Crowd funding has seen a fundamental shift in the way product ideas are funded and launched. 

Crowd funding is the system whereby the public will pledge money for a product or artwork before it has been produced.  The project owner will estimate the amount of dollars required to complete the work. This target amount must be reached to retain all the funds pledged. 

It is a high risk for the customer to put their faith in the project owner, but they do so in the millions. Those who pledge enjoy being a part of the process of seeing a new product come to life. Crowd funding is an excellent path for both capital raising and product promotion. It is suitable for products with either large or small market potential.

There are a handful of crowd funding networks, though by far, Kickstarter has the largest network of supporters and the greatest number of success stories. As of mid 2013  Kickstarter has been available to Australia and New Zealand.

My product, the Brakeboard, was successfully launched on the USA website Kickstarter in August 2013. From my own experience with a successful campaign, learn how to construct your project and get the maximum response. 

Brakeboard's Kickstarter Campaign by Benjamin Newman