New ideas, new internet?

The first thing that comes to mind when innovations and the Internet are mentioned Kickstarter is the first thing that comes to mind! Surely there are all the big names like Apple, Microsoft, etc etc but what caught my eye was an innovation that helped innovations:

I found it really interesting how Kickstarter took online shopping one step further, by allowing crowdfunding for various products or musical gigs. Crowdfunding hits a really grey area when it comes to supporting such projects, whether these projects are bogus or not, or what happens if halfway through the project fails. Here's how it works.

You can pledge whichever amount that you want to pledge, the more you pledge, the better the rewards! In this case, it is dependent on what they have to offer to you. So if you are now thinking that it is like pre-ordering something, then you're right! Just that, the catch is that if the campaign fails to raise the amount that they have set out for, then you do not foot a single cent. If it is successful, then yay! you just supported an innovation and you'll get a product soon! Take the Glow headphones for example. This is one such project that raised way more than what they had planned out for!

Here, you can see that they raised $500k as opposed to the $100k goal! so yes if you pledged to this product, you would receive your headphones! You can support projects from all walk of life, there are dog leashes that you can support, or just about any area of life. All you need to click is the discover button! Or if you are into photography, how bout some photo books? They even have flying drones, robotics, etc etc. I absolutely love the idea that we get to support such ideas, encouraging more people to step up and actively pursue their dreams! Its a win win situation, we help them beat the start up cost, while we get to have their products at a much cheaper price! Then people will worry about the quality and all, but so far, i have yet to have any bad experience with the various projects that i have backed! Some i back in huge amounts, especially when the products are really good, whereas some are just in small amounts :) from techies to wooden guitar picks, i've backed many different ones and the people there are generally very friendly! Unless the person starts giving problems and breaking promises like "oh we will get the item shipped out in june!" and it only arrives in November.

But hey, its awesome to be able to support others for their ideas, and we get to benefit too. Moreover Kickstarter has a good system in place just in case the project is a success but the people decide to run off with the pledges. Or sometimes it kinda sucks on their end when us backers fail to send the money through even when the project is a success. Well theres always that few people, but since the transactions are automated, by the time you put a pledge in, they will automatically deduct from your card! I honestly think that Kickstarter is a good innovation in itself, so do check it out yeah!