Kickstarter Current Event
Evan Schwartz
September 19, 2012
Current Event #1
With the internet came a whole new type of economy. Sites popped up with whole new ways to make purchases. Almost anything from around the world can be purchased online. For a while, the most popular transactional methods were to buy direct from a store’s website, from a large retailer like
Amazon, or from auctions created by other consumers on EBay. But a new method has arrived that is racking up millions of dollars of online transactions. This method is called Crowd funding, with the site Kickstarter leading the pack. The way it works is that somewhere, an idea is formed. Someone wants to explore a project. They then go on Kickstarter and explain their project to the world. If people like and want to support the project, they pledge money. If the project receives the monetary goal specified by the time the project is over (max 60 days), all of the project backers are charged for their pledge. Most of the time these projects are products like electronics, publishings, games, and art. It’s a new way to get funding for a product before it is even made, while at the same time receiving preorders. “Nearly three million people have helped a total of 30,000 projects meet their fund-raising goals on Kickstarter, the largest such site, to the tune of $300 million in pledges.” Crowd funding has been widely adopted as a business model in the United States since the conception of Kickstarter in 2009. Small to even large-scale endeavors can receive adequate start-up funds overnight, causing new small businesses to form each and every day. The greatest development of this system is that it truly is a consumer’s economy. If the consumer doesn’t like what they see, the project won’t receive funding and will not develop. But if there is a product or idea that excites a vast majority of people, the project can soar way beyond the realms that the creator had ever thought it could reach. “The backers play the role of
September 19, 2012
Current Event #1
With the internet came a whole new type of economy. Sites popped up with whole new ways to make purchases. Almost anything from around the world can be purchased online. For a while, the most popular transactional methods were to buy direct from a store’s website, from a large retailer like
Amazon, or from auctions created by other consumers on EBay. But a new method has arrived that is racking up millions of dollars of online transactions. This method is called Crowd funding, with the site Kickstarter leading the pack. The way it works is that somewhere, an idea is formed. Someone wants to explore a project. They then go on Kickstarter and explain their project to the world. If people like and want to support the project, they pledge money. If the project receives the monetary goal specified by the time the project is over (max 60 days), all of the project backers are charged for their pledge. Most of the time these projects are products like electronics, publishings, games, and art. It’s a new way to get funding for a product before it is even made, while at the same time receiving preorders. “Nearly three million people have helped a total of 30,000 projects meet their fund-raising goals on Kickstarter, the largest such site, to the tune of $300 million in pledges.” Crowd funding has been widely adopted as a business model in the United States since the conception of Kickstarter in 2009. Small to even large-scale endeavors can receive adequate start-up funds overnight, causing new small businesses to form each and every day. The greatest development of this system is that it truly is a consumer’s economy. If the consumer doesn’t like what they see, the project won’t receive funding and will not develop. But if there is a product or idea that excites a vast majority of people, the project can soar way beyond the realms that the creator had ever thought it could reach. “The backers play the role of