More than 155.000 project were launched on Kickstarter; pledging more than 1.2 billion US dollars in the last five years. Crowdfunfing is a growing revolution in the entrepreneurship world. But, who really understand it? What is the potential of this emerging tool?
Historically, crowdfunding is a brand new term that has its origin in the crowdsourcing concept. Even though the expression is recent, the concept was already well known. In 1783, Mozart published an invitation to raise funds for a concerto in a Viennese Concert hall. Another noticeable example was the project launched by Joseph Pulitzer for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. More than 120.000 people pledged for the project.
And what about today? The main online crowdfunding platforms such as Indigogo and Kickstarter allowed thousands of new start up companies, artists and NGO’s to get started financially with their project. In return of their pledges, the investors not only get a financial gain but also some intangible rewards such as social esteem and identification with the funder community. The members of this community can collaborate with shared ideas and pools in order to improve the community’s benefit. In other words, crowdfunding is NOT anymore only a financial tool, but is potentially (and in facts) a new way to create value. The founder co-creates with his investors. The result of this process is the creation of a unique value for the young start up or artists.
However it seems that this intangible potential is yet to be discovered. This is the purpose of our blog: we are going to explore how funders are using these platforms in order to gain customers (aka co-producers) insights and engage them with the founders.
We will observe them, interact with them, judge them, and – we hope – we might help this tool to growth. We believe so, at least.
Esteem for Crowdfunding 