Crowd funding: Powered by the people

For years, toy makers have been told that their products are discriminatory and regressive. By offering boys with mechanics products and girls with doll houses, many believed that gender stereotypes are being inculcated from a very young age. This is where Goldieblox came in. Goldieblox is the engineering toy for girls, featuring a female engineer who has a passion for building things. With this toy, the makers of Goldieblox aim to introduce and encourage girls to explore careers in science and engineering. But, Goldieblox would have not been possible without a crowdfunding platform.

There are many innovative ideas and solutions for the problems we face in our lives, and crowdfunding platforms aim to bring these ideas to the world stage without the long process of waiting for venture capitalists and angel investors to take interest. In the past, any entrepreneur with an idea, relied on venture capital or raised seed funding from friends and family. The advantage that crowdfunding has over this is the ease and speed with which an entrepreneur can find backers and actually execute their ideas successfully.

Crowdfunding platforms also give the backers, the common man, an incentivized backing option. They could get rewards based on the size of their donations, benefiting both the giver and receiver. While platforms like these back all sorts of ideas from technology and engineering to art and publishing, it is in technology that the crowdfunding platform has truly taken off. A lot of gadgets, devices, technological breakthroughs and more were possible thanks to platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

For instance, Pebble, one of the first smartwatches to capture the imagination of the smart gadget driven users, was developed with the backing it received at Kickstarter. Once the watch was conceptualized, programming the software was a breeze. The problem arose when the creator realized that the funds he had raised for his venture would not cover the cost of hardware. This particular problem was solved with the help of Kickstarter, and soon became the second highest funded project on the website.

Crowdfunding platforms have given the people the power to see their ideas through. From the world's first smart wireless headphones, 3D printers, and virtual reality headsets like the Occulus Rift to cellular development kits with data plans to design wearables, innovation in technology has reached new heights thanks to the backers all over the world, wishing to see these ideas brought to fruition. CES 2015 showcased a large percentage of such people driven technology, showing that business trends are leaning away from the traditional processes.

Anybody who wishes to be an entrepreneur and has a good idea can get his project backed, giving everyone a chance to see their ideas get executed. The power behind products and innovation is moving from the industrial powers, to the people, bringing out a whole new network into place.

What are your thoughts on crowdfunding platforms and their influence in technology? Please share your thoughts in the section below.

About the Author

Wipro insights set up the Council for Industry Research, comprising of domain and technology experts from the organization, to address the needs of customers. It specifically looks at innovative strategies that will help them gain competitive advantage in the market. The Council in collaboration with leading academic institutions and industry bodies studies market trends to equip organizations with insights that facilitate their IT and business strategies. http://www.wipro.com/insights/

Email us at: wipro.insights@wipro.com

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