Re: [tlug] A Crowdfunding Crash

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Josh Glover writes:

 > A good point that the article makes is that funders are not investing
 > (as they get no equity), but rather pre-ordering a product and paying
 > up front.

But they aren't pre-ordering a product.  They are contributing money
to a project on condition that others contribute enough money to it.
It's true that some projects promise a product, but as David points
out, some projects fail.  If so, there's no recourse.  And not all
projects do promise a product that you can "order", although almost
always you can share it (if you live near enough to go look).

I think the reasons for people getting angry about that particular
project are in large part that the project leader chose to fund his
personal lifestyle out of Kickstarter funds, and the people who did
the actual development got no benefit from those funds.  If he just
snafu'ed, they'd mostly probably be willing to write it off, as David
says.

In other words, it's like the way the record companies make the money,
not the signers and guitarists (and definitely not the roadies).