中国人为什么不热衷大众融资

    大众融资业去年发展得非常迅速。流行的大众融资平台如Kickstarter和Indiegogo帮助创业者轻松地从大众手中获得了创新性产品融资。专注于大众融资业务的研究公司Massolution最近的一项研究显示，全球有超过600家大众融资平台，行业规模已从2009年的5.3亿美元增加到了去年的27亿美元。

    这是一种相对新颖的融资手段，创业者常常给予投资者小福利或小礼物作为交换。Massolution公司的研究预计，2013年大众融资总额将达到50亿美元之多。

    并不是所有人都能完全接受大众融资。亚洲拥有世界一半以上的人口，然而研究显示，这里的大众融资平台去年仅筹得3,300万美元，占全球融资总额的1%。这么多多创业者需要依赖大众来启动他们的项目，而全球最大的人口聚集区的居民却并不动心，这一点值得注意。

    新加坡大众融资平台Crowdonomic的创建者里奥•岛田表示，大众融资在亚洲并不像在北美（2012年16亿美元）和欧洲（9.45亿美元）那样具有吸引力，原因有很多。他认为，最显著的原因是亚洲缺少知名度高的可靠平台，无法像其他地区一样推动产业发展。位于中国、以股权为基础的融资平台SeedAsia的CEO汤姆•拉塞尔对此表示赞同。他说：“我不知道如果你在世界其他地方拥有像Kickstarter这样的平台会怎么样。”

    亚洲太多的大众融资服务商都采用千篇一律的方式。岛田解释说，就是简单地放上一个网站，却不提供其他地区的投资者所期望的服务和保障。他说：“他们看了看Indiegogo或Kickstarter，模仿着做个类似的网站，就开始盼着收钱了。”

    另一个原因是本土文化。岛田说，打个比方，在亚洲，公众对于失败的认知与在美国不同，为一个想法在网上融资风险很大，同时也将创业者暴露于批评之下，还有可能在众目睽睽之下失败。他说：“不论在什么地方，没人愿意失败。不过尤其在亚洲这样的地区，人们很爱面子，显然更害怕失败。”拉塞尔指出了关系——即维护人际关系和影响力网络这个过程——在中国的重要性，这可能也遏制了大众融资业务的发展。他说“（中国）人喜欢在自己的社交圈里投资。他们通常很愿意支持那些他们了解创始人、或了解这人在干什么的项目。而在网上投资的想法恐怕他们很不习惯。”正因如此，SeedAsia致力于让投资者与创业者在线下联系。

    而在美国，类似于Kickstarter和Indiegogo这样的领先平台已经积极地向海外拓展——亚洲除外。Kickstarter已经开始组织英国地区的融资活动，去年秋天开始接受英镑。今年一月，Indiegogo平台开始支持新的货币种类和语言，在英国、德国、法国和加拿大建立了本地化的网页。Indiegogo国际业务部的主任利兹•瓦尔德称，他们当然考虑过亚洲的扩展计划，只是需要确定时机是否成熟。她说，亚洲发展很快，因此要想在这个地区击败竞争者，吸引早期用户显得更加重要。

    换句话说，在亚洲的竞争已经打响，不过这并不意味着不计后果。Indiegogo的瓦尔德说：“得愿意承担风险，不能在亚洲半途而废。人人都想去亚洲，成为最早一批参与者。不过，如果没有真正准备好承担风险，我想这可能会成为昂贵和痛苦的教训。” 瓦尔德曾在工艺品专营网站Etsy任职三年，主持国际运营工作，随后加入Indiegogo。

    考虑到亚洲这个市场潜力巨大，大家可以想见大众融资的主要平台正在密切关注亚洲。在条件不成熟地情况下贸然进入这一区域可能会起负面效果。不过让自己在激烈竞争中败下阵来呢？那可能会是最痛苦的教训了。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    The crowdfunding industry made it clear it isn't going anywhere last year. Popular crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo made it simple for entrepreneurs to fund their creative projects by soliciting donations from the general public. With more than 600 platforms worldwide, crowdfunding has grown from a $530 million industry in 2009 to nearly $2.7 billion last year, according to a recent study by Massolution, a research firm specializing in crowdsourcing businesses.

    The relatively new funding strategy -- in which entrepreneurs receive donations often in exchange for small perks or gifts -- is predicted to eclipse $5 billion in total funding in 2013, according to the study.

    But not everyone has fully adopted crowdfunding. Platforms in Asia, home to more than half of the world's population, were responsible for only $33 million in funding last year -- just over 1% of the total raised, according to the study. With so many entrepreneurs relying on the masses to jumpstart their projects, it's noticeable that the largest concentration of people on the globe appears to be uninterested.

    There are a number of reasons crowdfunding hasn't gained traction in Asia like it has in North America ($1.6 billion in 2012) or Europe ($945 million), says Leo Shimada, founder of Singapore-based platform Crowdonomic. The most obvious is that Asia doesn't have the high-profile, reliable platforms that have helped push the industry forward elsewhere, he argues. Tom Russell, CEO of equity-based platform SeedAsia in China, agrees. "I don't know if you've had a platform quite like Kickstarter anywhere else in the world yet," he says.

    Too many crowdfunding providers in Asia are taking a "cookie-cutter approach," explains Shimada, simply throwing up a website without providing the services or reliability donors have come to expect in other parts of the world. "They look at Indiegogo or Kickstarter and replicate the website and expect money to come in," he says.

    Local culture is another thing. For example, the public perception of failure is different in Asia than it is in the United States, says Shimada, and funding an idea online is risky in that it opens the entrepreneur to criticism and the potential to fail publicly. "Wherever you are in the world, no one wants to be a loser," says Shimada, "but especially in a region like Asia where there's this thing about saving face and a pronounced fear of failure." In China, Russell pointed to the importance of guanxi, the process of maintaining relationships and influential networks, as a possible crowdfunding deterrent. "[In China] people like to invest in their local community," he says. "They're often very willing to get behind projects where they know the founders, or they have an understanding of what the person is doing. But the idea of investing on the Internet, I feel that's just very unfamiliar to them." It is because of this that SeedAsia works to connect investors with entrepreneurs offline.

    Back in the United States, leading platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have been aggressively expanding overseas -- just not to Asia. Kickstarter began hosting U.K.-based campaigns and accepting pounds last fall. In January, Indiegogo opened its platform to new currencies and languages, including four localized homepages for the U.K., Germany, France, and Canada. Indiegogo's Head of International Operations, Liz Wald, says the platform is certainly considering expansion into Asia but wants to be sure the timing is right. Asia moves fast, she says, so there is an added importance to beating competitors to the region to capture early adopters.

    In other words, the race for Asia is on, but that doesn't mean being reckless. "You have to have a willingness to commit, you can't half-go to Asia," says Wald, who joined Indiegogo after leading Etsy's international efforts for three years. "Everyone wants to be there and be one of the first players, but if you're not really ready to commit, I think it can be an expensive and painful [lesson]."

    Given the potential market, you can expect crowdfunding's major platforms are watching Asia closely. Prematurely rushing into the region may hurt, but letting the competition beat you there? That may be the most painful lesson of all.