i3 - March/April 2019 - 40

Policy

By Jeremy Snow

T EC H H U B

Indiegogo: More than a Crowdfunding Site

t the center of the Indiegogo Zone, a pink plastic tree
stood tall enough to see from across Eureka Park - the
dedicated area for startups and entrepreneurs at CES.
Look closer, past the bright lights dangling from its branches,
and you'll see the names of successful companies who used
Indiegogo written on its metallic leaves.

For the well-known crowdfunding site,
the tree represented the growth of each
business from a seed of an idea to a flourishing product. But the tree could also
represent Indiegogo itself, as it has flowered into the tech world's go-to site for
crowdfunding. Even its CES presence has
blossomed, its open space giving way to a
dozen booths of site-funded companies
and an entire stage for speakers.
Since David Mandelbrot became CEO
in 2016, Indiegogo has focused on
appealing to entrepreneurs, as opposed
to other sites - Kickstarter, GoFundMe
- who also court creators, artists and
fundraising campaigns. Indiegogo most
resembles an incubator, accelerator or
investor. They help companies solve the
challenges facing startups, such as manufacturing, production, retail, licensing
and international sales, Mandelbrot said.
"To provide real benefits to innovators

MARCH/APRIL 2019

and do it effectively, we knew we would
have to focus 100 percent on the entrepreneurs," Mandelbrot said. "What we
found is that entrepreneurs, more than
any other category, had deep needs that
we could help satisfy."
Once Indiegogo embraced startups
and tech products, it was embraced
back. All over Eureka Park - and even
on the main show floor at CES - you
could find young businesses whose success was sparked because of an
Indiegogo campaign. Today, it has raised
more than one billion dollars in total
funding across 223 countries and territories, according to their website.
This was Indiegogo's seventh CES.
The event serves as "a gathering place
for all of the entrepreneurs who have
used our platform," Mandelbrot said,
helping investors connect to retailers
and other companies. This year,

Indiegogo also used CES to connect to
the Chinese market, hosting a "China
Happy Hour" at the show.

More than Money

To become the go-to site for entrepreneur
crowdfunding, Indiegogo now offers entrepreneurial services, including mentorship,
consultations and connections to help business owners with more than just financing.
One way Indiegogo accomplishes this
is the Arrow Certification Program. It
partnered with Arrow Electronics to let
funded companies receive help with
design, production, manufacturing and
the supply chain. It's one of many opportunities they offer to ensure companies
can go from concept to market while supporting the unexpected number of customers they can get.
"We brought Arrow in so that these
entrepreneurs who had a good idea
could verify that the product they were
developing could actually be manufactured," Mandelbrot said. "Arrow helps to
get them good pricing for their products
and their components."
Indiegogo also partnered with Ingram
Micro to help companies ship their product and assist with back order management, overseas shipment and packaging.
Finally, they partnered with AT&T to
offer Internet of Things (IoT) developers
access to exclusive cellular data plans if
they worked with the technology.
Businesses such as Modobag - the suitcase you can ride through an airport like a
mini go-kart - have used partnerships
like the one with Arrow to help launch
their product without overly depending on
retailers. With CES and their crowdfunding campaign, customers could find them,
then Indiegogo helped them deliver.
"Product innovators are bypassing traditional distribution methods," Mandelbrot said. "They aren't getting distributors
or selling to retailers, they are selling
directly to customers. The future of
retail might not even need a retailer."
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

i3 - March/April 2019

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