Rudy
Rudy Rudy Rudy!
The Backstory:
In order to fund our first production run back in 2019, we started a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter! On this Kickstarter, we had a variety of perks that our “backers” could select to help fulfill our chocolate dreams.
Out of all the perks, we had a special “Insane Snacker” tier with the following perks:
- 50 Bags of Muddy Bites
- Priority Shipping - Get your bites sooner than anyone else!
- Your name added to a dedicated page on our website
- Swag Bag ("Official Muddy Bites Taste Tester" T-Shirt & Hat)
- Vote on Future Flavors
- Get Future Flavors before the general public
- Name or company on our PACKAGING
On this tier, we had 10 slots available, but at the end of the Kickstarter campaign, we only had ONE person take us up on this Insane Snacker tier.
And his name is Rudy Ledbetter.
Rudy believed in us from the start. In fact, many don’t know this, but Muddy Bites launched on Kickstarter even earlier in 2018… but had FAILED. So when we launched again in 2019, Rudy was one of the first to come and back us - but this time around, backed us on a higher tier than the first time around.
Since then, Rudy has been a big supporter of Muddy Bites. Helping us with customer feedback from new flavors, our new branding, retail feedback, and so much more. We can’t thank you enough Rudy for believing in us from day 1.
I saw MuddyBites on Kickstarter in 2018 and was immediately in love with the concept. I mean everybody knows that the best part of eating a sundae cone is the bottom tip filled with delicious milk chocolate chunk. So I got the “Extreme Snacker” reward that included helping decide on the next flavor of MuddyBites. This was creatively totally different from my desk job and was a mini “Shark Tank” to me. Unfortunately, the Kickstarter (in 2018) was unsuccessful and I was disappointed that the chocolatey dreams were not going to be a reality.
Much to my surprise in early 2019, I got an email that MuddyBites had another campaign with a more attainable goal. I still 100% believed in MuddyBites so I more than doubled my original pledge to the “Insane Snacker” reward. Not only was I was going to get to provide input on future flavors, but I was also going to get my name on the packaging! Out of 10 backer spots, I was the only “Insane Snacker,” which boggled my mind as an investor. This time the MuddyBites campaign was successful. After receiving over $5,000 above goal, MuddyBites was on their way to turning their chocolatey dreams into a delicious reality for everyone to enjoy!
In my free time, I produce/act in IndieGoGo/Kickstarter films (IMDb.me/Rudy), play racquetball, and serve on the Board of Developmental Wings. Developmental Wings is a non-profit corporation that provides customized educational, developmental, and advocacy programs for people with autism and developmental disabilities in eastern OK and western AR. Developmental Wings holds a special place in my heart as I was diagnosed with high functioning autism (Asperger’s) back in 2018.