Pick Up Some Perks by Pledging Cash
It’s not often that you get the opportunity to cram Vietnamese dipping sauces, a beer bicycle and a fish restaurant called Bon Chovie into the same sentence.
But all three were projects successfully funded on Smallknot, a new crowdfundng platform that lets you invest small amounts of money in local businesses.
Crowdfunding platforms appear to be springing up all the time, offering businesses and entrepreneurs much needed backing for their projects and innovative ideas.
Kickstarter is probably the biggest beast on the crowdfunding block but there are many hyper local projects such as Smallknot that are coming to the fore.
How it Works
Smallknot allows businesses to upload details of a project they hope to undertake as well as setting a funding goal and time limit. Backers who place a donation receive products and services in return. If the funding goal is reached before the end of the campaign the money is released.
For example, looking at some of the website’s current projects, a $10 investment in an independent radio station in Greenville will get you some free cupcakes, and a $50 investment in a restaurant in Brooklyn that hopes to turn its backyard into a pottery studio rewards backers with two free pottery classes.
Smallknot works exclusively with small businesses and its aim is to forge deeper and stronger relationships between residents and their local retail economy.
“It’s a platform for funding, but it’s also a tool for engagement,” said Ben Rossen, one of Smallknot’s three cofounders in an interview with CNN Money. “What we’re trying to do is facilitate offline relationships.”
Expansion
Primarily, Smallknot is operating in New York and even if you don’t live in the city you can still fund a project that takes your fancy, although some of the rewards might not be available outside the Big Apple.
Smallknot hopes to expand to many other cities across the US in the future.
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