When Cleveland-startup Innovative Developments launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter last February, it aimed to gauge interest and generate pre-production sales for Mycestro, a wireless mouse worn on your index finger. The campaign succeeded in generating buzz, leading to coverage in publications like Wired.com and Crain's. It also didn't hurt that in the process it generated $354,115 from a pool of 4,010 backers.
Crowdfunding is an attractive concept to companies within emerging industries whose cutting-edge technologies may not always garner early attention from traditional funding sources. As entrepreneurs in these industries are increasingly questioning the traditional mechanisms by which businesses access capital, crowdfunding has bubbled to the surface as not only a creative approach, but a viable one too. The Mycestro campaign illustrated that the benefits go beyond raising cash.
