As North Carolina lawmakers consider bills to permit crowdfunding, the latest issue of Fortune magazine features Jennifer Alsever’s article on crowdfunding successes.
Just 30 days after launching a Kickstarter campaign in August, Cameron Gibbs and David Gengler raised $652,000 to begin manufacturing a padlock that can be opened and closed from 15 feet away via Bluetooth. But the crowdfunding delivered far more than just money for their startup, FUZ Designs. The money-gathering crusade spawned widespread coverage on tech blogs, which led in turn to hundreds of offers of help with marketing, design, manufacturing, and distribution.
“We always thought of the marketing and the money, but we didn’t realize how it would open the door to other opportunities,” says Gibbs. FUZ’s Bluetooth padlock will ship this spring, and the company is now planning a second campaign to develop a Bluetooth bicycle lock.
Some $5.1 billion was delivered to startups and others through crowdfunding platforms in 2013, according to industry consultant Massolution, making it a rich source of cash. But 70% of entrepreneurs rank other benefits higher, says Richard Swart, a crowdfunding researcher at the University of California at Berkeley. They cite rapid input on strategy, messaging, and marketing, as well as help in finding distribution, investors, and employees. Money is typically listed as fourth or fifth most important.
