Now that we’ve got an incredible 3500 backers, we’re ready to announce our next stretch goal!

When we hit 4000 backers, every backer of the campaign will receive access to the Lean Content course, created by award-winning filmmaker Ondi Timoner and me. Ondi is the first person to have won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize twice, for her documentaries DIG! and We Live In Public.

I just saw Ondi again, where we met several years ago, at SXSW—where she opened the festival with her film BRAND: A Second Coming, and premiered the newest short film from A TOTAL DISRUPTION, "THE LAST MILE," about a tech incubator inside San Quentin Prison.

Lean Content is the first online course describing how artists and content creators can use Lean Startup principles to finance their creativity. The course will show you what it means to rapidly build a product, measure and learn from your fanbase, and build your distribution network. Whether you are a filmmaker, musician, writer, or visual artist, or working to market and sell other peoples work, Lean Content will show you how to use the Lean Startup methodology to innovate your independence. The courseware is designed by Choose Growth.

I’m particularly excited to be making this course available as part of the campaign because not only have I been involved with the creation of the coursework, I also was a backer of Ondi’s documentary project and platform, A TOTAL DISRUPTION. In fact, it was my pledge that put the campaign over its Kickstarter funding goal! Our partnership is a great example of the way technology and crowdfunding platforms allow us to wear many different hats over the course of our careers—as creators, producers, backers, and collaborators. I hope to get this course into your hands as soon as possible.

Eric