Christian Catalini, a professor at MIT Sloane School of Business, is a prominent crowdfunding researcher and he believes he has discovered the “killer app” for crowdfunding in partnering professional investors with the crowd.
Angel investors and VCs have been leveraging “syndication” for a very long time, notes Catalini. Today technology is making this process oh so much easier – perfect for an investment crowdfunding platform. Professional investors, with skin in the game, provide valuable expert insight into the viability of a business idea. Retail investors may benefit from this added due diligence in determining if the investment is the right one for them.
Crowdfund Insider wrote about Catalini’s theory earlier this year. His premise has already garnered traction in practice as multiple investment crowdfunding platforms are using this model today. Big name portals like AngelList, SeedInvest, SyndicateRoom and OurCrowd all pair pros with regular (perhaps accredited) investors.
Below is a brief video recently uploaded by MIT Sloan where Catalini presents his concept.