Have you ever used crowdfunding to launch a business idea?

Go back 10+ years ago and to start a business you had to know people, oh and not just know them, it was HOW you knew them. And if your business idea required a lot of initial funding to get the idea of the ground from concept to working reality, you either had to have the money yourself, get a loan from the bank or have connections in the right places to help you. That's not the case today thanks to crowdfunding. Now if you have a good business idea but don't have the funds to get the business started, you don't need to get a loan from the bank, you can just turn to the crowd!

What is Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is a way of raising money by getting a large number of people to each donate a small amount of money. Until recently, financing a business, project or venture involved asking a few people for large sums of money. But crowdfunding turns that on it's head and uses the power of the Internet to ask thousands if not millions of people to invest in your idea who all get a cut of the earnings it makes. You simply start a project on a crowdfunding site, explain what the business idea is and how it will work and what the benefits and advantages are and then you can share this crowdfunding project on social media sites and the like so people can know about it and then donate money to the cause of getting it off the ground.

There are different types of crowdfunding, there's donation/reward crowdfunding (sometimes called reward crowdfunding). Then there's debt crowdfunding & equity crowdfunding. With debt crowdfunding, the investors get their money back with interest. This is also known as P2P lending. With equity funding people invest their money into the idea in return for a share or stake in that business.

Best Crowdfunding Sites

Over the past 5+ years crowdfunding has grown exponentially! And it's helped a LOT of people get their business off the ground. From small concept ideas that people likes to massive business ventures too. Some of the biggest crowdfunding sites today are GoFundMe and KickStarter and IndieGoGo. And some of the lesser known crowdfunding sites are Teespring, Patreaon, CrowdRise, Kiva and GiveForward.

And the Internet is full of Crowdfunding success stories. It ranges from 3D printing to wearable tech. From small apps to large enterprises. All powered bt the crowd!

Have you ever had an idea for something such as an app or other business venture and thought to yourself "that's a good idea but how can I make it happen"? Or do you have any ideas you think are good ideas but don't know how to get them funded? Then you can turn to the crowd for support! If your idea is a good idea and there are lots of benefits and advantages to it (or it just helps people), you could probably create a project for it on Kickstarter or GoFundMe and other people could think the same thing and then invest in that project. Thus giving you the money you need to launch it.

Have you ever used Crowdfunding and successfully met your target?

Do you have any cool, amazing, original ideas you'd like to see launched?

Do you believe in the power of the crowd?