Sunny Side Up: The Upsides of Equity Crowdfunding

There are a lot of haters (and skeptics) on the equity crowdfunding front. For the skeptics, rightfully so. There are plenty of reasons to be anxious about a slippery slope of enabling just anyone (read: grandma gambling her life savings) to dump his or her next eggs into highly risky investments like seed-stage ventures.

Read: The Potential and Perils of Title III Crowdfunding

Read: Weighing the Risks for the "Crowd" in Equity Crowdfunding

There's still a huge upside though. Since Fairchild, the venture capital world has seemingly been a "good ol' boys" club with lots of wealth to be had if you have rich friends or ties to an insider. Great platform businesses disrupt this way of thinking and give the power back to the people.

The network effects for a bootstrapped venture can be unbeatable when tapped through the magic of Indiegogo or Kickstarter.

We let people gamble in the lottery in this country. We also encourage (read: guilt) people through PSAs to donate to causes like ASPCA. I don't see how allowing them to have more access to huge potential upsides of a public-potential company by deciding where their own money goes is much different. We should trust and encourage retail investors (yes, even grandma) to do their own research and make well-informed financial decisions.

Read: What Does The Future Hold for Equity Crowdfunding