A Tampa entrepreneur and his Canadian business partner are offering individuals and companies an alternative to crowd funding that removes the middle man and provides more control over the process.
Their creation is
Ignition Deck, a Wordpress plug-in that allows you to create your own crowdfunding platform and raise funds using your own website. Unlike traditional platforms, the cost is a one-time fee rather than a percentage of funds raised.
The product is the brain child of Tampa resident Nathan Hangen and Sean Christensen of Alberta, Canada. Their parent company,
Virtuous Giant, also provides crowdfunding consulting as well as designs mobile and web applications.
The pair got into crowdfunding because they wanted to raise money for a project but couldn’t find the solution.
"Our philosophy is that we want to build tools that help entrepreneurs succeed," says Hangen, CEO and co-founder of Virtuous Giant. "We just love building stuff for entrepreneurs."
Bands such as A House for Lions and Big Tree Bonzai used Ignition Deck to fund their first albums. Robert Space Industries recently used the platform to raise $13 million over the course of a year to build Star Citizen, a space simulator game.
The most recent company to use the platform is
Ski Nation. Developed by former Olympic ski team member Jack Turner, Ski Nation is trying to raise $300,000 to build a mobile network of skiiers that they can call their own.
Next steps for Virtuous Giant include a fully hosted crowd funding solution, allowing people to customize their own website in a Wordpress-like function to provide even more control of the end product.
Writer:
Megan Hendricks
Source: Nathan Hangen, Virtuous Giant
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