Joining the ever-growing list of crowdsourcing platforms is Designbook, a “new type” of crowdsourcing platform. It is more than just a mere place to raise funds – it claims to be a peer-to-peer marketplace for emerging businesses, designed for entrepreneurs to plan & strengthen their business, source talent & raise money. For example, this new type of crowdfunding platform allows you to invest in startups you’re interested in by using your talent & time.
Designbook is based on the premise that businesses that are collaboratively created by a network of peers are more valuable & have a greater chance of succeeding, which increases the return on investment for both collaborators & investors.
Here’s who can use this new crowdsourcing platform:
- Entrepreneurs with an idea, product or concept
- Collaborators with intellectual, social or human capital to exchange for equity in a company
- Investors with financial, intellectual or social capital to exchange for equity in a company
What makes this new crowdsourcing platform different?
The guys behind Designbook claim that they are here “to add value to your business.” The secret sauce behind this new crowdsourcing platform is what is called, “unique edges”. The concept of unique edges is about maximizing the momentum of a crowdfunding campaign by collaborating with like-minded peers with different social networks to exponentially increase the number of promoters (those who share your campaign through word of mouth or social media) & in turn increase the number of backers to fund your campaign. Essentially it follows on the broad guidelines of peer-to-peer economy, a concept that refers to the idea of sharing human & physical resources to increase the value of a good, a business, an individual or community. Think Airbnb or Craigslist.
Designbook is for collaborative creation: a model that uses technology to make connections between people more efficient, resulting in stronger business models. It provides many tools in this pursuit. For instance, this new crowdsourcing platform takes a static document (read: business plan) & breaks it down into its component parts, simplifying the process of getting started. It combines traditional & new media with interactive planning tools to create a richer, more complete experience for your friends, fools, family, followers, future team members & funders to understand a startup idea & how you plan to execute it.
It also claims to increase a startup’s visibility. Community members on the Designbook platform can review products & provide critical feedback in a non-public forum to help you improve your pitch, strategy, financial projections & strategy while you plan, build a team, rollout a marketing campaign & increase sales before the launch of your equity campaign.
Among the other things this new crowdsourcing platform does is to help anyone looking for talent to post an opportunity in their company to the wider community on Designbook for cash compensation or in exchange for equity. The platform allows you to create & manage a vesting schedule with optional cliffs. The ultimate goal, of course, is to get funding for startups.
Designbook will also work with qualified businesses to launch their equity crowdfunding campaigns. It will automate the process of generating an offering document (also called a Private Placement Memorandum) & streamline the investment process to save both entrepreneurs and investors time & money.
Located in Burlington, USA, Designbook earns a commission for every successful campaign.
Image Credit: Designbook
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