Entrepreneurs are facing one of the roughest economies in recent history. While this may prevent some from attaining their dreams, others are turning to more creative and out-of-the-box options for finding financing for their startup venture. One of the newest options for finding funding is through Crowdsourcing, or more specifically, Crowdfunding.
Crowdsourcing is a relatively new term and means exactly what you would think. Crowdsourcing is an event where a business owner puts out an idea to the masses and waits for a response. The logic behind this concept is that by leveraging a substantial audience of contributors, a goal such as raising capital, can be achieve more quickly and efficiently.
Crowdsourcing has become very popular for accomplishing many things as technological and communication advances, such as social media, have made it possible for people from all over the world to easily communicate and respond to a request. Crowdsourcing can provide a broader range of ideas, expertise and resources to achieve anything from product creation to company funding.
Banks and other lending institutions have made it nearly impossible for startup companies to find funding for their projects. Angel investors are far and few between, leaving business owners with the option to give up or become creative.
The growth of social media has exploded the use of crowdfunding for business owners frustrated with traditional channels of raising capital. The idea has become so prominent in the business and entrepreneurial world that sites have been developed for this sole purpose, including Profounder.com, Peerbackers.com, Kickstarter.com, and IndieGoGo.com.
When you crowdsource your request for funding you will be amazed at the responses that you will receive. Genuine people interested in helping you make your idea a reality. Of course, to accept any type of funding like this you should always enlist the help and guidance of your attorney and other professional advisors who can help make sure you are in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
Crowdfunding is not for everyone, but it is certainly is an intriguing source of funding that should not be ignored.
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Interesting take on funding. While I agree with your assessment that crowdfunding is not for everyone, I would also like to add that crowdfunding is not for every investors (majority of institutional investors). Coming from an institutional background, crowdfunded project presents a real complication that sometimes, overwhelmed the attractiveness of the project itself. For this reason, many institutional investors tend to shy away from crowdfunded project/opportunities.
Instead, we, at NAVIQUS, created a matchmaking platform for entrepreneurs and investors to help both sides to save resources in locating one another (the right entrepreneur for the right investor). Almost 60% of time for investors and entrepreneurs are wasted on finding the right match. There lies the inefficiency of the market that NAVIQUS is solving. Would love to hear your take.
Thanks.