Crowd funding your way to success

A teenage genius from Romania and an entrepreneurial guy from Melbourne have just finished building a full-size car that runs on air – using nothing but 500,000 LEGO bricks and four tyres. There’s a great article about it here. What’s it got to do with web development? Not a lot really, but who doesn’t like a cool LEGO project?

Actually, there is one very important detail. Without the Internet, this project – and many others like it – may not have been realised. Not only is it a world first from a mechanical perspective, it’s also a superb example of what can be achieved through crowd funding – made delightfully simple using the Internet.

The LEGO car is just the latest in a long list of successful crowd funded projects. We’ve already talked about the amazing Oculus Rift and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Everything from smart phones to computer games have been made possible because a good idea gained popularity on a site such as Kickstarter or Pozible.

In order to start a crowd funding campaign, a lot of people think that you need something tangible – like a device – but that’s not correct at all. It makes sense whereby you are easily able to see the fruits of your endeavours and ‘give back’ to those who chose to invest in your project. That’s not as straight forward when you are creating a virtual something. Still, some of the best campaigns these days are for creative projects – which is what Pozible fosters.

It’s definitely worthwhile investigating crowd funding as a potential means of raising the cash. One of the reasons that this method of fundraising is taking off (for start-ups especially) is because it can be quite difficult to obtain financing through the banks. (You want $20,000 to build a LEGO car? Nice try, but not today thanks). Crowd funding opens up access to new capital.

Of course the flip side is, you do need to give something back. When you have a virtual product, this often means giving up shares or equity in the business (unlike the Oculus Rift which allowed all those who saw the grand vision, the ability to purchase the first units).

If you’re looking into starting your own campaign, there are a couple things to keep in mind. Firstly, set a realistic goal. If you start small then you are more likely to hit your target and keep everything positive. One of the biggest mistakes is setting an unrealistic fundraising target.

Another big consideration is that once you have invited people to become involved in your project, you need to look after them. Your crowd funding community will want to be kept informed  and up-to-date on developments. They made the effort to financially contribute, so the last thing you want to do is snub them or end up in awkward situations.

Also, remember that crowd funding is designed to be sociable. Share with as many people as you know through Facebook and the like. Tell a good story about yourself, spread the word and connect at every opportunity. What makes a great crowd-funding project is when your idea or project starts to ‘trend’ well… before you know it everybody wants to jump on the bandwagon.

Now you can afford that amazing website that you’ve always wanted!