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alizasherman

  • Aliza Sherman

  • Alaska

  • http://www.mediaegg.com/

  • Web pioneer; founded Cybergrrl/Webgrrls; Blogger, Podcaster, Twitter, Author. Day job: Goddess of Social Media Goodness

Insights by alizasherman

  • Mark MacLeod

    What do you think of kickstarter and other crowdfunding services to get an idea going? I am an inexperienced entrepreneur and I'm not sure if VC's will buy into just an ide...

    Answered by Mark MacLeod – Partner, Real Ventures     Posted in Money

    They sound great in theory but not in practice. They violate securities laws in most juridsctions (because they are public offerings and hence need a prospectus). As a VC I... (more)
    Aliza Sherman
    But Kickstarter and most crowdfunding services are not for for-profit companies seeking capital. There are only a handful of crowdfunding sites attempting to address all securities regulations. One is Profounder. The other is SeedUps which originated in the UK and is, I've heard, making a play for the U.S. market. Crowdfunding sites are great in practice for certain projects that may not have found funding otherwise. Keep in mind there are fees involved so they don't provide "free" money. In some cases, they also provide ongoing guidance, plus your "crowd" is a great source of input and feedback. These sites are probably not going to win the praise of established VCs, but then again, most of us - and most of our projects - don't need that level and type of funding.
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