下一個「臉書」將是群眾集資平台

分類:管理

大師輕鬆讀 2012/09/28

群眾集資融合了社群網路和創投事業。就像社群網路改變我們在時間上的分配，群眾集資將改變我們分配資金的方式。
☆ Wealthforge Inc. 共同創辦人暨營運長 Mathew Dellorso 等名人推薦

【文章提供／大師輕鬆讀】

群眾集資是確保取得專案資金，一種更加強調協同合作的新方式。可以有多種用途：

■在世界任何角落為一個有意義的訴求募款。

■與贊助者一起為專案發起募資，接著成為專案的合作夥伴，共同承擔風險。

■預售書籍或光碟，募集生產和運銷成本。

■資助新創事業或已經存在的企業，以此換取公司未來現金收入的股權。

Crowdfunding is a new and more collaborative way to secure funding for projects. It can be used in a variety of ways:

■To solicit donations for a worthy cause anywhere in the world.

■To generate funding for a project with the contributors then becoming partners in the project or adventure being undertaken.

■To pre-sell copies of a book or CD in order to fund the cost of production and distribution.

■To finance a startup or even an established company in return for an equity stake in the company’s future cash flows.

群眾集資可視為企業融資的民主化。取代原本資金來源和分配，僅限於相對較小且固定的少數人手中。群眾集資讓每個連上網路的人，得以利用其他上網的人的集體智慧和皮夾子。

Crowdfunding can be viewed as the democratization of business financing. Instead of restricting capital sourcing and allocation to a relatively small and entrenched minority, crowdfunding empowers everyone connected to the Internet to tap into both the collective wisdom and the pocketbooks of everyone else who connects to the Internet.

目前現況／未來走向

The Road Here／The Road Ahead

【關鍵思惟】

「對許多群眾集資生態裡的玩家，特別是專家，早早參與成功的專案非常重要。在募資階段偷偷跟著靈活的融資專家投資，過去是個可行的策略，現在，光這麼做不夠了，或者至少偷學者的財務表現大不如昔。即時發現趨勢非常有用──提前知道更好。群眾集資平台是趨勢分析的豐富生態系統，不只是為了需要募資的專案，也是未來重大變革的領先指標。」

──凱文．勞頓與丹．馬龍

【Key Thoughts】

“Being involved early in successful projects will be extremely important to many crowdfunding ecosystem players, especially the professional ones. Poaching off more agile financiers by following them in a funding round used to be a viable strategy; now, it’s not enough, or at least a poacher’s financial performance will not be as good. Spotting trends real-time is extremely helpful – knowing them ahead of time even more so. A crowdfunding platform is a rich ecosystem for trend analytics, not just for the projects being funded, but as a leading indicator of where major changes are headed.”

– Kevin Lawton and Dan Marom

本期介紹的《群眾集資革命》（The Crowdfunding Revolution）2 位作者凱文．羅頓（Kevin Lawton）與丹．馬龍（Dan Marom）。羅頓是新創企業家、趨勢製造者暨部落客。曾參與早期個人電腦虛擬化產業，是微處理器製造商，擁有 2 個開放原始碼計畫。馬龍則是一名科技專家暨企業顧問，目前致力學術研究與教學。曾經擔任教育管理領域新創公司執行長暨共同創辦人。