LEARN How Provo based PREFUNDIA IS ESTABLISHING ITSELF AS THE LEADING "COMING SOON" PLATFORM
Crowdfunding is everywhere you look. It’s fairly easy to come across everything from the innovative to groundbreaking to the downright ridiculous emerging from a platform and concept that has exploded in the past five years. But for every Pebble and Jibo, there are hundreds of campaigns that fail to gain support and achieve their financial goals. Increasing competition is making it harder and harder to gain significant traction and turn an idea into a successfully funded campaign.
Generating some buzz and awareness about a new product or concept can be difficult, but Prefundia, a showcasing index for crowdfunding projects, has now made it incredibly easy to do so. Based in Provo, Utah, Prefundia has quickly emerged as the number one platform for “coming soon” pages, enabling potential entrepreneurs to quickly and easily (and for free) build a community around their idea before launching it on a popular crowdsourcing site like Kickstarter or Indiegogo.
Generating some buzz and awareness about a new product or concept can be difficult, but Prefundia, a showcasing index for crowdfunding projects, has now made it incredibly easy to do so. Based in Provo, Utah, Prefundia has quickly emerged as the number one platform for “coming soon” pages, enabling potential entrepreneurs to quickly and easily (and for free) build a community around their idea before launching it on a popular crowdsourcing site like Kickstarter or Indiegogo.
All a user has to do is set up a project page, and they can immediately begin building a following and community during the critical prelaunch phase. Project owners can customize their pages with pictures, text, video and audio files. Additionally, Prefundia provides project owners with stats on page views, number of followers, and a comments section to collect constructive feedback or suggestions. The early numbers coming from the startup would suggest a strong connection between community building and a successful crowdfunding campaign. More than a thousand projects started on Prefundia have gone on the raise a total of $17M. On average, its users have raised 412% more money than a regular Kickstarter campaign.
Recently, Prefundia made the decision to open its prelaunch platform to mobile app developers wishing to use the site to test the viability of their idea. I got a chance to chat with Daniel Falabella, one of Prefundia’s co-founders about that decision, his take on the Provo startup scene and the future of crowdfunding. Check out the Q&A below
Recently, Prefundia made the decision to open its prelaunch platform to mobile app developers wishing to use the site to test the viability of their idea. I got a chance to chat with Daniel Falabella, one of Prefundia’s co-founders about that decision, his take on the Provo startup scene and the future of crowdfunding. Check out the Q&A below
co-founder Daniel Falabella Q: How did all the co-founders meet and where do the responsibilities break down?
The four of us all met eachother through a combination of BYU and various events or extra-curricular activites.
Q: What are the benefits and drawbacks of being a startup based in Provo?
I think it depends on what you compare Provo with. If you compare Provo with Silicon Valley, it has quite a bit of drawbacks (investment, vision, connections). If you compare Provo with Cando, North Dakota then Provo is heaven for entrepreneurs in terms of talent, ecosystem, expenses, and opportunities.
Q: The comments section is a simple but probably critical aspect of Prefundia. Do you see many projects revamping their original product or pitch based on comments from site visitors?
Not as much as you'd think. While we built Prefundia to be a testing Platform, most people use it as a launching platform, so we adapted
Q: Is it a deliberate effort to have Prefunida look and feel like Kickstarter even though other major crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo and Crowdtilt exist?
Yes, although we just changed the design. The thought process was simple: Kickstarter is #1 by a lot, so why reinvent the wheel?
Q: How does Prefundia make a profit?
We decided to utilize a freemium model for Prefundia. Users can create and host a project page on Prefundia for free and they have the option to pay for powerups.
Q: Any thoughts on Crowdsourcing and its future?
I'll keep it brief, rewards-based crowdfunding equals pre-orders, despite of all the Kickstarter PR efforts to prove otherwise
The four of us all met eachother through a combination of BYU and various events or extra-curricular activites.
Q: What are the benefits and drawbacks of being a startup based in Provo?
I think it depends on what you compare Provo with. If you compare Provo with Silicon Valley, it has quite a bit of drawbacks (investment, vision, connections). If you compare Provo with Cando, North Dakota then Provo is heaven for entrepreneurs in terms of talent, ecosystem, expenses, and opportunities.
Q: The comments section is a simple but probably critical aspect of Prefundia. Do you see many projects revamping their original product or pitch based on comments from site visitors?
Not as much as you'd think. While we built Prefundia to be a testing Platform, most people use it as a launching platform, so we adapted
Q: Is it a deliberate effort to have Prefunida look and feel like Kickstarter even though other major crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo and Crowdtilt exist?
Yes, although we just changed the design. The thought process was simple: Kickstarter is #1 by a lot, so why reinvent the wheel?
Q: How does Prefundia make a profit?
We decided to utilize a freemium model for Prefundia. Users can create and host a project page on Prefundia for free and they have the option to pay for powerups.
Q: Any thoughts on Crowdsourcing and its future?
I'll keep it brief, rewards-based crowdfunding equals pre-orders, despite of all the Kickstarter PR efforts to prove otherwise
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