Crowdfunding allows the public to donate small amounts of money to entrepreneurs through online platforms. In contrast with traditional financial institutions, this new method facilitates the financing process through direct and easy online contact between initiators and investors. Based on the data obtained from Kickstarter, the largest crowdfunding platform, we investigate 27,117 crowdfunding projects from 1 January 2015, to 30 June 2015, and we find that a crowdfunding campaign with a realistic funding goal, a suitable funding period, and more updates and interactions with investors is much more likely to be successfully funded. In addition, the different types of founders are very influential in crowdfunding outcomes. For example, females tend to be more successful than males at collecting funds. Founders in the form of teams, companies, or a specific project are also beneficial to funding outcomes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.