Crowdfunding Sites That Help You Kick-Start Your Business Journey Part I

Posted: 1/18/2013

If you are a startup, convincing the stiff-necked breed of investors to extend capital for your venture is the most difficult part. Added to this, the legal framework is a roadblock in most cases.

But as of 2011, with President Obama's signing of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups or JOBS Act, a new window of opportunity for many Small Business was provided for the first time since 1929.

According to this Act, private businesses, even startups can now legally raise money from public by offering a share in their stocks upto a tune of $1 million annually.

But what's the modus operandi here? Crowdfunding via Internet is the latest trend. Businesses have been given a olive branch to support their enterprise in three ways by offering investors

1. equity or stocks
2. debenture bonds
3. share in revenue bonds raised through online advertisements and solicitations

This sounds promising but a word of caution for our small business owners because mind you CAPITAL is a dangerous bedfellow.The liability of being scammed by bogus funding institutions always remains. So choose wisely and stay cautious before jumping into the eye-of-the storm!

Here is a list of some trustworthy crowdfunding sites to help you raise the much needed capital for your projects. We will give Kickstarter.com an obvious miss; we all know about its highly established credentials. Let's talk of others for a change.

1. Indiegogo.com

Founded by Slava Rubin, it is literally the next best in the game after Kickstarter and was the Crunchie finalist for 2012's "Biggest Social Impact".

Their mission statement is "Everyone should have the opportunity to raise money. Now everyone does. People all over the world use our industry-leading platform to raise millions of dollars for all types of campaigns. No matter what you are raising money for, you can start right now with no fee or application process."

2. Crowdtilt.com

Founded by James Beshara in 2011, their mission statement is to allow "groups to pool funds for objectives in a simple, social, and frictionless way online."

3. AngelList

Founded by Babak Nivi and Naval Ravikant, are the perfect example of a crowdfunding business themselves. AngelList "connects startups with a roster of high-profile investors and entrepreneurs."

4. WeFounder

"We're all good friends who met in Techstars and the Cambridge Innovation Center. We've worked next each other and alongside hundreds of other startups for years." That's the driving force of WeFounder team, founded by Mike Norman and Nick Tommarello.

5. MicroVentures

William Clark, the President and founder of this Austin based firm believes their mission is "Our process of raising capital is similar to crowdfunding. We give angel investors the ability invest small amount of capital to crowd fund a startup raising capital. The concept is similar to peer to peer lending but instead of debt you get equity for your investment."

6. 40Billion

Founded by a Yale & MIT grad in 2008, they help promote "loans and gifts" wherein entrepreneurs are given points on sign up. Their mission statement reads "Use 40Billion to promote yourself, your business, and your creations to the world!"

7. RocketHub

Their mission is to help the creative-minded persons pursue their aims with capital not acting as a inhibitor. "It is a community where creatives are accountable only to their fans. RocketHub allows Fuelers (investors) to have a direct impact on how and if a project is completed."

Well the list is endless we believe with the e-bubble going bombastic in its purview. Fundraising has no doubt become a tad bit easier with social media platforms offering a space to aspiring business- big and small, an avenue to achieve their dream projects with the least of hassles.

Do share with us if you have any interesting user experiences. You can follow us on our Facebook page and Twitter for other useful reads.