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This sounds like an excellent - and legal! - way to fleece the public with fake startup companies. If you have a legit company, you better get in now, because

This sounds like an excellent - and legal! - way to fleece the public with fake startup companies. If you have a legit company, you better get in now, because it won't be long before a wave of scammers is busy promoting their new "give us $2,000 and MAKE MONEY FAST! Approved by Congress!" schemes. Those of you who have flexible ethics should consider it yourselves. For a couple thousand dollars you can easily work up a website and suitable promotional materials, form a corporation and so on, and then you just wait for the money to roll in. Cure for cancer! Spaceship to Mars! Cold Fusion! Doesn't really matter, just make sure you emphasize that the investment may not pay off. If you can keep it going for a while it should provide an excellent source of income for a couple of years, before you regretfully announce bankruptcy.

wheelerwj 15y ago
That is a bit dramatic. I don't see how this opens people up to any additional scams than are already out there. What it does is provide another avenue to get money from people who have it into the hands of the people who need it. It's like y-combinator for the little guy.
- jellicle 15y ago
  Yep, that will be exactly the angle to push. You too can get rich just like venture capitalists, with as little as $2,000 down! It will just be a sad, unhappy coincidence that none of their investments ever pay off. Oh, too bad, you just got unlucky. But if you put another $2,000 into my next company, we're definitely going to make you rich, rich, RICH!
littlegiantcap 15y ago
Or you know, it could open up new funding options for startups and small businesses. The truth is that a well built crowdfunding site can prevent fraud pretty easily.
nickfromseattle 15y ago
From what I understand, people that raise a significant amount of money via kickstarter/crowdsource usually do so from their own, already established communities. If these people are in it for a quick buck, its likely they wont have the community necessary to raise any significant amount of money.

wheelerwj 15y ago

That is a bit dramatic. I don't see how this opens people up to any additional scams than are already out there. What it does is provide another avenue to get money from people who have it into the hands of the people who need it. It's like y-combinator for the little guy.

jellicle 15y ago
Yep, that will be exactly the angle to push. You too can get rich just like venture capitalists, with as little as $2,000 down! It will just be a sad, unhappy coincidence that none of their investments ever pay off. Oh, too bad, you just got unlucky. But if you put another $2,000 into my next company, we're definitely going to make you rich, rich, RICH!

littlegiantcap 15y ago

Or you know, it could open up new funding options for startups and small businesses. The truth is that a well built crowdfunding site can prevent fraud pretty easily.

nickfromseattle 15y ago

From what I understand, people that raise a significant amount of money via kickstarter/crowdsource usually do so from their own, already established communities. If these people are in it for a quick buck, its likely they wont have the community necessary to raise any significant amount of money.