On Tuesday January 24, 2012 President Obama delivered the State of the Union Address.  He highlighted the challenges the economy faces and the direction in which we need to take the country.   One of the nation’s biggest challenges he highlighted was unemployment.  Obviously, jobs are the solution to unemployment.  Crowdfund Investing (CFI) also known as equity-based crowdfunding, is a zero-cost government solution to the jobs crisis. CFI allows the community to fund their local entrepreneurs to spur innovation, launch businesses and create jobs.  And, believe it or not, it is one of the solutions both the President and Democrats & Republicans in the House support.   The framework for all the bills before Congress (HR.2930, S.1791 & S.1970) came from the entrepreneurs behind The Startup Exemption.  However, until Congress legalizes it, we can’t help fund our nation’s net new job creators.

Politicians use crowdfunding daily.  It is how they fund their campaigns.  They go out to thousands of supporters and say, “Hey give me as much money as you can afford (capped, of course).  Collectively it will add up to something substantive so that I can talk about my goals, build my team, market my message and get elected (or re-elected).”  Entrepreneurs do the same thing (take an idea, make a proof of concept, build a company, and hire employees to market and grow) but only with accredited investors (aka millionaires).  Here’s the ironic part.  It is legal for politicians to go to the masses but illegal for entrepreneurs to do the same thing.

When it comes to crowdfunding, entrepreneurs are held to a different standard than politicians. Yet politicians constantly look to them as the solution to our economic woes.  Why are there rules on how much money one has to make in order to give to an entrepreneur but there are none when it comes to politicians?  100% of Americans can give to politicians of their choice but only 5% of the wealthiest Americans can invest in entrepreneurs to create jobs.  This doesn’t seem right.   The rationale, according to the opponents to Crowdfund Investing is that Americans aren’t sophisticated enough to understand the risks inherent in investing in startups.  They don’t understand that there are bad actors in the marketplace.  They are gullible and believe anything anyone says.

If they don’t think people are sophisticated enough to decide how to invest a few thousand dollars in a venture, why do they think they are smart enough to choose the right candidates?   Why do we allow people the freedom to use their money as they wish when it comes to crowdfunding politicians but we don’t give them the same freedom to use their money as they wish when it comes to investing in startups and entrepreneurs?  Are we to assume that there’s no fraud in politics?  Should the supporters of Representative Weiner or presidential candidate Herman Cain get refunds?

This election season, over half a billion dollars will go to fund the campaigns of many a politician.  Imagine the impact we could have on our economy if those same dollars went into starting new businesses?  Businesses create jobs; jobs provide income, which consumers spend in order to live.  Increased consumer spending stimulates the economy. This will get us out of the recession.

The conclusion is simple.  If people are deemed smart enough to invest in the right politician, they should be able to do the same, freely, in a business.   The time is now to change the security laws that were written 80 years ago.  The Internet can allow investors to identify those ideas they deem worthy and fund them with the same dollars they spend on political campaigns.  The only difference is instead of funding political commercials they will be funding the Nation’s net job creators. Crowdfund Investing is the mechanism to allow it all to happen. Legalize it!

Ps – The statisticians at The Startup Exemption performed some analysis on entrepreneurship based on data from the Census, the SBA and the Kauffman Institute.  If Crowdfund Investing is legalized over the next 5 years over 500,000 companies will launch that have the potential to create 1.5M jobs.

Post Author: Sherwood Neiss. As a 3-time INC500 winner whose company won E&Ys Entrepreneur of the Year, Sherwood understands the keys to entrepreneurial success from concept to company to sale.

Currently he leading the charge in Washington, DC to advocate for the SEC to update the securities laws to make it legal for groups of people to pool small dollar amounts of money together to invest in startups aka Crowdfund Investing. He is Chief Advocate of the Startup Exemption.

In the 2011 edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index, Kenya is ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the world, coming in at #154 out of 182 countries on a list that ranks countries from least corrupt to most corrupt. In fact, bribery is such a common practice in Kenya that it’s estimated that Kenyans pay, on average, 16 bribes per month.

But now Kenyans are fighting back against their country’s stigma, and in order to do so they’re using the power of the Internet and of crowdsourcing. Hatari, which means “danger” in Swahili, is the name of the new platform that Kenyans are using to report incidents of crime and corruption in the city of Nairobi.

If a Kenyan is asked for a bribe by the police, he is now able to report it to the website. The civilian can pinpoint the exact location of the incident on an online map and write a small report describing what happened. The website staff will try, whenever possible, to verify the incidents.

Bribery incidents are very easy to report. If the simplicity of using the website isn’t enough, one can also send a text message to Hatari’s number or utilize the hashtags #hatari and #nairobi on Twitter to detail what happened . The platform also allows Nairobi residents to subscribe to receive alerts whenever a new incident occurs.

[For] many Kenyans, bribery is personal, and it occurs on an almost daily basis. One survey by Transparency International estimated that Kenyans pay an average of 16 bribes each month, even though the majority of Kenyans live on less than $1 a day. At police checkpoints, police may demand a bribe in lieu of writing a ticket for a traffic violation. At government offices, a bureaucrat may demand a bribe in order to speed up a lengthy procedure, such as registering a business.

Scott Baldauf, Senior International Correspondent at Christian Science Monitor

The Super Bowl is a big deal to football fans, but the TV ads accompanying the on-field action can deliver anticipation and entertainment value far surpassing the game itself.  What’s especially exciting for those of us involved with crowdsourcing is that so many big-name brands in 2012 – ranging from Doritos to Chevy and now The Dannon Company  – will be trotting out Super Bowl ads developed via crowdsourcing.

Sometimes it’s fun to take a small step back and look at a story of a single face from the world of crowdsourcing.  It reminds us that we’re not dealing with anonymous crowds, but with very gifted and talented individuals who have unique stories of their own to tell.

In mid-January, Dannon announced that it would develop the first-ever yogurt commercial to be aired during the Super Bowl: and that it would combine the star power of actor John Stamos with the creativity of a 21-year-old director, Remy Neymarc, an outstanding videographer Dannon discovered via an ‘Invite Assignment’ approach to crowdsourcing.  While the story behind the ad itself has been told by the New York Times and others, here’s the story behind the crowdsourced campaign’s creator:

Remy Neymarc was born August 13, 1990 and is possibly the youngest professional director in the history of Super Bowl advertising.  In fact, Dannon has submitted an application to the Guinness World Records to verify and secure this historic milestone.

Remy and his brother, Andrew Neymarc, grew up in the suburbs of Paris, in Saint-Maur-des-Fosses. Remy got his start as a professional photographer at age 17 and quickly moved to filmmaking with his brother, Andrew, to further develop their strong passion for storytelling. As is the case for many videographers in the world of crowdsourcing, Remy and Andrew are self-taught, have no formal film education and work with a mentality that nothing is impossible. The two brothers write, direct, shoot and edit everything themselves. They also compose the music when possible. Although they do everything together, Remy specializes in directing and cinematography, while Andrew specializes in writing and producing.

In 2010, they were singled out by Walt Disney Executive Producer Don Hahn (The Lion King) for their cinematography & storytelling talents in their promotional video for Lewis & Clark Rowing. Meeting with him inspired them further to pursue filmmaking.

After winning six awards in various advertising and film competitions, Andrew and Remy founded their production company Neymarc Visuals, based in Weehawken, NJ.  Since then, they’ve been working both independently and through crowdsourcing to create spots for such entities as The American Red Cross, Jaguar, AT&T, Renaissance Hotels, and Cadillac. They’ve also produced and directed an ad campaign for OfficeMaster.

For the Dannon spot airing on Super Bowl Sunday, all 31 videographers and content creators invited to participate in the Dannon Assignment developed concepts and video based specifically on Dannon’s creative brief.  They used stand-in actors to indicate what John Stamos’ role in their respective videos would be.  From that point the videos were evaluated and Dannon narrowed the field, ultimately selecting Remy and Andrew Neymarc’s concept.  So in addition to developing a spot that will air before an immense game-day audience, Remy worked directly with a household brand, its longstanding agency-of-record (Y&R) and actor John Stamos to complete the ad.

Remy’s ad will appear during the third quarter of the Super Bowl XLVI on February 5:  So when you see John Stamos promoting Dannon’s Oikos Greek Yogurt, you will know not only that crowdsourcing was involved, but that there’s a pretty talented face in the crowd who ultimately made it happen.

A recent White House statement, made in response to the fall of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), has pointed out the need to create legislation that will prevent piracy but also not put other forms of innovation and personal expression at risk.

Many people, including a large numbers of journalists, writers and others who make their living partially or even completely over the Internet, expressed concerns over the dangers of SOPA restricting freedom of speech online and the abusable power it could have given to corporations. Support for the bill eventually collapsed after high profile Internet protests led to the withdrawal of its key supporters.

In its final form, SOPA would have allowed any rights holder to block access to any website using content it owned without any real legal process involving those whom it was blocking. At first this would simply pertain to the obvious file sharing domains but the concern was that in the future this would be extended to mere negative coverage of a product or intellectual property.

The statement was issued jointly by Victoria Espinel, intellectual property enforcement coordinator at the Office of Management and Budget; Aneesh Chopra, US CTO; and Howard Schmidt, cyber security coordinator for national security staff. The statement was made against not only SOPA but alternative bills PIPA and OPEN.

…Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small… Openness of the internet is increasingly central to innovation in business, government and society and it must be protected.

Excerpt of White House statement

The above statement indicates new legislation must be narrowly targeted only at sites beyond the reach of current U.S. law, cover activity clearly prohibited under existing U.S. laws and be effectively tailored with strong due process and focused on criminal activity.

Less kosher attempts to undermine the structure of the internet have been made in the past and still are in force today in several countries, mostly ones that prefer that their public does not question religious and governmental ideals. The White House statement clearly wants to avoid risking the abuse of power by corporations and government bodies mainly because it needs to make more considered moves against criminality in order to not join the ranks of other countries who block legal content.

Daily Crowdsource is delighted to announce the release of its first published e-book, Crowdfunding Tips: Knock Your Project Out of the Park. This e-book will provide tips for every stage of the crowdfunding process. Crowdfunding Tips: Knock Your Project Out of the Park will provide tips and clarity to entrepreneurs with any level of crowdfunding expertise. Readers will walk away with a new understanding of the crowdfunding process, from the conception of your project idea to finishing your project strong. Readers will also be given a number of other resources, including a list of Daily Crowdsource’s recommended crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms.

 Win a Free Copy

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As a part of the e-book’s release, Daily Crowdsource is giving away several free copies to you, our loyal readers. Increase your chance of winning by liking our Facebook page, retweeting our giveaway announcement, or entering our giveaway contest by February 10th.

This e-book is a great read for someone considering launching any kind of crowdfunding project. These tips will get you on a path to full funding for a movie, a work of art, a research project, or anything else. What’s best is that you can blaze through this book in no time and come out fully educated on crowdfunding best practices.
Casey Armstrong, Content Director, Daily Crowdsource

If you’re not a lucky winner, don’t fret. Crowdfunding Tips: Knock Your Project Out of the Park will be available for $17.94 next Friday, Feb. 10th. Good luck to all of our readers!

The recession has made the funding of projects and startups through traditional investment methods very difficult. Innovation in technology and science in particular has difficulties clearing this hurdle, made more arduous with governments considering budget cuts into research projects as part of austerity measures. Even if such projects secured funding through bank loans, investments, or venture capital, they would still have to surrender equity interest and also risk falling deeper into debt. Whereas the majority of crowdfunding platforms help creative projects to funding success, FundaGeek is the only crowdfunding platform that provides a lifeline to technological and scientific research projects.

FundaGeek was founded in November 2011 by Cary Harwin and Daniel Gutierrez, having identified a lack of available alternative funding for science and technology-based projects. Between them, they have decades of experience working in technology, finance and marketing, which helped them identify this need. Posting a project is simple and free to all, whether it is new computer software, inventions, or research into renewable energy and biological discoveries, but the responsibility of choosing an innovative and compelling project is one that FundaGeek takes seriously. The goals are as much altruistic as they are commercial, thus projects are reviewed thoroughly.

Unless we take the necessary steps toward making sure the projects we approve are the most compelling, and of greatest value to the public at large, then our main altruistic goals will not be met. In addition, we want to make sure that supporters get the most value for their pledges, and that the belief they bestow upon the projects they back will not go unrewarded.

Daniel Gutierrez, CEO and Co-Founder of FundaGeek

The platform embodies all the fundamental principles of crowdfunding, and for commercial projects, pitches are made on an all or nothing basis. Research projects, however, are seen as more nonprofit orientated and so the all or nothing policy is not applied. Project owners keep whatever funds they raise and are encouraged to resubmit their project for continued and consistent funding. FundaGeek also offers all project owners assistance in promoting their projects through social media as well as relevant blogs and publications. Since crowdfunding has proven highly successful for artistic and creative projects, FundaGeek looks set to lead the way with similar success for innovative technological and research proposals.

Daily Crowdsource would like to thank the early adopters and supporters of our research efforts with some proper recognition. The following are all crowdfunding companies who have helped us begin to crowdfund our research report on the crowdfunding field. We would like to express our most sincere gratitude to these companies, and we look forward to providing the crowdfunding field the most comprehensive and exciting research to date!

HelpersUnite is the only crowdfunding platform that allows you to include donations to nonprofits as part of your project. Here you can raise money for artistic projects, charity projects and more. They also host opportunities to do ticket sales for events.

GoGetFunding is a versatile donation based crowdfunding site where you can crowdfund anything from your last year of college to a wacky invention. With low fees and great social tools, GoGetFunding is a fun way to crowdfund.

EasyShares is in position to provide equity based crowdfunding once it is available in the United States, and aims to help you seed capital for your business or invest in others.

FundaGeek is a crowdfunding platform designed expressly for technical innovation.  Here inventors and tech enthusiasts can create new technology without incurring debt or giving up any ownership in their idea.

LuckyAnt helps local businesses get the funds they need to grow.  Currently the site focuses on NYC, but may grow to other location in the future.  Every week, they bring a new project from a business in your neighborhood that needs to be funded and offer rewards in exchange for your support.

Techmoola is a socially-conscious curated crowdfunding platform for technologies and inventions that intend to improve the world with categories in energy, webtech, medical, and more…

Rockethub is another donation based platform which helps you fuel your project to the point of launch through crowdfunding.  They have a fun interface that lets you build a crowdfunding project for artistic, scientific and other creatives alike.

Crowdfunding Offerings Ltd. is another site waiting for the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act to pass to launch their  community based platform which will allow public investors to work with promising start ups.

Now that the ball is rolling thanks to these awesome companies, we would love to see you help us go forward.  Just follow the project listed below to get to our page:

DSM, a science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials, has just announced the launch of an open innovation contest that challenges designers and creative thinkers to develop high-quality sports equipment using the company’s own Arnitel® Eco material.

A thermoplastic co-polyester (TPC) partially made from renewable resources, Arnitel Eco is a resistant and elastic material which has applications in the automotive industry, sports, furniture, alternative energy and consumer electronics. What makes it so good for sports products is its high flexibility and fatigue resistance. It can easily outperform conventional rubbers.

We are very excited about running this unique competition on our platform. Arnitel® Eco is a truly unique material and we hope to find diverse ideas from around the world, including one from you!

Jayesh Badani, Founder and CEO of ideaken

The challenge is organized in collaboration with InnoPass and ideaken, and is open to everyone and anyone who would like to participate. In order to enter, all contestants must sign up at the ideaken website and all project submissions must be submitted by March 1st. The prize is a VIP trip for two to the London Olympics this summer.

From Skiing to sailing to bobsleigh and golf balls, to next-generation athletic clothing, we’re active in innovations to optimize sporting performance. And open innovation is the way to innovate, we need you to join forces and together we can make new world records happen.

Francis Aussems, Business Developer Manager Arnitel Eco at DSM

Much like the recent news that PepsiCo was crowdsourcing its Pizza Hut Superbowl advert, another big company has turned to the general populace for inspiration for its flagship commercial. Premier yogurt maker The Dannon Company will be advertising Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt in a short clip featuring actor John Stamos. It will be directed and produced by two talented French videographers, whose submission was selected from all the proposals put forward by members of the crowdsourced video production site, Poptent.

On this occasion, the crowdsourcing was limited to members of Poptent, who are proven to be talented video makers; this differs from PepsiCo’s contest which was open to anyone. The ad will also be released on the Dannon Oikos Facebook and YouTube pages.

Director Remy Neymarc (21,) and his brother, Andrew (23,) were selected to develop and produce the crowdsourced advertisement. The brothers have no formal videography training, yet they shone through during the judging process. As a result, Remy is possibly the youngest professional director in the history of Super Bowl advertising. He is currently studying Computer Science at Lewis & Clark College.

The brothers own their own  production company, Neymarc Visuals, which they founded in 2011. They work as a video production company for other businesses and also ply their trade through crowdsourcing sites like Poptent as an additional revenue stream. After less than a year they have already scooped one of the biggest contracts any videographer could hope for.

This assignment is a significant leap forward for crowdsourcing as a method for finding the best person for the task. Focused websites like Poptent that gather together people from around the world with certain talents allow those in need of the talent to find them and facilitate more efficient and positive business processes.

CrowdEngineering, which recently launched Crowd4Self, has announced that it received the U.S. patent for invention 8,099,311, also known as “System and Method for Routing a Task to a User in a Workforce.”

Invention 8,099,311, a system created and developed by CrowdEngineering, is the core technology in the company’s CrowdForce platform and helps clients who crowdsource tasks choose which crowd workers are best for their particular job. The system takes into account the workers’ skills, preferences and performance in similar past work, increasing the reliability of the platform and providing better results and outcomes.

The CrowdForce platform allows companies to integrate crowdsourcing  into several aspects of their business operations and processes, such as marketing, sales and customer relationship management, reducing costs and suplying better solutions.

This patent confirms the uniqueness of CrowdEngineering’s solutions to deliver Enterprise Level Crowdsourcing. After the industry and market recognitions we got we now secured our secret sauce. It confirms CrowdEngineering as leader in quality driven crowdsourcing. This is what makes crowdsourcing a suitable option for Enterprise Business Processes.

Gioacchino La Vecchia, Chairman and CEO of CrowdEngineering

Founded in 2009, CrowdEngineering raised $4 million in a series A round in May 2011.

Using evidence from countries where crowdsourcing has taken hold, such as the UK, EarlyShares is pushing to get full legal backing for its new business model, pointing out that crowdfunding leads to greater and more widespread innovation and success in business.

EarlyShares, in the mold of companies like the Dutch Enviu, is a new start-up which aims to facilitate equity-based crowdfunding services in the United States. Despite the recent passing into law of the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, crowdsourcing is still a legal grey area and in its infancy as a business model in the U.S.

The buying and selling of equity, or part ownership, is still a troublesome aspect of the crowdfunding model. Even with the new law in place, exactly how investors are protected is still not entirely clear. The selling of shares is still not allowed because of fears of widespread fraud. Opposition to crowdfunding was based around this fear as well as concerns over the usefulness of crowdsourcing in lowering unemployment.

The video from Congressman McHenry, introducer of the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, is prominent on the front page of EarlyShares.com. It highlights the problems with the current system of Wall Street and big banks that is not at all free of fraud or human error. The argument is clear: not only is fraud not a problem unique to crowdfunding, it has led to a reduction in fraud over traditional banking.

The feared scams have not emerged in other crowdfunding markets; share trading is allowed in the UK and it is already a $2 billion industry. EarlyShares argues the idea that the American citizen cannot be trusted with investment and should leave it to institutions is baseless.

UK’s “CrowdCube” has already raised over U$2.5M for six companies from hundreds of small investors after operating for only a few months. EarlyShares.com CEO Maurice Lopes is encouraged by these impressive results.

Imagine how many new businesses and new jobs could be created if only the U.S. followed suit. This is the change the country needs. People don’t want useless government bailouts; almost all previous government stimulus never reaches the little guy starting a company. Let’s face it the doors are all closed for most entrepreneurs; there is no more uncollateralized bank loans, no fat business credit cards, no HELOC’s; banks aren’t even lending on SBA loans unless it’s for real-estate; with no money, no new businesses, no new jobs. Crowdfunding is working well in the UK. It is time for the U.S. enjoy the same success.

Maurice Lopes, CEO of Earlyshares.com

Millions experienced a shock when they signed online on January 18^th  to find that the largest online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, had been shut down for the day. However, the act of crowdsourcing proved tactful when several news outlets, including the Washington Post, NPR, and the Guardian stepped in to help. Using the hashtag #altwiki on Twitter, writers and editors from the media outlets answered peoples’ questions in an attempt to fill the void created by Wikipedia’s 24 hour absence; an act of heroic measures, considering Wikipedia receives over 25 million visitors each day.

While we’re not in the Wikipedia business, this is an experimental, one-day Band-Aid to help out readers.

David Beard, Sitewide Engagement Editor, Washington Post

Wikipedia closed its doors to visitors last Wednesday to protest the government’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA,) the senatorial counterpart. The goal of the pending legislation is to protect major media companies and is intended to put a stop to piracy, including the illegal downloading of movies, music and TV shows. Unfortunately, the new limitations will also create difficulties for other web-based companies.

Several other media outlets joined in the protest and participated in the one day blackout. Google also contributed to the protest by blacking out its iconic logo on the Google homepage. It seems to have made some impact, as 18 senators withdrew their support for the controversial bill.

Daily Crowdsource is pleased to announce the publication of a complete Industry Report on Microtasking for Quarter 3 of 2011. Though the full report is available for purchase, we’re giving away a free preview to everyone who fills out this form. We’re also drawing one lucky winner who will receive a copy of the full report, valued at $2,5000, for free!

What’s inside:

• Gradings of microtasking companies on 16 variables
• Metrics and graphs
• Market size and growth
• All backed by tons of research and hard data

Business leaders, corporate decision makers, entrepreneurs & start-ups, and VCs & high networth investors alike will find the Industry Report useful in their business tactics in this new year. Click here for your chance to win. Happy New Year and good luck!

After the release of our crowdsourcing report on enterprise grade microtasking, Daily Crowdsource has been encouraged by crowdfunding companies from around the world to create a report that blasts open and examines the current state of crowdfunding. The excitement around the Entreprenuer Access to Capital Act  & the  rising popularity of donation platforms has made such information more valuable to companies, investors, and journalists than ever. This is why, going public for the first time, we are diving in head-first by launching a project on Rockethub to crowdfund our research.

In an emerging industry, such as the crowdfunding industry, research is pivotal to gain further insights in current practices in order to improve our service to our customers on a global scale…
-Korstiaan Zandvliet, Symbid CEO, on Daily Crowdsource’s research report  

Visit our crowdfunding project page to learn more:

I look forward to reading a global and unbiased report on emerging trends in crowdfunding. We’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg when it comes to crowdfunding adoption, so a universal examination would be quite valuable.
-Vladimir Vukicevic, RocketHub Co-Founder & CTO, on The Rise of Crowdfunding

In order to show love to the crowdfunding community, every crowdfunding company that donates at least $250 to our Rockethub project by Friday will receive a copy of our full research report on crowdfunding ($2,500 value). We’ll also include your company in our upcoming Umbrella of Crowdfunding in the order of donation time. (See the often referred to Umbrella of Crowdsourcing). These two additional prizes are only available until Friday, Jan 27th at 11:59 pm PT. The earlier you make a donation on behalf of your crowdfunding platform, the higher up you’ll appear on the Umbrella of Crowdfunding.

Simply make your donation, then send us an email. We’re happy to be helping out crowdfunding providers, investors, & clients with our upcoming research report. If you have any questions, please contact us or post a question on our project page.

The Crowd Effect is often brought up by people who want to use crowdsourcing but can’t because the thought that crowdsourcing is unreliable. The underlying theory is that crowds sometimes get locked into behavior that exhibits a lack of intelligence. This theory is quite probable, however, there are ways to avoid it.