Many entrepreneurs have a hard time developing products from ideas simply because they cannot find the funds. Kickstarter is a website that helps business people solve this problem. Through this site, people can pitch an idea and get people to donate money, or in other words, invest in this person. This is different from the type of investing we learned in class, where companies give up shares for money. They loose ownership of their own company in order to earn profits. In some ways, Kickstarter is better than the typical way to invest. This way new businesses get to own 100% of their company and earn thousands, or even millions of dollars for their business. Eric Migicovsky did this with Pebbles, and Sauder alum, Janice Cheam did this with Neurio, proving how effective online funding can be. I think Kickstarter is an easy way to receive funding, however it is hard to market the product properly. Many failures occur because of not enough advertising, or producing something that isn’t centered on the consumer’s desires. Finding the funds for a business venture is often convincing the right people that you right product.

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/technology/kickstarter-sets-off-financing-rush-for-a-watch-not-yet-made.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-money/business-funding/frustrated-with-lack-of-venture-capital-in-canada-startup-moves-south/article16522672/

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