We are now entering an era when new set of paradigms challenge previously established ones. We talk about micro, scale and we are concerned about obtaining funds for new and creative endeavors. But we also have witnessed the rise of crowdsourcing as a business model.
In the case of crowdfunding, the goal is the financing of a project by a group of individuals. Raising funds by tapping the crowd is the most important element of crowdfunding. This is done generally by using social networks through the Internet and by it, consumers volunteer to provide financial backing for the development of a project, often purchasing a product that is not in the market yet.
Take for example Casey Hopkins, who submitted a project to Kickstarter for making a better dock for the iPhone. He asked for $75 000. Instead he received $1.5 million.
The project was successful not only because he wanted to make something useful, but also because he was able to leverage the community. He excited them with his idea, identified the key influences that were blogging about projects, along with spreading the news on Twitter.
He used the social networking tools perfectly to generate a talk about his idea and raise the money. For example - just two hours after he kicked off the campaign on the social networking sites, he had over $25k. Along with that, he also engaged with his community, sending messages, updates and thank yous.
This is a new way of thinking about funding projects, embracing the crowdsourcing movement in a different way, but engaging nonetheless. And the best part: you have a build in customer base even before you've created your project and all of them want you to succeed cause they invested in your idea.
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