I just watched the 10 minute video at the Carrotmob website and I was truly impressed at the creativity of this crowdsourcing effort. What do they do? Well, it's a mouthful, but here goes. Carrotmob organizes a swarm of consumers on some random morning to go shopping at a store that has agreed to put a specified portion of every purchase towards becoming a more environmentally-friendly store ( 22% of revenues towards greening the store in this case). Carrotmobbers purchased about $9k worth of product, enabling the participating business to totally redo their lighting system and make some upgrades to their refrigeration units. As well, the carrotmobbers donated 366 pounds of food to the SF Food Bank.
This is an interesting concept, it would be nice to see it fly.
Showing posts with label crowdfund. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crowdfund. Show all posts
Friday, May 16, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Crowdfunding - A Movement?
Crowdfunding (n.) - describes the collective donation of funds, usually via the Internet, by a group of people united by a common cause.
Is Crowdfunding really a "movement" or is it just a creative way to introduce, market, and fund a new business via the Internet? Better yet, does crowdfunding present a viable funding method for someone with a business idea and limited capital to go out and virally market a low-cost, web-based prospectus (i.e. a 3 page website that asks for money). Is it just easier to put together a quick website, come up with a YouTube video, and ask the crowd for $50 for an annual membership? Have we become that lazy in the wake of the 2nd dotcom bust?
Is crowdfunding a viable alternative to traditional VC funding? Is it merely an opportunity for all the dreamers and schemers to toss some ideas on a digital cocktail napkin and test out their ideas? Will it become a viable playing field for Scam 2.0? I mean, come on, we have people trying to crowdfund bums onto the Forbes 500 who are raising more money than some of the "legit" crowdfunding outfits out there.
Is crowdfunding just a re-packaged tipping point methodology that focuses on dipping into members wallets as opposed to a collective effort to create, market and manage new and exciting technologies and products? Do we really need to call this a movement?
I do know this - I am not that interested in the academic aspects of crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, crowdmanaging, wisdom of crowds, etc. - all of that can be left to Jeff Howe and the social media marketers of the world. I like to track how these "projects" work. I like bookmarking them after I have read about them on Springwise or in Wired. I like to see what media outlets pick up the stories. I like to see some journalist in Scotland use his platform to goad the crowd into buying a football club. I like to go to the Cambrian House website and see what kind of punctuation has been used in the latest round of "idears" on the site.
I am a crowd troll.
Is Crowdfunding really a "movement" or is it just a creative way to introduce, market, and fund a new business via the Internet? Better yet, does crowdfunding present a viable funding method for someone with a business idea and limited capital to go out and virally market a low-cost, web-based prospectus (i.e. a 3 page website that asks for money). Is it just easier to put together a quick website, come up with a YouTube video, and ask the crowd for $50 for an annual membership? Have we become that lazy in the wake of the 2nd dotcom bust?
Is crowdfunding a viable alternative to traditional VC funding? Is it merely an opportunity for all the dreamers and schemers to toss some ideas on a digital cocktail napkin and test out their ideas? Will it become a viable playing field for Scam 2.0? I mean, come on, we have people trying to crowdfund bums onto the Forbes 500 who are raising more money than some of the "legit" crowdfunding outfits out there.
Is crowdfunding just a re-packaged tipping point methodology that focuses on dipping into members wallets as opposed to a collective effort to create, market and manage new and exciting technologies and products? Do we really need to call this a movement?
I do know this - I am not that interested in the academic aspects of crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, crowdmanaging, wisdom of crowds, etc. - all of that can be left to Jeff Howe and the social media marketers of the world. I like to track how these "projects" work. I like bookmarking them after I have read about them on Springwise or in Wired. I like to see what media outlets pick up the stories. I like to see some journalist in Scotland use his platform to goad the crowd into buying a football club. I like to go to the Cambrian House website and see what kind of punctuation has been used in the latest round of "idears" on the site.
I am a crowd troll.
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