The 14 most successful Kickstarter projects of all time and where they are today

For many entrepreneurs, Kickstarter represents a level playing field where good ideas can find people with the cash to help make their dream a reality.

Just look at the success of the legendary Potato Salad, where a guy tried to raise the funds to make, well, potato salad - and ended up raising over $55,000 and throwing a potato party for charity.

Indeed, without Kickstarter, we'd never have the Pebble smartwatch, highly anticipated games like "Shenmue 3," or the "Veronica Mars" movie.

But not every good idea survives contact with the real world, and we've seen a lot of high-profile flameouts from ambitious Kickstarter projects that just couldn't deliver, like the "world's thinnest watch."

(And then there are weird, bad crowdfunding projects like the case of the Indiegogo campaign that promised it could build gills for humans, but that's a whole different issue.)

Here's a look at the most successful Kickstarter projects of all time, and where they are today. Spoiler alert: Despite their rocky recent history, Pebble shows up a bunch.