The Crowdfunding Revolution: How to Raise Venture Capital Using Social Media

INTRODUCTION

Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive,… then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

—Howard Thurman

Crowdfunding describes the collective cooperation, attention, and trust by people who network and pool their money and other resources together, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations,” as defined by Wikipedia.¹ That’s a pretty good start, although the true social vibrance of crowdfunding is difficult to capture in a definition. The crowdfunding space is quite diverse and composed of many niches, and it shares a lot of social networking’s energy. Whether to solicit donations and create a fan base for an around-the-world sailing adventure, ...