The philosophy of crowdfunding is idealistic and optimistic: It’s about everyday people having the power to give life to new businesses. Crowdfunding has launched countless dreams that might not have come true through traditional financing methods. It’s egalitarian and beautiful.
But crowdfunding is also a business. And like any business venture, efficiency, organization and discipline are going to make a huge difference in the outcome. This article gives some interesting tips for entrepreneurs who want to use crowdfunding to to kickstart their idea.
I really like the idea of crowdfunding–it seems like for once SMEs will be able to raise capital from the public market. And I think that articles like this are a useful jumping off point for people considering using crowdfunding as a source of fundraising. What I’d like to see more of, however, is the potential for crowdfunding to serve more as a marketing tool than a funding platform. With all the potential hurdles the SEC presents to SMEs (requirements that crowdfunding happen over a portal, for instance), it seems that entrepreneurs who can’t “afford” to crowdfund under the proposed rules have thrown in the towel. If anyone sees articles about crowdfunding as a way to get out the word to angel investors or other private funds, please post! I’d be interested to see if this is a way of using crowdfunding that people are considering.