Chapter | 12THE NEW INVESTMENT MODELS

Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.

—Stewart Brand, publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog

When contemplating the way forward and the potentials of crowdfunding, an easy trap to fall into is thinking about crowdfunding as a funding “alternative.” In its current form, its relative youth might make it feel that way. Conversely, the entrenched system of funding imposed on us feels so mainstream. But to even frame the debate that way is to misunderstand the situation and, more specifically, to ask the wrong question. The relevant question is not about alternative versus mainstream. It’s about natural versus unnatural.

Whenever any kind of construct ...

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