August 9, 2011

Is Crowdfunding Better Than Sliced Bread?

I’m guessing Scott Wilson would say a resounding “Hell yes!” In December 2010, he raised $942,578 using crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, completely vaporizing his initial pledge goal of $15,000. He used the funds to produce a kit that converts iPod Nanos into multi-touch watches. Absolutely brilliant!

Now, author Phil Simon is hoping to use the same platform and a similar approach to turn the entire publishing industry on its ear. For his fourth book, The Age of the Platform: Rethinking the Future of Business, Simon is relying entirely on crowdfunding.  In it, he focuses on the vibrant ecosystems created by Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google and how smaller companies or "planks" actually complement them.

If he’s able to raise $7,500 (the cost of production), the book goes to print. If he doesn’t, everyone who pre-ordered doesn’t get charged and he gets to go back to the drawing board. With right around 12 days to go in his funding campaign, he needs $2,916 to hit his goal.

In both examples, the entire fate of their projects and prototypes are determined by the market—and it have to say it doesn’t get much better than that. Thanks to technology, entrepreneurs and chronic idea generators are able to go straight to the horse’s mouth instead of the horse’s…well…you know…

For more information on crowdfunding, check out my Fast Company post on the topic. You can also read a sample of Phil's book here.

[Image: Flickr user Sharat Ganapati]

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Categories: Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing