June 8th, the "Social Media Club France" (@smcf) held a conference at La Cantine Paris about crowdfunding websites. Here's a brief summary.
Vincent Ricardeau - CEO of Kiss Kiss Bank Bank
Jean François Michel - l'Atelier français
Jean Samuel Beuscart - Orange Labs
Frederic Bardeau - agence Limite
Didier Vuillaume - La Banque Postale
Vincent Ricardeau gave key datas about Kiss Kiss Bank Bank ( crowfunding site pretty similar to Kickstarter) :
Business model : 10% on the amount collected
Created in june 2009 - site launched march 2010
1 out of 5 or 6 projects are selected by the team
1 out of 3 projects are funded
Average of the pledges : 40euros
Only 1% of kissbankers pledge on more than 1 project
Most represented catagories : technology, innovations, creativity
KKBB collected more than 300 000 euros so far and have 10 000 members
To give a comparison, the leading platform is american : Kickstarter have had 25 000 projects and collected more than 60 millions.
One of the big issue for those platform is to deal with their own growth and the rise of the number of projects proposed. Visibility is key.
Vincent is very clear about whether a projet will become a success or a failure; it all depends on the devotion of its creator and not really on the project itself. A good project without a good entrepreneur will never reach its goal.
The risk to have the money collected not properly used is low since the creator will used its own network to reach its goal - it creates a real responsability toward his entourage.
How are considered amounts collected ? According to the french law, it is not allowed to percieve donations so it could eventually become an issue ... One answer is to become "autoentrepreneur" and that's what KKBB encourages in its TOS but no one really does this choice.
The way platforms such as Kickstarter or KKBB work is a lot different from the methods used by movements like the Red Cross. For instance, in "big" organizations there are a few statements that absolutely don't match what's done in 2.0 platforms - "Raise money is a matter for pro" or "for every 100€ collected , 20€ must be invested "...
Philanthropy used to be culturally more american than french and it still is but things may change or will need to change since it becomes harder and harder for states to find money.
According to Jean-Franois Michel ( l'Atelier francais), it is probably the right time to rethink the link between governemental and private fundings.
A few links :
Kickstarter (US)
Kiss Kiss Bank Bank (FR)
Ulule (FR)
Babeldoor
Indiegogo
