There is this obvious trend of crowd-sourcing all kinds of things and we can see more and more companies taking care of this concept. Finally we have reached a step of maturity in that trend, which in my opinion, did not reach business schools or any other entrepreneurial lecture yet. And I graduated in 2010. It should be included. For sure is that this idea is a clear part of the future of funding, more accessible, democratic and absolutely capable of moving the masses....remember the critical volume thing...?!
Crowdsourced Venture Funding.
Check this out, as of today you can become shareholder of the following projects by simply "buying into a a venture either by investing directly or indirectly by buying products. A clever way of raising capital ahead of production (of a crowd-sourced movie) or after production occurred (in case of a beer brand in Australia).
1. Iron Sky is a movie to be sourcing ~$900.000 in venture capital by offering stock for financing the last financing necessary to bring the movie to theatres. Later on, based on the crowd-sourced success of the movie in cinemas, DVD rentals, and so on shareholders will be paid out their dividends. The story is a smart viral marketing move with a story that sticks...war bonds are out to support the fictitious war against Nazis from out of space...remember the trend from an earlier post? Great move and storyline, maybe we'll see more Hollywood production companies converting into marketing agencies for creating stories that stick for blue chips...by the way, an old friend of mine is the main actress...I'm going to see it for sure! Trailers are out...check the site...
2. Broo Beer in Australia is a new locally produced beer company differentiated as the "first 10% Australian beer". Online buyers of 1-50 catons of the first production batches will receive 10 free shares in the beer brand until the 28th of February. A smart way to keep a beer brand local and owned by locals and at the same time to get preorders and the first volumes in production out there. I don't have to mention the brand affinity of the new customers....the more you drink, the better your return....brilliant idea with a sticky story: Live the dream and own your own beer company...., we'll see more of this type of funding coming up in IT and other sectors. For sure!
Cheers.
