from Hacker News

Crowdfunded Companies?

by Amarok on 10/8/23, 11:46 AM with 2 comments

As a rule, I don't buy from or invest in crowdfunded companies. For example, https://aptera.us/ have been trying to bring a solar car to market since 2019, but just keep delaying the release and asking for more money. My rational is that if their fundamentals were solid, they would be able to get the funding from banks or private equity, instead of begging the general public for money. I know there are quite a few aptera supporters on here, so I'd like to know HN's view on the subject. Do you do your due diligence before sending money to these companies?

  • by tikkun on 10/8/23, 1:24 PM

    I generally avoid pre-orders via crowdfunding.

    I participated in a few kickstarters back in perhaps 2013 or so. My overall association with doing that was pretty negative - mostly they failed, or if they had a product it didn't meet expectations or was aggressively delayed. I don't think I've done a new one since.

    I think the challenge is that it felt like (at least at the time) like I was pre-ordering a product, rather than making an "angel donation" into something that may or may not produce a good product. If my expectations had been the latter, no disappointment. But my expectations were that I was pre-ordering a product that'd be good and delivered on time, which mostly didn't happen.

    In short: My current stance is that I'd never pre-order a product via crowdfunding unless I was very comfortable with a) never receiving the product or b) receiving the product and it being bad.