As reported in Forbes from the GE Industrial Internet Event in San Francisco, Marc Andreessen made some interesting comments regarding Crowdfunding. First in mentioning specifically Kickstarter;
Kickstarter and similar crowdfunding sites have made a major impact on how demand for products is created and how products are designed, Andreessen noted. ”The demand part of it is really interesting.” “With Kickstarter, the idea that the consumer can go out and vote with a click or dollar is a really big deal.”
Then even more interesting he comments on the much discussed Facebook IPO – which as we all know – did not go quite according to the plan;
During the Facebook IPO, the CEO of Morgan Stanley who used to run retail investing and Merrill Lynch said that he could have run the entire Facebook IPO through retail investors, Andreessen said. (My question does that speak to the crowdfunding trend or Facebook hype?) “If he wanted to (he could’ve done) all $18.5 billion in stock sales entirely through retail channels. There were enough individual investors to click buy.
While the Morgan Stanley CEO was probably referring to the hype at the time and the desire for Retail participation, the next few years will tell if the point should have been directed more pointedly towards the Crowdfunding trend. Lesson on efficiency perhaps?