Opinion

May 7, 2013 @ 3:26 pm By The Crowd Cafe  |  

Imagine. Empowering each and every one of Ohio State University’s 63,000+ students—regardless degree, age, or background—to start, and fund, a business. Visiting its University’s crowdfunding ecosystem, ignite.osu.edu, students would find a centralized source of information, mentorship, and even a clear path to funding their ideas and… Read More

May 6, 2013 @ 1:54 pm By Huffington Post  |  

Nikola Tesla wrote once, “The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.” I can see this being quoted by any supporter of equity based crowdfunding (or crowdinvesting) — an innovative online tool that would give you a legitimate right to… Read More

May 4, 2013 @ 12:37 pm By Huffington Post  |  

It was inevitable. After the Veronica Mars folks raised their $2 million in record time, you knew a similar project would come along. Hollywood, after all, is pretty good at taking what works and doing it over and over and over again until everyone is sick of… Read More

May 2, 2013 @ 8:37 am By ToonZone  |  

How will crowdfunding affect animation for television, film and the web?

May 1, 2013 @ 8:34 am By Charles Luzar  |  

As we saw with the Veronica Mars project, the Internet at large is opining on whether or not Zach Braff should be using a platform like Kickstarter to launch his new movie. Two examples today… Kickstarter Abuse: Why Are You Giving Your Money to Wealthy… Read More

April 30, 2013 @ 7:50 am By GamesIndustry.biz  |  

BattleBlock Theater devs say chaos will keep everything moving forward, studios big and small always face the same hurdles Anyone hoping that a new generation of consoles will bring some stability to the game industry is bound to be disappointed, according to the co-founders of… Read More

April 30, 2013 @ 7:44 am By Naples News  |  

… “Miss Julie” may well join them. By Sunday night, sixteen donors had put the company more than halfway toward its goal. Writing on Facebook, Brady said she was “thrilled.” Joining the project among the ranks of successful theatre-related Kickstarters, Florida Repertory Theatre’s Chris Clavelli… Read More

April 30, 2013 @ 7:28 am By Wired  |  

These are the facts that we need to reconcile: Netflix, which recently touted its House of Cardsstrategy of original content released all at once, just surpassed cable giant HBO in number of subscribers. Kickstarter crowdfunded $5M for a Veronica Mars that would not otherwise get made. (This isn’t just one big outlier: it… Read More

April 29, 2013 @ 7:38 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Zach Braff has raised more than $2 million on Kickstarter. Veronica Mars netted over $5.7 million. These two campaigns have gone a long way in sparking a debate on whether campaigns such as these align with the core mission of rewards-based crowdfunding, and in particular… Read More

April 28, 2013 @ 1:21 pm By Milken Institute  |  

Over the past year, we here at the Milken Institute have explored and analyzed how the JOBS Act might open up new avenues for American companies – most notably job-creating startups and small businesses – to gain access to capital. At the same time, our work has… Read More

April 26, 2013 @ 7:28 am By ThinkProgress  |  

After the success of Rob Thomas’ efforts to crowdfund a Veronica Mars movie through Kickstarter, it was inevitable that some other auteur with a significant fanbase would follow his lead. That person is now Zach Braff, who as of this writing has raised about $954,000… Read More

April 24, 2013 @ 5:55 pm By Washington Post  |  

Small businesses looking for a windfall of investor money from crowdfunding may find that it’s more of a bust. President Barack Obama and members of Congress have touted a law that makes crowdfunding, a method of soliciting money over the Internet, as a way for… Read More

April 24, 2013 @ 7:52 am By The Street  |  

… It seems that the only investor protection discussed in these letters is that investors’ money will pass through to an escrow account and that the site can’t withdraw deposited funds. Investors will have to trust these companies that have little mechanisms to make money will… Read More

April 23, 2013 @ 2:30 pm By Mondaq  |  

It’s about one year since President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the JOBS Act), designed to help new companies raise capital and go public. For individual investors the most troublesome provisions of the law relate to crowdfunding–a term not defined in the… Read More

April 23, 2013 @ 10:33 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Yesterday Erika L. Lehman, Director of The Center For Ethics at the Better Business Bureau, published a blog post on the BBB web site expressing concerns about crowdfunding’s lack of transparency regarding use of funds. She cautioned contributors to be careful when donating to crowdfunding… Read More

April 22, 2013 @ 7:30 am By Sang Lee  |  

This article is contributed by Sang Lee (@rocsang), CEO and founder of Return on Change, the next generation’s investment crowdfunding portal (www.returnonchange.com). Follow Return on Change @rocspeaks for investment crowdfunding advice and updates. As we are (hopefully) nearing the implementation of investment crowdfunding, it is becoming ever… Read More

April 20, 2013 @ 9:20 am By Wired  |  

… Let’s start with Kickstarter as the obvious crowdfunding example. The company was founded by three guys with no previous finance experience. The target return for investors who back development of new products — from objects to movies — on Kickstarter is … nothing. Backers are instead… Read More

April 20, 2013 @ 9:16 am By Hollywood.com  |  

Happy Endings is hanging by a thread at ABC. Heroes has been canceled since 2010. Pushing Daises has been, well, pushing up daisies since it went kaput almost four years ago. But fans needn’t worry. The word “canceled” simply doesn’t hold that much weight these days. Any defunct show can… Read More

April 20, 2013 @ 3:01 am By TechVibes  |  

More people than ever are starting their own businesses. And as all these newly minted entrepreneurs enter the world of being their own bosses, they are all starving for much needed startup funding. Investors take two forms – angel or venture capitalists. Angles look more… Read More

April 20, 2013 @ 2:59 am By ITBusiness  |  

Assessment of the impact of crowdfunding amongst those supplying funds starts with the identification of distinct groupings. Two are useful; individuals supplying their own funds – angels – and organizations using other people’s money – firms. The evidence thus far is that crowdfunding models are… Read More