4 Reasons Inventors Should Beg for Money
If you are the inventor of a great product or service, ideally you would want the invention to sell itself. Sadly in most cases, that is not how things work out. In an increasingly noisy consumer-driven world, the more innovative the invention is, the more it has to be promoted in order to grab the attention of people who can use or benefit from it.
Article Contributed by Dr. Soloman Nabatiyan Co-Founder & COO of Techmoola
In this situation, approaching a bank or funding organization such as venture capitalists can be tedious and unfruitful. Even if one does manage to get a loan which is less and less likely these days, you will end up worrying about the collateral holding and the rate of interest among many other factors. Paying back the loan on set terms is another hassle altogether.
If you are one of those individuals who has an invention but lacks the capability to self-fund, crowdfunding might be the way to go. In order to successfully crowdfund, you need to pitch your idea on the internet using a video or any other engaging visual medium. You can exploit huge social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and others to solicit people who might be interested to pledge money towards your project in return for cool and fund rewards that serve as a reminder/memento of the project they helped to support. The following are some of the reasons inventors should use a crowdfunding platform for technology projects, a few of which have recently come online.
Helps Gauge the Demand for Your Invention
One of the best features of crowdfunding is that you can gauge the demand of your invention without even releasing it in the market. The number of people willing to fund your invention can serve as a likely indicator of how popular your product will grow and among which segment of the population. If you can manage to pitch your project in an attractive manner, you can gain a lot of following for the project during the development phases as well as once it is released to the market.
Builds Credibility for Future Projects
For technology, the first impression is often the most important. If you manage to create a good first impression, you can be more confident that the same people who support you now will also be willing to invest in future projects and developments of your invention. This is one of the best ways to gather a following and also gain some publicity in the process. It is for this reason that the importance of a good and creative pitch cannot be understated.
Provides Easy and Free Publicity
The benefit of broad exposure and publicity of your invention will depend on the quality of your invention and how well you have communicated it. If you have done a good job in presenting key features and value, you have a much better chance that news about your invention will spread among interested groups of users and even go viral like some projects have, such as a recent one which raised a record $2million in funding. Moreover, with crowdfunding you do not need to spend a huge budget on publicity. This is where social networking tools as well as good old e-mails serve as powerful channels to make the most of free publicity for crowdfunding purposes.
Patronage
Patronage is not the privilege of the wealthy any more. Almost anyone can be the patron of an invention as long as it is funded through a crowdfunding service. Crowdfunding has brought sweeping democracy to the funding world by giving everyone a voice and chance to support and be associated with something that is important to them and which they feel will make a difference in the world.
For more crowdfunding tips, check out our Crowdfunding Tips Book.
We hope these tips can help you go forward with your invention. If you have any more, please share in the comments below.