This kickstarter-led crowdfunding model really forced a change we're experiencing with the securities industry in the U.S.
Years ago this fundraising model would have gotten shut down -- preselling products to the general public before you have the ability to ship the product was a violation of securities laws. Then KickStarter (which is very well connected to venture capital) came along and created the concept of raising funds as donations with some type of reward as a result, and gained big traction for the model.
But now, this Pebble project thing is purely a marketing effort. If Pebble wanted capital, they could easily have raised it (or may have done so already). Here they get to sell a ton of product and don't need to give up any equity to be able to get the financing they need to be able to place the order for a large production run.
I'm not saying this is bad, I'm just pointing out this is not what what KickStarter started out being and is something likely to still be in the "gray area" of whether or not this preselling violates existing securities law in the U.S.. Even the new JOBS act with its equity crowdfunding provisions doesn't change this -- taking money for the pre-sale of product is still not allowed. Perhaps KickStarter gets by doing this by being able to step in to return the payments if a Pebble were to end up being a fraud or something like that, I don't know.
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http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3828293I don't like how this seems to be something that appears to be allowed when it is a big corporation (KickStarter ... well not really big, but backed by big venture capital money) doing it but for you and I it is different. Try as an individual doing the same thing that Pebble is currently doing through KickStarter and I wonder how many days before PayPal steals your funds (well, not steal but freeze funds for 6 months), without you having any recourse.
So either change the flippin law, or enforce it.
Stephen, you are right on point. The Pebble project was a pure
marketing play on their part. They were already venture backed by being in the YC program basically. This was to find out just how much product
they could sell. As for your point regarding the JOBS act and donation style model aka Kickstarter did force the hand of the SEC/Politicians to take another look at the situation and with the current climate we are in who wouldn't want to put a feather in their cap for "producing more jobs". This is yet to be scene of course.
Right now, technically Kickstarter is boarding on being illegal the "gray area" you mentioned above. There are MANY reasons why what they are doing is illegal. The reason they haven't been taken out by someone from what they are doing is nobody wants to "look like" they are stifling innovation and ideas. I mean who wants to be tied to doing that ? and as long as fraud remains pretty low nobody is going to come barking up that tree.
As for bitcoinstarter right now we are project/product-oriented more so then Business/Startup oriented (GLSBE.com) is more suited to handle this arena. We are glancing over what we can do in regards to the JOBS Act but that won't be down the line.
Great insight because you are spot on!