What turned your second campaign around after the first one didn't fund?

My first attempt at launching on Kickstarter completely flopped. Took me a while to even want to look at it again.

In hindsight the reasons feel obvious. I set the goal way too high. My pre-launch audience was basically nonexistent. And my page copy was...fine? Technically clear, but zero emotion — it didn't sound like a person, let alone like me.

So I'm taking another run at it, and this time I'm doing the prep I skipped. A goal I can realistically hit — just enough to cover tooling and get off the ground. An email list I'm slowly building with people who actually care about the thing. And copy written in my own voice instead of trying to sound like a brand.

Mostly I'm posting to hear from people who've been through the relaunch cycle. If your first campaign flopped and a later one worked — what made the difference? The audience? The goal? The story? Something you didn't see coming?

Side Note — forgive the em dashes. I used them before AI ruined them, and I plan to keep using them until AI replaces me entirely.