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Indiegogo Launches a Crowdsourcing Business For Big Businesses (computerworld.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the helping-the-big-guy dept.

Lucas123 writes: Indiegogo announced at CES today that is now has a crowdfunding site exclusively for big businesses, which often have hundreds of internal R&D projects or ideas that never see the light of day and could benefit from getting public exposure online. Companies such as Google, Anheuser-Busch, GE and Hasbro have already run crowdsourcing campaigns on a pilot of the new site in order to raise money for projects, garner customer ideas, or validate pre-retail products. In July, GE ran a campaign to prove market demand for a countertop nugget ice-making machine for the home. GE offered the Opal icemaker for $399 to early buyers on Indiegogo, with a future retail price of $499. GE's Opal icemaker project raised $2.64 million total from 6,177 contributions by the end of the 30-day Indiegogo campaign. The campaign also garnered 510,000 page views and 15,000 Facebook shares. Natarajan Venkatakrishnan, head of R&D for GE Appliances, said crowdsourcing allows development and marketing to be conducted at a fraction of the cost of a traditional R&D project. "If it flops, no worries. Upfront costs were some 20 times less than a traditional product rollout, which can cost tens of millions of dollars," Venkatakrishnan said. "If we're going to fail, we want to fail fast."

23 comments

  1. Trump by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    can crowdsource his wall. The USG can crowdsource its Iran invasion. Even the loonies just want someone else to pay for these things they claim they want. When the rubber hits the road their tunes suddenly change.

    Unfortunately politics is still popular and not much more than a system for people's emotional problems to control others; if economics can be substituted I say crowdsouce all the things.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  2. Grifting has gone commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It used to be about the grifting, man! Now suits be begging for scraps, what left for us bums!?

  3. Rather ingenious, for a time by rmdingler · · Score: 1
    The initial interest and exposure virtually ensure a better, less expensive launch for a new product.

    Like similar good new ideas for funding situations, those onboard early will likely benefit the most, until the system is overrun with more new solicitations than the audience can keep up with.

    The fund me sites still work, but it's crazy how the silly things effectively drown out the worthy causes in all the noise.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  4. No. Fucking. Way. by BitZtream · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you participate in this, you're a fucking moron.

    We're not only going to be ripped off by companies, but we're going to pay for them to do all the research and development up front ... and you think what, the price will be lower? They'll be more altruistic? Something will magically be better?

    This is fucking stupid, and I can't say the word fucking enough her to get the point across.

    You do not crowd fund a fucking company, thats the companies job. They aren't going to crowd fund your ass when you get laid off or fired, why the fuck would you give them a bone?

    --
    Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    1. Re:No. Fucking. Way. by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't see this as a way to get cheaper products. And that's fine - there's nothing wrong with putting up extra cash for something you REALLY want. Think of it as being an early-early adopter. It's up to you and I to decide if we want something that badly to put in the money for it. The alternative of the standard model where the corporation does market research, and tries to figure out what consumers want and will pay for, does the research/design/etc, and then offers it for sale, means that you're not likely to see anything too outside the box. When the corporation is assuming 100% of the risk, why shouldn't they go with the "safe" option?

      On the other hand, with this model, they can offer something a little more cutting edge, because if nobody is interested, it'll become apparent quickly. Also, you won't be running into the common Kickstarter problem of people who overpromise their ability to deliver because they have no idea of what the real costs are going to be, or how to budget, etc.

    2. Re:No. Fucking. Way. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the crowdfunders actually want to be separated from their money, I'd say bring it on. Nobody's forcing them.

    3. Re:No. Fucking. Way. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you participate in this, you're a fucking moron.

      The whole thing reads like some pecuniary extraction end game scenario, where millionaires and billionaires take to begging for the last pennies of the kids working for minimum wage at the local fast food joint.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    4. Re:No. Fucking. Way. by supremebob · · Score: 2

      It's a great way for companies to pilot test new ideas, though. Not sure if the market really wants... say... a fitness tracking watch with a built in MP3 player and Bluetooth earbuds? Put the prototype on a Kickstarter type of crowdfunding site and see if you get any buyers. If you get them, you already have a built in market for your product. If not, you can stop at the prototype stage and not worry about tooling up for mass production.

    5. Re:No. Fucking. Way. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. This post is 'Informative' said only ./ morons.

      You obviously didn't comprehend the article. Just fell for the click bait. Idiot.

    6. Re:No. Fucking. Way. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, its awesome for business! Public risk, private reward!

    7. Re:No. Fucking. Way. by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      I think the big question would be what happens if the company never delivers the product. If this system is pretty much just a combination of market research and pre-ordering, where the people who sign up are charged the stated amount when the product ships, then I think it's fine. On the other hand, if GE gets your $400 and can then never give you anything for it, then I would agree that it's complete bullshit.

    8. Re:No. Fucking. Way. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope sorry YOU'RE the idiot...I seriously had to sit and think about how this could possibly be good for consumers as it made no obvious sense at all..so I did read the article & it makes perfect sense now...it is in NO way 'good for consumers', as the parent says if you participate in this you're an idiot! Think about it. You send a big corporation money prior to any actual development of a product to POTENTIALLY receive a 'pre-production' product that may NEVER see 'mass production'...tell me why I should fund a huge corporations random whims & ideas and have no guarantee of receiving anything or if I do get something it may not actually ever get to mass production & is thus a 'one off dead end product' that I can't get support for or if it breaks I can't get my money back or any other benefits of simply going to Walmart & buying the damn thing when they actually decide to support it!

      Furthermore if it takes '10s of millions of dollars' to bring a product to market the 'traditional way' how could it NOT take that same amount to bring the same product to market on Idiegogo? People sending in sufficient dollars to allow engineering, development, manufacturing & shipping of the product such that the big company isn't losing money on it has to simply mean that 'corporation x' should be able to do exactly the same thing by funding it themselves & only selling the # that consumers 'promise' to buy (but don't actually send money in for until they get it)...so what is it EXACTLY that costs the extra money? What exactly is corporation x saving using Indiegogo & what benefit to me the consumer does this provide? Let's see as far as I can tell there are 4 major savings here...'market rearch', marketing, sales channel but most importantly WARRANTY & SUPPORT! The 1st 3 I have no problem with but 'big corporation x' doesn't need promises of my money to save on those, if all Indiegogo provided here was a clearing house for ideas such that if sufficient interest was identified 'big corporation x' would produce a given product with a given feature set fine & dandy but they don't need 'crowd funding' for that...so there's one MAJOR thing that is being saved here & that is 'Warranty & Support' as there is 0 guarantee that said product will actually be developed or if it is developed that it will be supported (it's a 'pre-production model per the article) or that if the one you get sent simply doesn't work do I get my money back on a return etc., etc.? There is simply no guarantee of quality or anything else in this...if its some entrepreneur working out of his garage that just doesn't have any money to do 'engineering, development, manufacturing, shipping' etc. etc. than that's 1 thing & people who fund such entrepreneur's understand they are taking some risk & may lose their money but WHY should a consumer take ANY risk of losing money instead of 'big corporation x'?

      It gets even worse then that...the company first tells people what they are thinking of building & takes feedback, some of that feedback could be very detailed & may in fact lead to a 'great/good product'...guess what? Who gets to actually patent any of those ideas? It's not the consumer sending the idea in that's for sure. Look at the description of the Hasbro campaign...the 'winner' gets $10K...that's NOTHING for giving up all copyright in the idea & not only that the x thousands of 'losers' that submitted their ideas will get ripped off when Hasbro actually develops a game based on their submission but since they aren't the 'winner' they get $0, nothing, nadda!

      Crowd funding ideas for 'big corporation x' to implement is absolutely drop dead stupid & idiotic, just another way for the consumer to get ripped off. If 'big corporation x' doesn't already have sufficient money to take the chance of losing some of it in developing an idea in what universe does it make sense for consumers to fund it for them?

  5. And if you use them, you're a lame by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    Big businesses collect big piles of money and then hand them to people who don't deserve them, or actively spend them in ways that harm you, like lobbying for their interests against yours. If you then go on to pay their R&D budget, you're a real dumbshit.

    It would be a nice place to look for good ideas to crowdfund from someone who actually needs the funding, though, instead of rewarding businesses for slashing R&D (which eliminates jobs for skilled workers!) and maximizing profits by turning out the same crap year after year.

    If you use this site and fund some corporations' R&D, you're funding job reduction, and I hope you lose yours.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  6. Give money to corporations so the... WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Give money to corporations with more cash than your favourite god, so they can develop something with 0 risk and sell it to you even if it is a failure? And if it's makes it, rob it's customers blind.

    Wow... talk about greed and stupidity.

  7. More stuff nobody should need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Come on, "icemaker"? WTF people... who needs this shit?

  8. Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is redundant. We have a "Crowdsourcing Business For Big Businesses" service already. It's called the "stock market".

    1. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only intelligent comment here.

    2. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      But the stock market it encumbered by things like "rules" and an "expectation of ROI" to shareholders

      Crowdfunding is throwing money in a direction in the hope that something happens to it, not even that you get anything back. Small time / indie people are already abusing this system to hell and back (Zano, Double Fine, etc)

      Then you get campaigns from guys like Don Bluth to make a pitch reel for a "Dragons Lair" movie, unless you donate more than $35 you don't get to see squat and the purpose of making the pitch reel is to see if actual investors will buy into it, not to make a movie, not to make a short, not even to produce something consumable by the general population. A movie pitch that will be made to industry people behind closed doors. They started on Kickstarter but had to shift to Indiegogo because Kickstarter requires you to actually produce something other people can consume and that's not what they're about.

      Fools. Money. Parted.

  9. "If we're going to fail, we want to fail fast." by tibit · · Score: 2

    IRL Erlang FTW :)

    --
    A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  10. GE Scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The idiots at GE must be living in a cave... I bought a countertop Icemaker for my boat on sale for $110 from Home Depot last summer. China is pumping them out by the millions.
    http://www.homedepot.com/p/Magic-Chef-27-lb-Portable-Countertop-Ice-Maker-in-Silver-HNIM27SV/204351375

    It is actually very cool. Ice runs around 8 cents a pound in Shore Power electricity. During icemaking, it draws ~125 Watts for six minutes to deliver twelve small cubes, well, they are more like chunky thimbles; quite chewable. What I don't drink or chew gets dumped right into the boat's Icebox; btw, just the parts for Marine Refrigeration run a couple of grand.
    Ice production is _exactly_ the same as the GE "prototype", three pounds an hour, which leads me to believe that they may have just stuffed standard Chinese Icemaker guts into a fancy GE case.

    1. Re:GE Scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oops, Operator Headspace...
      That should be:
      "Ice production is _exactly_ the same as the GE "prototype", one pound an hour, with a three pound capacity, which leads me to believe that they may have just stuffed standard Chinese Icemaker guts into a fancy GE case."

      A silly aside- a peach got loose under the Galley Counter- And it had friends. I didn't really mind all those Fruit Flies flitting around, until I noticed some flecks in my ice. I looked in the reservoir; they were having a great time; one was doing the backstroke.

  11. I Was Wondering How Long This Would Take by painandgreed · · Score: 1

    When Kickstarter was just starting out, I saw how even large companies would want to get in on this action. Besides gathering seed money in presales for items, they can determine interest, test the markets, and even back out if the interest is too low to be sufficiently profitable. manufacturing runs could be decided upon ahead of time and done. Even loss leaders might be of interest because if a company produces a small manufacturing run of a limited edition item, besides securing needed funds for production before it has to happen, they also have a mailing list of people who are interested enough in the products to be willing to pay for limited edition items. If dealing with media IP and fans, it could even be made to seem like a good thing, almost like a fan club.

  12. Yawn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No interest from big business. Industrial Espionage is a thing for a reason. Big business knows that they have maybe 6 months from the release of "Tickle Me Elmo"/hoverboard before a Chinese knockoff appears on eBay. By bringing media cameras in to their R&D labs they're telegraphing where their products are going to their competitors. Sun Tzu would not be pleased!