Indeed. Two of my friends managed to build a custom robotics platform that bridges Lego Mindstorms and traditional electronics for way, way less money. They managed to do that because both are EEs who were fully competent to design and manufacture the prototypes of the product. They're on Kickstarter now (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1992634922/robocore-the...), with a finished product (seen it myself, it works as advertised) and they're aiming for 1/10th of the amount.

The lesson should indeed be, don't go to Kickstarter unless you are dead sure you have all the expertise you need to finish the project in-house.