Far from a madding crowd: crowdfunding possibilities and pitfalls

Elaine Ramsey, Emer Gallagher, Andrew Kincaid, Sharon Loane

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Entrepreneurial business ventures require resources to succeed, and one of the most critical of these is finance. Yet it is well recognised that both domestically and internationally focused business ventures face difficulties in attracting external finance, especially in the early part of their life cycles. Some of the most common traditional options for seed capital are through banks, business angels or venture capitalists. However, with the significant decrease in access to capital from these sources since the financial crisis of 2008, entrepreneurs are being continually challenged in their ability to find seed capital. Many remain unfunded, partially because of a lack of sufficient value that can be pledged to funders, and partially because of unsuccessful attempts to both find and convince funders. Crowdfunding therefore has become of great importance to entrepreneurs to fund new venture creation, new product development, marketing and internationalisation. This chapter describes the main crowdfunding models and platforms, the associated regulations and risks, key crowdfunding campaign considerations as well as an overview of the key antecedents to and consequences of crowdfunding for entrepreneurs. The successful Brewbot crowdfunding case is presented as a desirable model.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook of Entrepreneurship and Marketing
EditorsNicholas Telford, Ian Fillis
Place of PublicationUK
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing
Chapter10
Pages148-164
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)9781785364570
ISBN (Print)9781785364563
DOIs
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 21 Jul 2020

Keywords

  • crowdfunding; entrepreneurial behaviour, alternative financing, financial innovation, crowdfunding platforms

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