Business
What Technologies Will Crowdfunding Create?
- Monday, September 17, 2012
- By Antonio Regalado
Super-users, hobbyists, and gadget fans are investing in innovations they want, and creating a new generation of entrepreneurs along the way.
Altered state: Inventor Jay Silver holds up a printed circuit board that turns ordinary objects into joystick controls. He raised more than $500,000 from the public to manufacture it.
Credit: MaKey MaKey
It's becoming a common story. A project listed on Kickstarter, the Internet crowdfunding website, ends up wildly exceeding its financial goals. Suddenly, someone is in business.
That's what happened to inventor Jay Silver, creator of MaKey MaKey, an "invention kit" consisting of a processor board and alligator clips that turns objects with high electrical resistance—bananas, Play-Doh, human flesh—into computer controllers. Silver listed the project on Kickstarter this year hoping to raise $25,000. He ended up with $568,106.
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