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Posted by Ann Anne
Hi Ann
The cost of starting a crowdfunding platform is similar to that of any other website, that is:
- making the website, usually $5-10k, and running servers, about $20 a month for a small site. Sites like www.crowdfundingapp.co can provide a fully functional platform for ~$100 a month plus a ~$500 setup fee, which is a cheap way to get started.
- people, which is probably going to be free if you're just the founders. There'll have to be a big investment in time though in order to create your community, find the first projects and help them get funded.
That's it. I'd say your biggest investment really is time.
bonjour,quelqu'un voudrai bien me laisser connaitre une opinions concernant les site tel que
indiegogo, et de kickstarter, je souhaite savoir si au USA , CANADA, AUSTRALIE, existe t- il des site plus Professionnel réservé aux innovations et ou aux inventions
merci à tous (tes)
signer , devillersroland@gmail.com
@Crowdsourcing_ Closely manage costs w/ the correct scalable dynamic infrastructure See how w/the Fabric of Google http://t.co/ol8Oumpf
Answer source: http://twitter.com/SAGutz_Tech
Hi Ann,
In reality, the real cost of developing a platform is dependent on how the platform is targetted. As Benjamin has correctly stated, a basic platform could be developed for as little as $5-10k and I'm sure the market will be flooded with low cost attempts to capture market share with many companies like www.crowdfundingapp.co offering the likes of what Benjamin has outlined. However, the major cost of developing any platform has to be the marketing of it and the time taken to create a thriving community. As with any new industry, there will be a time when consolidation takes place and many of the players will die out due to being under capitalised (the Voice over IP industry is a good recent example of this) with he majority of remaining platformsl either being swallowed up or absorbed by the bigger players in the game. Personally, I have already seen some really shocking platforms out their from people who I consider as those who are making an attempt to "jump on the bandwagon", and it's plain to see that their budgets are extremely small.
To directly answer your question - In my opinion, players entering this market in a serious way, and those geared for the long haul, will need in excess of $250,000+ and a well defined niche to target their marketing efforts towards.
$5-10K to build a crowding platform is ridiculously low. Consider that Kickstarter had several million dollars in seed funding to start-up their platform, and a good portion of that was spent on technology with Amazon cloud services. Implementing the payment gateway, either Amazon Payment Service, or what many sites use these days, PayPal API is complex and take much time and expense to implement. I spoke to one team that spent $75K for just the shell of a new crowdfunding site and hadn't even started implementing the payments portion. Building a crowdfunding business is like creating any new company; do not under estimate the seed capital requirements.
I agree, 10k€ is way too low as you have to create different profile and user types and to manage the back office.
A good website should start between 20/30 k$ in order to prepare, design and develop it.
The cheapest way is to use a platform already existing. We offer this kind of deal at Anaxago so feel free to contact us.
Hi Ann,
I think some of the costs have been exaggerated and if you're smart about it, you can build and promote a crowdfunding site for a lot less than has been suggested.
From experience, a robust crowdfunding site can be created within $5-$10k. Also, I believe that marketing costs can start from as little as $10k. It's unwise to splash out money on ads here, there and everywhere. What's key is that you spend time building relationships that matter.
On that note, that will be the most significant investment - time. We spend (almost) all day, every day building and promoting our website. Despite only having launched ~8 months ago, we now help people raise hundreds and thousands of dollars a month and are quickly approaching the million dollar mark.
I hope that helps and I wish you the best.
Sam
Answer source: http://gogetfunding.com
Hi Ann,
With all due respect to the above answers, which are all great, I have a different approach. I have been in web design and development since 1994 and my background is in graphic design. Just FYI.
You can setup a simple crowd funding platform for $60 using a plugin and a WordPress website. The plugin is IgnitionDeck.com and it's in beta. An associate setup my website this way and I tested it and it works. It's keep what you raise (like InidieGoGo.com) as opposed to all or nothing (Kickstarter model).
You will see on here and around the Internet people caution you against running a crowd funding site on WordPress. I run the Chicago WordPress Meetup Group with over 890 members and I know first hand you can establish a crowd funding website this way and actually raise funds and collect them into your PayPal account.
If you want, I can help you setup the website as long as you pay the costs of the hosting plugin, theme, PayPal account, etc.
Also, because my business model focuses on "marketing to women" and I have a client base of women, I think the real question you are asking is for a solution, not so much how much it costs. Most women are solution oriented when it comes to technology and care less about price. They just want something that works, someone who can empower them to make it work (i.e. through training or education or hands on, interactive sessions / coaching, etc) and who will not disappear after they pay them money to develop it.
If you business structure is a non-profit that is even better because I can develop a beta site for you and maybe get a tax deduction. But I will help you either way should you wish to setup your beta version using my method. It's your call.
Here is an article related to this posted on CrowdSourcing.org: http://www.crowdsourcing.org/editorial/crowdfunding-education-right-now/12874
Hope this helps, and good luck and much success with your plans.
Dante
Having started iPledg (http://ipledg.com/) we have been through the joys & learnings of starting a platform.
The first thing to define is that the IT is not all of the IP.
You have a number of options of how you buy the IT. If something seems too good to be true (based on price) then it indeed is more than likely too good to actually be true. The issues around buying a cheap platform is that you have no flexibility to make change as your needs change (& it is absolutely certain that your needs will grow over time). Also, the architecture of cheaper solutions is quite often "flaky" at best, causing operational issues usually at the most inopportune time. Buying a platform with robust architecture is key, even if it costs a little more.
The cost of this can be borne by either a total up-front cost, or a smaller cost to get "into the game" with a residual payment scheme (usually a percentage of ongoing revenue). If paying up front, you can pay up to $30k - $40k depending on your needs & the functionality you require. A solid white labelled version can be as little as $6k - $10k with the possibility of an ongoing cost which buys you updates, etc (that's the model on which we provide crowd funding solutions around the world. Yes, we not only run a site, but provide crowd funding solutions (platforms) as well).
But, as above, the costs to start a platform are not limited to the IT. The IP covers marketing, legal costs, market research, engagement with the regulators, etc. These involve not only getting the right answers, but knowing what questions to ask can be just as important. Having someone who can support you with this, share successes & failures, & give you invaluable knowledge is worth paying a touch extra so you can have that ongoing support. Also, someone who offers you collective knowledge from different markets & industries can accelerate your entry into the game, & help you maintain the edge that can be the difference between mediocrity & success
Great discussion but besides IT I personally think legal costs are not be underestimated. In consideration of the budgets mentioned above I think they are all referring to a MVP product, unless you are using an off the shelve product. From our experience in running several crowdfunding sites you must tink of at least 50K in development budget and at least 30K in legal fees. In most cases it is wiser to buy a whitelabel solution from an established party. For more information about equity based white label programs, please refer to: http://symbid.com/partner_program.
Kind regards,
Korstiaan Zandvliet
Answer source: www.symbid.com
Ann, one last thing I forgot to mention is that there is a type of an "open source" crowdfunding platform called Catarse out of Brasil. It's Ruby on Rails development I believe, but it may be possible to do a site like GoGetFunding.com using a Catarse implementation at the financial level they outlined.
Info on http://Catarse.me It's a Portugues site but the links at the bottom maybe will help you.
I do not work for Catarse I just happen to love Brasil and found out about Catarse when I was searching for an open source crowd funding platform.
Dante
Thanks everyone for your comments. Each comment has provided valuable information.
We build custom crowdfunding platforms for our clients based on our mature code base that will scale and perform well under high load situations.
We offer full customization of both the aesthetics and features. I like to say "if you can define it we can build it."
Cost vary based on complexity, anywhere from $50k-$100k the first year, including full enterprise support and hosting.
Answer source: http://invested.in/platform