Donnerstag, 16. Mai 2013

Crowdfunding Goes Mainstream


A few short years ago, crowdfunding, or raising large sums of money by soliciting many small donations, was an off-the-beaten-path grassroots movement largely relegated to artists. Not anymore. Crowdfunding has captured the attention of cable TV producers at CNBC and A&E, real-estate mogul Donald Trump and tech behemoth Google.

While crowdfunding is gaining steam, it needs the megaphone of a larger media company like A&E to bring the eyeballs and the dollars, Meece says. In addition to giving exposure to the featured entrepreneurs, the partnership has also inspired entrepreneurship. RocketHub has seen a 300 percent increase in the number of entrepreneurs who have launched projects on the platform since the A&E partnership was announced last month.

For purists, turning crowdfunding into entertainment is a thinly veiled attempt to piggyback on a hot trend. 

True crowdfunding is not a competition or a contest in the way that Donald Trump or reality TV is suggesting,

Brad Damphousse, CEO of crowdfunding platform GoFundMe, says in an email. 

Rather, these creative spinoffs are attempts to capitalize on the massive growth the crowdfunding space is currently experiencing.


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