micro investing

Buddy Can You Spare A Dime? The Rise of Micro-Investing
 Micro-Investing is providing those of us without the funds to become Venture Capitalists or Angel investors the opportunity to experience the thrill of investing without the risks. The model is somewhat similar to that employed by charities for years. A small amount multiplied many times equals a much larger amount. So instead of seeking thousands of dollars, asking for only a few, but asking thousands of people can equal the same amount.

Micro-Investing: What’s In It For You?

While the rewards of micro-investing are never going to match that of being a VC or an Angel, the amount invested and the risk associated with that amount is much lower as well. What you mainly get from micro-investing is the sense of helping someone get to a goal and a thrill of having backed the right horse.

Sites like KickStarter, Appbackr and newly launched Apptopia provide platforms for would be investors to find ideas that they like and make small investments in them. Kickstarter focuses more on arts based projects, Appbackr and Apptopia are focused on providing funds for mobile app development and the sale of the rights to apps respectively.

Micro-Investing:What’s In It For Them?

In a word, money. Depending on which platform you are using what they have to provide you, the investor with, varies greatly. Kickstarter projects might involve a product, a picture, a song or something similar, but it might just be a thank you card – depending on your level of investment. Appbackr investors get a small revenue share based on the sale of apps and the amount of their investment. Apptopia is a wholesale clearing house for the rights to an app – you are basically taking over the ownership of that app, code, IP the whole package.

For “starving artists” Kickstarter can mean the launch of a project that would otherwise wither in the wasteland of “good ideas”. Appbackr means that app developers can realize some money early on so that they can continue development and marketing of their app and go on to realize a full revenue stream.

Micro-Investing: My Experience

I’ve been playing with these platforms for about 9 months now and have invested in several projects.
One of the early successes was Cliff Roth‘s “Google Plus Speedpaint Hangout Project” – Cliff was looking to raise $2000. I noticed this project just before it’s deadline, he was $33 short of his goal. If a goal isn’t met then none of the investors are required to part with their money, also the project goes unfunded – in other words there is no “part funding” it is all or nothing. I chipped in the $33 and his project was funded. For that investment I was added to a Special Google Plus Circle and invited to Backers-Only Speedpaint Hangout Sessions, in addition I will also receive a pencil drawing of myself signed by Cliff. I felt that was a very fair exchange.

Another huge success was Creatures. This  is a card game and I actually invested in this to get the game as a gift for the holidays. I’ve had a lot of fun playing the game. But the real story here is that they were seeking $2,500 they actually raised over $56,000 in funding. People like me invested anywhere between $1 and $750 to receive various rewards from the creators of Creatures. This game is now available on Amazon.

My latest investment appealed to the geek in me. Twine is a device that allows you to interact with other devices and platforms like Text, Email, Web etc based on certain conditions. The interesting part about it is that it requires no coding. The interactions are all controlled by a very simple web interface. Again this project really appealed to the Kickstarter community. The Twine project was seeking $35,000 in funding, they raised over $500,000.

I have also backed a couple of apps on Appbackr but to date those have not made it into production and therefore I have not actually been charged any money. I’m hopeful that I will pick a winner soon.

If you haven’t tried micro-investing yet I definitely recommend it. Don’t expect to retire on the returns but you will have a lot of fun being part of the micro-investing community.

Source: Here