Launching Without Superlatives
Seth Godin points to some interesting Kickstarter Stats and then goes on to point out two valuable launch lessons:
1) Create inevitability around the projects you launch, wherever you launch them.
and
2) One way to appear inevitable is to set a lower minimum threshold for success. Setting a huge number feels bold and even macho, but it’s clear that your fans would prefer to pile on after you’ve reached your goal, not sweat or be begged to be sure you reach it in the first place.
I've taken notice to projects that lead with bombastic claims of being “the most”, “the best”, “the biggest, or "the first”. I believe that language has it's place, and that place is behind closed doors, in the context of “the most/best/biggest/etc that we're capable of”.
This alludes to another Godin-ism, which paraphrased amounts to
“Be the best in the world”, where best for you based on what you believe and what you know and where the world for you is the world you have access to.
Superlatives are useful for internal marketing & for boosting team morale, but lose their grip on reality for outsiders - your customers, supporters, and fans.
Unless you make them insiders
Here's the fun part, and where Kickstarter's stats start to lend credence to a different dynamic.
By bringing your supporters into the project, they can share in the beliefs that you believe and know and so that they can realize that they are a part of the world that you have access to, without having to use the bombastic claims.
And then when the superlatives come, it's from your fans, not you.
They want what you want, just as much as you do (or more).
With that kind of inevitability behind you, you'll start to notice a lot more success than failure.