Fundraising in the Age of Technology

While many may think otherwise, the truth is that crowdfunding is not a new concept. It is essentially fundraising in the information age.

We’ve witnessed the proliferation of ideas in writing, music, videos and more. Crowdfunding brings us ideas in the form of products. The Internet provides a variety of inexpensive, even free, platforms for individual expression and consumption. Despite skepticism and criticism, the demand for crowdfunding options is apparent and the online marketplace is thriving.

That is encouraging for anyone with an idea that wouldn’t sell to more traditional funding institutions. What bank would lend $130,000 to build the fictional city of Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings? What loan shark would seriously consider the prospect of a return on $55,492 to some guy offering to make potato salad in his kitchen? In the world of online crowdfunding, these campaigns exist (and you might be surprised to find out which one of these campaigns actually achieved their funding goal).

Some ideas that receive funding seem ridiculous. It is a shame that others don’t meet their goal. In all, crowdfunding destroys presuppositions about what the market will bear. That is an excellent thing ripe with lessons worth conveying. The market is not finite, nor is it saturated with products. Big business does not have the edge on product design. Innovation is not a job for tech companies alone. Lastly, in spite of negative chatter about the economy, people seem to have cash to spare for campaigns they believe in, from innovative beekeeping to helping some guy “write stupid things with clouds.”

Through crowdfunding, more people are able to respond to demands, however strange, by producing goods, offering innovation and variety to buyers. The individual is in a better position than any company or institution to see a need and propose a product that will fill it. The individual is also better suited to assess the validity of a product than any corporation drawing conclusions from test marketing.

Essentially, crowdfunding is a legitimate means of funding, perhaps more aligned to the nature of the marketplace than any other. It is something people on both sides of the market support, something they want. It offers as many opportunities for entrepreneurs as it does for buyers. It will continue to grow in service of the demand.

So, what are you waiting for? So what if you fail? Get up. Resist the temptation to make excuses, you’ll only perpetuate bad habits and reinforce the circumstances of your failure. Instead, discipline yourself to work toward success by reviewing your methods and improving them. Do some research, figure out two or three things that you might have done wrong and change them. Try again. Failure happens all the time. It could be a trendy (or should I say hipster?) bit of encouragement that I tell you to failure on. The truth is, more often than not, failure is just practice along the path to success.

Successful campaigns are easy to find. Want to know more about what not to do? Kickended.com is a website dedicated to crowdfunding campaign failures. The campaigns featured on Kickended.com have at least one thing in common, they ended without a single backer, raising zilch toward their goal.

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