Crowdfunding projects

: what makes project creators feel successful?

Abstract

Over the last years, crowdfunding has been gaining visibility as an alternative financing tool in relation to traditional methods, in a time where entrepreneurship and new ideas are increasingly a means to create businesses. Crowdfunding campaigns make it possible to bring project creators and final consumers closer, giving these consumers the opportunity to participate in turning an idea into reality through monetary contributions. The most popular method is the one in which, in exchange for monetary contribution to the project, contributors receive a reward, which may be for example an article of the final product, an aknowledgement, or a discount. Besides the evident connection between creators and final consumers, it is important to point out other advantages associated with this type of interaction: the product is tested even before being produced on a large scale, being possible to obtain feedback and make improvements at an early stage; and when presenting the idea/product for raising monetary contributions, the product is disclosed and advertised, thus there is a chance of increasing the visibility of the product. Associated with every campaign, there are objectives defined by each creator, which may simply be achieving a monetary goal or also taking advantage of other inherent benefits. The assessment of each campaign always depends on the expectations of its creator, the person who is best able to decide whether or not it was actually successful.

Date of Award	21 Jul 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Susana Silva (Supervisor)