You have what you think is a cool idea, but you aren't sure if you can convince investors about the sales potential of, say, a tiny monitor strapped to your face, or a watch that is also a computer. Besides, who are "investors" and how do you summon them from their secret offshore lairs to pass judgment on your notional widget? Wouldn't it be easier if you could just put your idea on the internet, letting regular people who might be on your wavelength pledge directly to help get it done?
That's what crowdfunding is about. Services like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Patreon and others gather funds directly from buyers, to make potentially crazy ideas a reality. Crazy ideas like a salad... made with potatoes. But it's not all free money and rampant innovation.
WHAT IS IT?
Crowdfunding sites allow project creators to post their ideas, with a certain timeline for completion, and a set monetary goal. For example, Oculus VR sought $250,000 over 30 days toward its goal of a development kit for its "Rift" 3D headset (it raised its goal in the first day, and finished with $2.4 million).
Read the full story at Engadget.
You have what you think is a cool idea, but you aren't sure if you can convince investors about the sales potential of, say, a tiny monitor strapped to your face, or a watch that is also a computer. Besides, who are "investors" and how do you summon them from their secret offshore lairs to pass judgment on your notional widget? Wouldn't it be easier if you could just put your idea on the internet, letting regular people who might be on your wavelength pledge directly to help get it done?
That's what crowdfunding is about. Services like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Patreon and others gather funds directly from buyers, to make potentially crazy ideas a reality. Crazy ideas like a salad... made with potatoes. But it's not all free money and rampant innovation.
WHAT IS IT?
Crowdfunding sites allow project creators to post their ideas, with a certain timeline for completion, and a set monetary goal. For example, Oculus VR sought $250,000 over 30 days toward its goal of a development kit for its "Rift" 3D headset (it raised its goal in the first day, and finished with $2.4 million).
They all work a little differently. If a Kickstarter drive fails to reach the funding goal before the end of the (user-defined) fundraising period, nobody is charged and the fund drive fails. Indiegogo, however, allows creators to receive whatever money is pledged during a drive, even if it doesn't meet the minimum funding goal. The Breathometer, a noteworthy Indiegogo success story, didn't need to invoke that rule, as it well exceeded its $25,000 goal -– but even if only one person had pledged $1 toward a breathalyzer for smartphones, that lone person would have been charged (and probably wouldn't have received anything).
Patreon is set up for a different kind of funding altogether. Rather than pledging one-time payments toward a single goal, a Patreon drive seeks recurring pledges for an ongoing project. Project creators can ask for monetary contributions per video, per article, per month or per whatever unit makes sense for their project. Naturally, then, the service is popular among YouTube video creators -- in fact, it was co-founded by Jack Conte of the band Pomplamoose, best known for their YouTube presence. Both Conte and his bandmate Nataly Dawn use the service to fund their own music videos. Here's an especially crazy one:
Read more on this story at Engadget.
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