Why I’m So Incredibly Excited About Crowdfunding

We’re mere hours away from the new JOBS act being signed into law. While it’s an all-around awesome bill for entrepreneurs, the fact that it will legalize crowdfunding in startups by non-accredited investors will revolutionize the way startups are built.

Take where we are at this moment with Contactually. We have thousands of users. A large portion are heavy users. Our paid user metrics are growing rapidly. I spend a good chunk of my day doing sales calls, talking to top users, etc. Quite often, I hear things like “this is going to be huge” “you are going to kill it” etc. And this is from business owners, not just individuals.

What if I can ask them, at that moment, if they believe enough in it to invest?
What if they believe in the vision enough that they, right then, are willing to?
What if we offered additional incentives for investing, like a year of service, etc (a la Kickstarter)?

This completely flips around investing in & building web startups. In my eyes it puts more incentive into getting your product out there, proving your idea, getting to product market fit, and finding the users who not only would pay for your product, but believe in the idea enough to invest.

Do you spend months with no product development, raising a few hundred thousand and then starting to build something? Or do you focus on building your product, getting distribution, and gaining users, while at the same time find a few hundred incredibly passionate users who so strongly believe in your idea that they would invest a few hundred or a couple thousand each? Which one puts you in the better position?

Wow.

Will there be fraud? Undoubtedly. But this is too much of a game changer to worry about a few bad eggs.

Am I totally wrong here?