Crowdfunding,the fast and simple head-start

By Sohail Abbasi (@SohailAbasi)

www.khoshfekri.com @khoshfekri

What is Crowdfunding, anyway?!

• Crowd + Funding• People + $$$• Pooling money by large group of people via the

Internet for a specific targeted project/cause• Wisdom of the Crowd• Revolutionized in 2009 by Kickstarter.com

Crowdfunding in Iranian Culture

گلریزان برای آزادی زندانیان•• Donations to set Non-intentional financial crime prisoners

freeتهیه جهیزیه و کمک به برگزاری عCروسیC توسCط اقوCام و همسCایگان •

• Donation to buy dowry for the brideگردآوری کمک برای سCاختC یا مرمتC مCدارس، حمام، مساجد و ...•

• Donations for Renovating Schools, Public baths, mosques,…

همایشC های ساالنه خیرین مدرسCه ساز•• School construction charity organization, annual

Conferences

Crowdfunding Placement

Crowdfunding

Crowdsourcing

Social Networks

Web 2.0

The Internet

Why should I care about it?• Making Ideas happen needs Capital• Bad Economy• Low investment risk tolerance• Difficult to get bank loans• Decrease in Gov. funding and/or supports• New “1st Money” for ventures ($10k - $50k

average) in other countries• Crowdfunding Campaigns are Viral

Why Crowd Fund?• Micro-donations will make hundreds of projects

possible, projects that otherwise would have to wait for funding or not be funded at all.

• Projects that are limited in scope and time and for which small amounts of money are required, can be made possible

• Entrepreneurs will gain more visibility, connect with a wider audience of donors and enhance public knowledge of their work/products

Need more reasons?• Funds from donors can speed the process of

investigation and lead to faster and better innovations and Economic effects

• The general public has an easy and cost-effective way to advance and help ideas / projects that personally appeals to them.

• People can be more engaged with innovations, by learning about and funding an Entrepreneur and his/her startup company.

How does it work?• Needs a Platform• Money target for the campaign• Campaign length• Compelling story• Video• Rewards• Plan to get people to the campaign

USP of Crowdfunding • New source of capital• Social networks• A tribe of angels• Future customers• Proof of concept• Global visibility

Forms of Crowdfunding• Debt Crowdfunding

o microloanso P2P lending

• Donation Crowdfundingo Charity/Causeso All or Nothing Crowdfunding, is Standard Modelo Rewards Based (Today’s Model)o Perks and Rewards = Pre-Order/Presumer

• Equity Crowdfunding , which is Still Far away

Donnation Model: SellaBand

Lending Model: KIVA

Donation Model: Obama Campaign

The Motivation for Crowdfunding

• Passiono For the technologyo For the industryo For the causeo For the product

• Affinityo For the Entrepreneuro For the city, industry, etc.

• Connection• Return of Emotions NOT R.O.I.

Success Stories• The iPhone-friendly Pebble watch earned $7.6 million

more than its $100,000 goal.

• And the Galileo iPhone platform closed its Kickstarter campaign at $702,000, far surpassing its $100,000 goal.

• Ouya raised $2 million in one day for a new Android gaming console (it’s raised more than $5 million to date),

• the Nifty MiniDrive, external memory for Apple MacBooks. The tiny storage company is more than 2,000% above its $11,000 goal with 15 days left in the campaign.

Elements of successful campaigns• They already have fan bases• They build from something familiar• They are simple• They are (usually) NOT about the founders• They appeal to a specific interest• They are about emotion• Make the donor:

o Feel being part of the cool groupo Feel like s/he is important o Feel powerful and Influential

Potential Pitfalls• Some worry that only projects with splashy

campaigns will be funded

• Easier to generate interest in fancy and attractive projects than simple and efficient ones

• Lack of Peer Review

• Less disruptive innovations to appeal to the general public

Two Leaders• Kikstarter• Indigogo

Kickstarter• Supports creative projects of all sorts

• Over $350 million has been pledged by more than 2.5 million people, funding more than 30,000 creative projects

• All-or-nothing funding

• Rewards for funders

• http://www.kickstarter.com

Kickstarter Statistics 2011• Launched Projects: 27,086• Successful Projects: 11,836• Dollars Pledged: $99,344,382• Rewards Selected: 1,150,461• Total Visitors: 30,590,342• Project Success Rate: 46%

Indiegogo• Flexible funding

• “All about allowing anybody to raise money for any idea”

• Offers “perks” for funders

• http://www.indigogo.com

Resources• Crowdfunding: Transforming Customers into

Investoes Through Innovative Service Platforms [Andrea Ordanini, Lucia Miceli, Marta Pizzetti, A. Parasuraman]

• A Framework for European Crowdfunding [Kristof De Buysere, Oliver Gajda, Ronald Kleverlaan, Dan Marom]

• A Snapshot on Crowdfunding [Joachim Hemer]• Crowdfunding - a report [Adeoluwa Adeniyi]• Crowdfunding in a Canadian Context [Canada

Media Fund]

Thank You!Presented by Sohail Abbasi (@SohailAbasi)

www.khoshfekri.comwww.facebook.com/khoshfekri

www.twitter.com/khoshfekri