able to materialise their creative endeavours in the same way. Subscribers or patrons funded them and in return received early editions or copies of their work. Kickstarter is just a web extension of that idea.

About the site

Kickstarter is a for-profit company based in New York which checks every project against its guidelines before approving it to go on their website; they charge five per cent from the projects that get successfully funded. The site has already garnered a lot of positive feedback. New York Times has called it “an unexpected influence on indie culture, a new model for a DIY generation.”

While Kickstarter is currently open only to US and UK citizens of 18 years and above, they have plans to expand to more countries soon. They already announced plans to add Australia and New Zealand. On the other hand, backers can be from anywhere around the world as long as they have an international credit card.

Needless to say, there is a long list of guidelines. For instance, the website can't be used to raise money for a cause, pay your tuitions and fund-your-life kind of projects. You cannot solicit loans, resell items or offer rewards that are not owned by you. Social networking websites and apps creators can forget about getting funded here because the site is meant for more artistic purposes. Projects that include self-help, pornography, or tobacco are also a big no-no here.

If you have a product design or hardware project, it is essential to tell your backers about the current state of development. You can show progress and development through photos, videos or sketches of your prototype and tell backers how and when you plan to change, revise or edit it in the future.

Projects are kick-started by ordinary people like you and me. However, sometimes big directors, producers and celebrities take the Kickstarter route as well. In April 2013, the creator and executive producer of Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas was able to raise 5,702,153 dollars through this website, even though he had set his funding goal as only 2,000,000 dollars. It was the fastest project to reach one million dollars, the all-time highest-funded project in Kickstarter's film category, and the third highest-funded project in Kickstarter’s history. Another project by Zach Braff of Garden State and Scrubs fame was able to get financing of 3,105,473 dollars from 46,520 backers to make a follow-up to Garden State called Wish I Was Here.

But how did they get this sort of financing? Firstly, they are already recognised in the industry and have great past performance of coming up with creative projects. Secondly, their videos are really convincing – Zach Braff's video in particular is so funny and adorable, that even a broke woman like me would dig deep into the pockets for funding him.

Some Kickstarter videos are so convincing that they meet their goals within a few hours of posting on the website. Even if your dad thinks your idea is "too kooky", there will be someone out there on Kickstarter who thinks it's absolute genius. Take for instance a game called Octopus City Blues, which has "an enormous, bloody millipede and its protagonist is married to a pink octopus named Daisy"; believe it or not, it managed to reach its funding goal of 7,000 dollars.

Every now and then, Kickstarter gets in trouble for approving a project that could do more damage than serve any artistic purpose. Recently, 61,095 people petitioned to remove Ben Kassoy's project, which was a self-help relationship book for men and offered nuggets like "Force her to rebuff your advances" and such, clearly bordering on sexual assault. However, the Kickstarter team is proactive in tightening its guidelines regularly to make sure not every crazy project meets an approval.

Overall, this is a great website for aspiring creative-minded geniuses and it’ll be great to give it a spin when it’s launched in this part of the world.