Locodor - Crowdfunding Campaigns

For Selected Few - High-end audio maker Devialet Loved and Invested by Jay-Z - You could buy it on Amazon for $3,000+

High-end audio  Devialet raises €100M from Foxconn, Jay Z, Rubin’s Playground  This is not a speaker. This is Phantom. The best sound in the world. Encounter the physical impact of a high-end ultra-dense sound. Instantly. With power, clarity and precision unlike anything you’ve heard before. Revolutionary. Hi-Fi, docks, speakers, home cinema. Wireless, Bluetooth, Apple Airplay, Wi-Fi, Spotify Connect, Optical output. Phantom obliterates all existing audio systems. Everybody is talking about Phantom. Forget what you think you know. Far more than a connected speaker, plug and play Phantom to trigger an intense emotional experience. Encounter the physical impact of a high-end ultra-dense sound. Instantly. With power, clarity and precision unlike anything you’ve heard before. Revolutionary. The brand’s marquee product, the Gold Phantom, is a $2,990 wireless speaker that claims digitally powered, analog-grade sound. A frequency response of 14Hz to 27kHz (far outside the range of the human ear), 4,500W of power, and a maximum volume level of 108dB (read: extremely loud) combine to capture details that are indiscernible on lower-end speakers, from a musician’s breath between notes to a subtle drumbeat in the background. Now the question is, would you purchase a wireless speaker for $2,999?  If so, let us know we will give you 5% off the price..... Devialet Gold Phantom - High-end wireless speaker - 4500 Watts - 108 dB

Be smart: let tech lend a hand with life's basic necessities to make your life much easier.

Be smart: let tech lend a hand with life’s basic necessities  Whether you are looking for smarter ways to do your laundry or cooking, or to improve your living environment or on-the-move experience, technology has the answers   Based on these principles, the following four gadgets look set to improve the quality of your life. Yi FlexWash + FlexDry by Samsung, which is already available in the United States, is a two-in-one machine which was unveiled at CES 2017 in Las Vegas in January. The four compartments of this machine – two for washing; two for drying – can take care of different laundry needs at the same time. The front-loader of the FlexWash has five cubic feet of capacity, while another cubic foot of capacity for smaller loads is available in the top loader, which can operate separately from the main load.     FlexDrytakes care of a large laundry loads – and can dry additional items at the same time in the top-loading Delicate Rack zone – using a heated-air flow of between room temperature and 35 degrees Celsius, controlled intelligently based on the fabrics. The main dryer compartment also has MultiSteam technology, which freshens and disinfects clothes while reducing odours and wrinkles. Samsung’s SuperSpeed technology reduces wash cycles to as short as 30 minutes, while its PowerFoam technology optimises the effect of water, air and detergent to achieve deep cleaning. The machine is reputedly quieter than conventional counterparts. FlexWash + FlexDry users can start, stop, and monitor the compartments of the machine remotely through Samsung Smart Home app. 1st Auto Smart Hands-Free Garment Steamer (Iron clothes in 20 secs) The First Robotic Smart Hands-Free Steamer for Clothing. Helps you get your clothes wrinkle-free!   The CherryStone Steamer is the first ever, hands-free, lightweight, portable steamer that will take the wrinkles, stains, and odors out of your clothes in just 20 seconds. In short, ironing the wrinkles out of your clothes is a hassle and has been a hassle for more than a century since the first electric iron was invented in 1882 and so far, no one has done anything about it. Shí Instant Pot Smart by Canadian brand Instant Pot is Bluetooth-enabled to allow programming and monitoring from smartphones or tablets. It is designed to be a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, porridge maker, steamer, sauté pan, yogurt maker and food warmer all-in-one, and is said to speed up cooking by up to six times while using up to 70 per cent less energy.     With a mobile app, you can programme recipes into the cooker and share them with friends. Instead of boiling potatoes, you can steam them for 15 minutes for a much better outcome. There is even a recipe for onsen tamago (hotspring egg). The cooker remains tightly sealed during cooking to retain the goodness. Various modes and temperature settings allow you to brown, simmer or thicken as well as to slow cook. The cooking process is monitored by a microprocessor to achieve the ideal pressure, temperature, timing, heating intensity and duration. The 24-hour timer and automatic keep-warm feature let you go home or wake up to ready-to-serve food. Instant Pot products are currently available in the US and Britain. Five home gadgets that make perfect sense Zhù Soon, we will all be able to refurbish or design our homes through augmented reality. But whatever furniture or wallpaper you pick, it won’t look good without the right lighting. There is no “one light fits all” solution; soinstead, we have to be “smart”. Seeing is knowing: how augmented reality apps are helping amateur interior designers visualise their dream home Heelight, a smart light bulb designed and developed by MicroNovelty, is said to have the ability to “hear” its environment and uses that ability to generate light of the appropriate brightness and colour. It has a “night” mode which dims when it senses that you have nodded off, and lights up again when it hears you getting out of bed. The 12 shades of blue include “ocean” among them, and the obligatory “candlelight” mode ensures a romantic evening. Heelight can react to activities, with the “clink” mode flashing to the chiming sound of glassware during a toast. There are also whimsical options, such as the spooky “pumpkin” mode for Halloween, the “coward” mode, which flashes to screams, and the “sex” mode, which has a pink glow that reacts to intimate sounds.     The bulb is compatible with an E27 socket, and has 30 modes and 16 million RGB colours. To control the bulb, download the Heelight Pro app (free on Android and iOS) and scan the QR code that comes with the product. You can synchronise a group of Heelight bulbs. Heelight controls the functions through sound waves picked up by the bulb’s inbuilt microphone. Heelight bulbs are not available yet, but a Kickstarter appeal to fund it has gone live. Xíng When it comes to mobility, the growing selection of green cars is good news for those with concerns about the environment, and who embrace technology. Green light: five electric or energy-efficient cars that are exciting to drive Cycling has long been an environmentally-friendly mode of transport in many European cities, so it is no surprise that the COBI hub, one of the latest smart-bike innovations, comes from Europe.     You can mount most smartphones onto the steering handle and it becomes the centre of everything. This system holds, protects, charges and manages your smartphone while you are cycling. The integrated thumb controller allows you to keep your hands on the handlebars and your eyes on the road while you select some music, check the weather forecast, browse data or call a friend. COBI is integrated with Apple Health, Google Fit and Strava, so you can track your rides automatically. The full-size bike navigation based on OpenStreetMap comes with accurate weather data and down-to-the-minute forecasts, and cyclists can search for the shortest, fastest or quietest routes. Through Komoot, you can find and develop new routes, and enjoy a 2D or 3D illustrated navigation tour complete with turn-to-turn voice commands. The AmbiSense Light System can turn itself on automatically when it’s getting dark, and comes with daytime running light, low-power beam and full beam modes. There is a wireless, automatic rear light with indicators activated by the handlebars. A waterproof speaker acts as an electronic bell and a security alarm.   FlexDrytakes care of a large laundry loads – and can dry additional items at the same time in the top-loading Delicate Rack zone – using a heated-air flow of between room temperature and 35 degrees Celsius, controlled intelligently based on the fabrics. Source: Be smart: let tech lend a hand with life's basic necessities

Never clean a toilet again — World's First Toilet Cleaning Robot

If there’s one chore truly deserving of your loathing, it’s toilet cleaning. Unfortunately, the only thing grosser than doing that particular chore is not doing that particular chore, so you grimace and bear it. But take heart, friends — your days of scrubbing that bowl may soon be coming to a close. Source: Never clean a toilet again — SpinX robot does t[embedyt] [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoiZlUrLacM[/embedyt]   If there’s one chore truly deserving of your loathing, it’s toilet cleaning. Unfortunately, the only thing grosser than doing that particular chore is not doing that particular chore, so you grimace and bear it. But take heart, friends — your days of scrubbing that bowl may soon be coming to a close. It’s all thanks to SpinX, heralded as the toilet-cleaning robot. Promising to self-sanitize both your toilet bowl and seat in just 90 seconds, the SpinX claims to be the only automatic, toilet-cleaning robot on the market. “When I was pregnant with twins, taking care of two toddlers, it occurred to me while I was cleaning the communal toilet one evening that nobody has invented a self-cleaning toilet product before,” said co-founder and CEO Hila Ben-Amram. “We live in the age of new technology, and to still be performing a trivial task that hasn’t evolved in over 100 years confused me. I created SpinX to save people the effort and inconvenience of carrying out a job they hate to do, while striving to reach new levels of cleaning and hygiene that benefits all who are tired of getting their hands dirty.” SpinX boasts a robotic brush inside the toilet itself, which means that you no longer have to take a scrubber to the can. Simply replace your existing toilet lid with the SpinX, and bid adieu to those dirty days of yore. The actual brush is installed within the toilet lid cover — when it’s time for the machine to start cleaning, it’ll send a soap-sudded jet stream of water into your toilet bowl, and set the brush in motion. Once it’s done, the brush washes itself with some more soap and water, then tucks itself back into its little compartment. You don’t even have to tell the SpinX when you want it to clean. Thanks to the smart sensor flushing feature, anytime you send your waste down the tube, the brush comes out — the smart sensor scans the toilet’s shape, and tells the brush where to scrub. The SpinX also self-sanitizes its seat. Water jets spray water and soap to clean your throne, and then two dryers send compressed air onto the seat to dry the whole thing. Promising to kill 99.9 percent of bacteria found on toilet bowls and seats, the SpinX is quite a powerful little bot. Capable of holding up to 330 pounds and promising to fit on 98 percent of toilet bowls, this may just be the household helper you’ve been looking for. You can pre-order a SpinX now for $199, with an estimated shipment date of July 2018.  

Getting Campaign Creators & Backers to work together - Kickstarter Commissions - Create collaboratively.

In the month of November, Kickstarter is inviting project creators to "launch a project that invites backers into your creative process." Kickstarter suggested that  Commissions should be on Projects that emphasize a personal collaboration between creators and their backers. launch a project that invites backers into your creative process. Use their input to inspire custom artworks, one-of-a-kind experiences, and more. Kickstarter wants you to create with your fans in the month of November. Comissions month is coming on Kickstarter and in this session, LOCODOR lays out all the details you need to know to participate and offers strategies and pro tips to dramatically increase your Campaign. In reality, Kickstarter is hopefully understanding that Creators and Backers need to communicate and interact with one-anther. 'Kickstarter Commissions' Turns Backers into Creators How to Take Part Invite backers to collaborate on or customize a reward in a creative way Launch your project between November 1 and November 30 Use “Commissions” in your project’s title or short blurb Once your project is live, email it to commissions@kickstarter.com   Inspired to launch a project as part of Commissions? Head here for more information about taking part in the initiative, or head here to start drafting your project.

Bosch's Handheld Scanner Can Help You Figure Out That Mystery Stain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQsU0_lrRtE I mean do you really need all this extra features that doesn't do anything really?  The Laundry industry is holding on to dear life before we all realize it's time to make big changes in this field. Bosch, best known for their home appliances, is showing off their latest innovation at IFA 2017, a handheld scanner that takes the guess work out of laundry . The small handheld scanner is able to detect the source of stains, as well as determine the ... Bosch, best known for their home appliances, is showing off their latest innovation at IFA 2017, a handheld scanner that takes the guess work out of laundry. The small handheld scanner is able to detect the source of stains, as well as determine the fabric of the clothing being scanned, which it reads out on it’s small LCD display and sends a method of cleaning to a connected washing machine. So you can simply scan that wool sweater that you stained at cousin eddy’s Bat Mitzvah and toss it right in the mashing machine, though honestly who brings a sweater to a Bat Mitzvah? As great as a laundry companion the X-Spect could one day make, Bosch seems to be exploring the possibilities with the tech. One of the gadgets other neat tricks is that when used to scan food items such as a frozen pizza, it can begin preheating a connected oven to a predetermined temperature. Though, hopefully the X-Spect can learn to play well with other brands as I don’t see many people filling their house with Bosch appliances just to use the scanner. As for many cool things, the X-Spect still sits in the early stages of development. But as for release, the company hopes to launch it ‘soon’. Which it could sell alongside one of their smart washing machines as opposed to trying to sell it as a stand-alone unit. Source: Bosch's Handheld Scanner Can Help You Figure Out That Mystery Stain

How Much do you Spend on Clothes and Dry Cleaning?

What would you buy if you didn’t have to spend so much on clothing care? Let’s be real! All of us spend a few thousand dollars a year buying new clothes and keeping those clothes looking good. In fact, for most of us, our clothes are not just a “want”, but a “need”, maybe for a job or a lifestyle. We all like to look good and when we look good, we feel good. Our clothes are the first impression we make and how we present ourselves is an important aspect of our identity.  We spend on average $1,920 a year keep all our clothes clean and pressed. What options do we all have for clothing care?  Doing our laundry, ironing our button downs and dresses, using a handheld steamer to take out the wrinkles, or taking our clothing to the dry-cleaners if we can afford it. Most people are surprised to know that the iron and ironing board that we all know and love were invented over 200 years ago and haven’t changed much since. There are very few instances today in which 50% of the population uses a product that hasn’t been upgraded since the invention of the light bulb, which has undergone huge changes since Edison first invented it.. The other 50% of us use something a little more modern, the handheld steamer, which works better but is still time consuming. You could be the first one with the newest household clothing care products: the CherryStone Steamer! The CherryStone Steamer is a freestanding steamer that can steam your clothes with the push of a button. Take all the wrinkles and bad odors out of your clothes in just minutes without any of the hassle or effort of either an iron or a handheld steamer.   We looked at the marketplace for handheld steamers that are currently on the market to give you an idea of how our product compares to what’s already available. Here’s an overview of the best ones and a little review about them. All of these products are Amazon #1 Best Sellers      Isteam Steamers For Clothes, Handheld Clothes Steamer. 4-in-1 Powerful Wrinkle Remover. Clean, Sterilize and Iron Garment and Soft Fabric. Portable, Compact-Ideal for Travel/Home. Ultrafast-100% Safe This portable handheld steamer sells for $80 and now on sale for $29 on Amazon.  Price wise it is very good, but what do you actually get for $30?  I could tell you that it is a one time buy and you will probably not use it much.  This is because it takes long time (5-6 minutes) per garment and it really doesn’t do a great job.  Even though the product info. states that the steamer is an HIGH END SPEED STEAMING TECHNOLOGY, the fact is that the steam is not strong, condensed, and frankly does not do the job. Here is one more portable hand steamer from Black & Decker that costs $59. BLACK+DECKER 1400W Advanced Handheld Steamer I think I have better hopes for this product because it is a brand name that most of us know is good quality. Best case scenario you would be able to steam a piece of clothing in 7 to 10 minutes and with a lot of effort. I would bet that you will stop after doing 3 in a row.  It is just too hard to do, as it is labor intensive.     Next level up, you could purchase a stand-alone Hanging Steamer. PurSteam PS-910 Heavy Duty Powerful Fabric Steamer with Fabric Brush and Garment Hanger When it comes to Steaming your clothes with a handheld garment steamer, this is pretty much what you get.  don’t get me wrong, it is still a lot better then the Iron & Iron Board method.  Price is also good at $90. However, I myself had 5 or 6 of these and burnt myself more than 12 times.  The steam head drips water out, and it makes your clothes wet.  Still will take you time and effort to Steam your clothes. Think of having a boutique store and having to do around 40 Dress Shirts a day with this, not fun.       The cream of the crop is this Heavy Duty Handheld Steamer with a Built-in Ironing Board:  Very creative…. Made by PureSteam and costs $180. PureSteam Duo Iron & Pressurized Garment Steamer – Heavy Duty 1600-Watt Power with 1 Liter Water Tank, Built-In Ironing Board, and Deluxe Garment Hanger with Clips And lastly, LG came up with a very good concept for a Automatic Hands-Free Garment Steamer called LG Styler.  It looks like a refrigerate, and it costs $2,000.  Probably for very rich people. But it takes around 38 minutes to “Dry-Clean” your clothes.  It is pretty much a Automatic Steamer.  Would you spend $2k on this?  Not me… LG Styler Model Number s3rerb steam clothing chair system for home or hospitality use In conclusion, the Tailor-Made Startup team truly believes everyone's best option is to invest and pre-order the next generation of taking care of your clothes.  Please support our crowdfunding campaign, and be one of the first to get the Professional Package for only $225 (retail price will start at $399).  Check out our campaign, the  1st Smart Hands-Free Garment Steamer (Iron clothes in 20 secs) Article by:  Elizabeth Morgan

The fantastic innovations at Berlin's IFA 2017

Berlin's mega consumer electronics show, the IFA tradeshow located in Berlin, offers the most creative array of the latest in high-tech gadgets. Home appliances and consumer electronics products and markets are converging all the time. IFA was first to recognize this trend and transformed it into a successful event. Here's a look at very few eye-catching product inventions out of hundreds that exhibited at the IFA show. Another prototype from Panasonic, this wardrobe will wash, dry and fold away the laundry —all without a hint of human intervention. Users just place dirty clothes on a shelf, from where they're whisked into the built-in washing machine, dried, then ... The Panasonic laundry robot been developed with Seven Dreamers laboratories – now part of the Panasonic stable, and the same team behind the Laundroid folding robot that Panasonic previewed last year. It’s just one of the company’s Better Living Tomorrow concepts that also includes a moving fridge that brings you food and drink when you’re hungry. But this machine doesn’t just fold your clothes – it washes them, dries them, irons them and stores them within built-in wardrobe space. Given that that the average person spends more than a year of their lives – or 375 days to be exact – folding, sorting and putting laundry away, it’s clear that this is going to be the biggest revolution in home appliances since the dishwasher. So how does it work? Well first, you drop your dirty into the machine, as demonstrated by this Guy.. Next, sensors detect how soiled said garment is, and what material it’s made from, before the machine selects the ideal wash and drying cycle. Our robot friend also picks the amount of detergent, temperature and water pressure to use.  In other words, it never uses any more resources than needed, saving you money every time.   Now comes the washing stage, and then everything is dried and ironed. Finally, the technology within the Laundroid comes into play, and your laundry is folded with space-age arms…   …then presented for you to store where you like. The plan is that the Panasonic laundry robot will be able to magically transport clothes to the right spot in your wardrobe automatically. But we’ll let Panasonic off for not being able to demo this just yet.  Rumour has it, production could start as soon as next year. And the price on all this genius? Well, we’ll take it with a pinch of laundry detergent, but we were quoted a figure of around £25,000.   Here are a few more fantastic innovations at the IFA Tradeshow: Ultra-HD TVs IFA's aisles are wallpapered with OLED screens this year. The technology dispenses with a backlight as each pixel illuminates itself—making for a very sharp image with strong contrasts, even in moving images. And the ultra-thin displays can be made transparent or even flexible. The images buyers will be screening are also getting an upgrade, as the ultra-high-definition 4K standard becomes more widespread with sets starting at around 2,000 euros ($2,370). More video is being filmed in the high-resolution format that makes owning such a display worthwhile, with manufacturers betting public interest will follow. And more and more TVs boast connections to internet video-on-demand services or applications, like Sharp's latest models with an Android interface. Mobiles get chatty Manufacturers are still vying to cram as much screen as possible into their smartphones, like LG's LGV30 with its "borderless" 5.7-inch display. But the action can be found in the guts of the devices, where firms are racing to offer the most intelligent voice-activated digital assistants alongside typical upgrades to storage space or cameras. This chatty artificial intelligence looks set to implant smartphones even more deeply into daily life, controlling connected gadgets around the home. Samsung said it would strengthen its work with the Open Connectivity Foundation, aiming to help its voice assistant Bixby to talk more easily to other manufacturers' products. And Chinese giant Huawei said it would join the vocal race with a chip known as Kirin to be built into upcoming smartphones. Second wind for smart watches Could 2017 be smartwatches' turn to be a hit with the general public after years being seen as a gimmick? Consultancy Gartner expects more the 67 million of them to be sold worldwide this year, more than doubling the 30 million shifted in 2015. At IFA, makers of high-tech "wearables" are vaunting their water resistance to appeal to fitness fanatics. Fitbit is offering a large-faced watch with a plastic strap that's waterproof up to 50 metres, while Samsung tempts potential buyers of its Gear Fit Pro 2 with an offline version of Spotify aimed at runners. The business version can be used to control Powerpoint presentations. Not neglecting accessories to the accessories, the Korean firm also has colourful earbud headphones with simple touch controls. AI butlers share the load This year has seen tech titans Google and Amazon join the battle over intelligent personal assistants—voice-controlled AI helpers built into speakers that sit in the user's home, organising online shopping or domestic chores. And the IFA is a showcase for connected home devices that allow people to control appliances and manage energy usage via a smartphone or tablet. Tying into Amazon's Alexa assistant, Siemens' "home connect" offers interior views of the fridge at home, one-hour delivery of needed groceries, or the ability to turn on the oven from afar—all from the driver's seat of the user's car. Once dinner guests are gone and the crockery is cleared away, a scanner can judge how dirty the tablecloth is and programme a custom wash into the washing machine. "Robots are arriving in your house, and they're going to know a lot about you," joked IFA co-organiser Roland Stehle. Dave chats with Martin Brandenburg from DJI about their line of drones. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUDV8ku2xNk[/embedyt] Source: The wackiest innovations at Berlin's IFA 2017

Kickstarter is Great, Crowdfunding is Awesome, but the Best Idea is Full Transparency & Communication for Funding Crowdfunding Campaigns

I must admit that I have been an addict of Kickstarter for eight years now, and counting.  Kickstarter is a significant model for bringing creative projects to life. Crowdfunding has become one of the most successful ways that Creators  can find backing for their ideas. Compared with other funding models there are fewer barriers to enter, and a greater opportunity to take risks on new ideas.  It’s a powerful industry that raised billions of dollars through pledges and 40,000+ of successfully produced projects. Here is a link to live stats for the crowdfunding industry:  LIVE GLOBAL CROWDFUNDING STATS     But how many projects fall short of delivering what was promised? It’s a question many have speculated on, but we want to know for sure. Nonetheless, looking through the cracks, you will find a small but important flaw.  Kickstarter reports that 9% of fully funded campaigns fail to deliver their promised reward to the people that invested and backed the campaign.  Other sources quote the number in the crowdfunding industry is around 20% (source: statista.com). Whatever the percentage is, one fact remains, backers of crowdfunding campaigns get left in the dark without anyway to communicate to other backers and the project owners. In this blog I will demonstrate few articles and screenshots of people posting projects that miscommunication or no communication is a problem in the crowdfunding world.   Here is a recent screenshot from https://news.ycombinator.com.  A company called Kanoa earphones didn't ship to it's customers.  The campaign is from Kickstarter.  When you read all the comments, everyone says that they wish there was more communication and understanding the status of the order they placed. Hacker News new | comments | show | ask | jobs | submit login     Kanoa won’t ship its $300 earphones to customers who pre-ordered them (mercurynews.com)   74 points by prostoalex 9 days ago   nunez 8 days ago [-] I would love a communications email from a company that went like this."Hi! We're making this change. Please email or call us <here> or <here> if you have any questions, concerns or feedback." In this case: "Hello. We thank our Kickstarer backers for being with us since day one. Unfortunately, we have run out of capital and will be shutting down by <date>. Those of you that pre-ordered can expect to get refunded within <period>. Please email or call us <here> or <here> with any questions, comments or concerns." Simple English. Short, simple and easy to communicate with the company further for those that need to. That said, there must be a reason why PR specialists craft these lengthy, emotional messages to their customers. reply   Article by http://kotaku.com titled "12 Successful Kickstarters That Never Delivered" states that the creators didn't respond to a request for comment.  When you go to the comment section of Kickstarter, all you see is backers asking questions, without getting an answer.   Okay, here is few more screenshots of backers comments asking about the status of a certain campaign; Even-tough the date is from 2014, there are plenty more examples.  All you have to do is read the Comment section on Kickstarter campaigns. Kickstarter themselves posted that keeping lines of communication open and explaining how the money was spent, is extremely important for a successful campaign. "Since failure can happen to anyone, creators need to consider, and plan for, the ways in which they will work with backers in the event a project fails, keeping lines of communication open and explaining how the money was spent. Ultimately, there does not seem to be a systematic problem associated with failure (or fraud) on Kickstarter, and the vast majority of projects do seem to deliver.  As Professor Mollick notes, the results of this study apply to Kickstarter — not crowdfunding more generally: “[I]t is important to realize that these results apply only to Kickstarter, and other crowdfunding methods (such as equity crowdfunding) and platforms that have different policies or approaches may have higher failure rates.” (Source: The Kickstarter Fulfillment Report) A most recent article from http://fortune.com titled:  "Crowdfunded Headphone Startup Kanoa Shuts Down After One Brutal YouTube Review" says that; Kanoa, a crowdfunded company promising its backers a pair of innovative wireless headphones, has announced that it will shut down without delivering products to most of them.   Crouch’s review video is like a horrific car crash — hard to watch, but impossible to turn away from. It chronicles his Sisyphean struggle to get the headphones, which were planned to retail for $300, to perform basic functions like connecting to his phone. Kanoa’s promised pass-through feature produced unlistenable feedback, and they didn’t reliably connect when Crouch had his phone in his rear pocket. The fancy charging case, stunningly, wouldn't charge the headphones while plugged in.   [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Gw3tErUSM[/embedyt] Crouch says he was in communication with the Kanoa team through all of these struggles, and offered to review an improved version of the product if they sent him one. But he eventually concluded that he had been sent a production unit and decided to go ahead with an honest review. That, according to Crouch, is when things got really dark. He claims that a Kanoa representative sent him a long email detailing the headphone’s features, which concluded with: “I know that you’re busy and your time is valuable, so if you can get a good review, or a good video, out by Sunday, we’ll give you $500.” Visibly incensed by the offer of a bribe, Crouch offered a pointed summary of Kanoa and its product: “This is trash. You don’t want to have these. This is not a company that you want to deal with.” Within four days, Kanoa was finished. The company even alluded to the review in its shutdown announcement, saying that “reviews of non-shippable beta units” led to customer complaints and, more dramatically, the loss of promised investments. The true fact is that all of this could be avoided.  At LOCODOR, we understand that Crowdfunding should be more social and open, and we sure hope that others agree.  Users should be able to communicate openly about any project they want to back, and founders should be responsible to answer back the important questions.  Backers should be able to reach one anther.  Just like any social media platform, for example;  Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Crowdfunding platforms are too close-off to it's users, period! A backer (or a campaigner) should be able to add a user-profile, add friends to his profile, be able to comment and be reachable, and each campaign should have a social feed speaking about the current status and future plans. I hope that you agree with our message.  If you do, join us and register to our beta platform here. And, here is a little tip for creators that have projects that could not What is a creator supposed to do if their project can’t be completed? If a creator realizes they’re unable to bring their project to life as promised, they have to be open about it with their backers. Here’s what they need to do: Explain to backers what work’s been done, how funds were used, and what stopped them from finishing; Demonstrate that they’ve used funds appropriately, and have made every reasonable effort to complete the project as promised; If there’s money left over, offer to return any remaining funds to backers who have not received their reward, or explain how those funds will be used to complete the project in some alternate form.

Crowdfunding Campaign To #BuyTwitter So She Can Ban POTUS: Let's #BuyTwitter and #BanTrump

This week, former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson (aptly) announced on Twitter that she had launched a crowdfunding campaign to buy a controlling stake in the social media company so as to exercise that capital power by banning the president. Just after 24 hours the crowdfunding campaign has already raised $34,361 from 1,034. Now that is the power of the Crowd. "Time and again his use of this huge global platform has major consequences in the real world," Wilson writes. "With a single tweet, he can damage international relationships and alliances, spread fake news like a virus, embolden white supremacists to march in the streets, or send stock markets crashing or soaring." In her pitch, Wilson also emphasizes "a real danger that Trump’s tweets could actually start a nuclear war." "As commander-in-chief Trump has absolute authority to make good on these threats. The nuclear briefcase follows him everywhere ... That's why the world takes his words so seriously," she explains. "Let's delete his account before that happens." As TechCrunch reflected, "It’s unclear whether Wilson is doing this to pressure Twitter to block Trump or if she actually believes her mission will pan out." In the past, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has stated that the president's tweets suggesting violence toward journalists and others aren't in violation of the platform's rules. Twitter was reached out to for comment, which will be included here if and when available. Source: A Former CIA Agent Is Crowdfunding To #BuyTwitter So She Can Ban POTUS

The Ultimate Pre-Launch Crowdfunding Checklist - a quick marketing guide

  The majority of over-funded campaigns you see on Kickstarter or Indiegogo spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing and advertising and months in preparation. So is it worth it? I'd say absolutely, if you prepare in advance. The name of the game is Marketing your idea and reaching the right people.  Include your campaign on all available directories and social networks for exposure.  With LOCODOR, users could upload their campaign and add all their information on their user-profile.  Any exposure is good exposure. However, crowdfunding is just like having another business: You still have to go for an MVP (minimum viable product) and raise capital (which, in this case, comes from your backers ). We have helped more than 4,000 campaigns get funded.   Crowdfunding is not limited to the platform where you launch your campaign. Instead, it has become a valuable way to transform your idea into a mainstream business. In order to head in that direction, you must execute a number of processes during different stages of your crowdfunding process. At first, this methodology might sound different compared to many other business models. However, crowdfunding is just like having another business: You still have to go for an MVP (minimum viable product) and raise capital (which, in this case, comes from your backers). We have helped more than 4,000 campaigns get funded. Based on my experience and after personally helping hundreds of creators, I decided to create this crowdfunding pre-launch checklist and help your campaign prosper and keep you on track for success. There are three stages of your crowdfunding campaign: pre-launch, launch and post-launch. I recommend planning each task based on these segments. Do Your Research  At first, consider designing your product prototype. Having a prototype gives a face to your idea. It also makes your project more credible for potential backers who view your campaign page. Set a budget for your crowdfunding campaign. Strive to raise the minimum amount of money you'll need to make your project a mainstream reality (your minimum viable goal).   It’s always good to do research on past campaigns before you launch yours. This will help you decide what will work best for your campaign and what you can pass on. Set a calendar for tasks and determine the perfect length for your campaign. Usually, a span of 30-45 days works best. If you choose Kickstarter as the platform for crowdfunding, you can switch to the InDemand Indiegogo program once your campaign is over and you’re fully funded. Use The Right Tools And Services The most crucial step during the pre-launch stage is to gather as many emails as you can from potential buyers by using Facebook Ads. The more emails you gather, the better chance for success. Using popular crowdfunding services will help you enhance the reach of your campaign. You can try one like BackerClub or Kickbooster (my company offers a similar service) for at least a month before the launch for best results.   Take Advantage Of Facebook Ads And Social Media Use ads to gather subscribers even before the launch. Send them emails once your campaign is live with regular updates. Once you gather sign ups, make sure to send monthly updates on your campaign as well as one when it's live. Having social media presence will give more credibility to your campaign. Set up your social channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram if you haven’t yet. Post regularly on your social media channels, and use a scheduler like Buffer or Hootsuite to post at least once or twice a day. You can also collaborate with influencers who are related to your product profile. Based on my experience, you should be aiming for at least 500-1000 emails from potential buyers before you get started. This will help you spread the word about your campaign even before you launch. Prepare Your Media Pack Pre-launch is the best time to prepare your campaign media assets. Go for lifestyle images rather than those with white backgrounds. These images show your product in a real-life situation to resonate with potential backers. You may also consider using GIFs to show exactly how your product works. Create Reward Tiers Reward tiers are crucial for any crowdfunding campaign. You can give special offers in the form of bundles, such as free shipping or a buy-two-get-one-free offer. Prepare your campaign draft well in advance. If possible, hire a copywriter to make sure your draft is fluent and free of errors. Share the preview with trusted advisors to ensure it’s polished. Make sure you have press coverage right on the day of your launch -- contacting press outlets well in advance is a must. The majority of crowdfunding campaigns fail, and there's no such thing as overnight success, at least not today. You have to put in the hours. The majority of over-funded campaigns you see on Kickstarter or Indiegogo spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing and advertising and months in preparation. So is it worth it? I'd say absolutely, if you prepare in advance and have a great product.         Source: The Ultimate Pre-Launch Crowdfunding Checklist

How One Startup Raised 10 Times Its Original Crowdfunding Goal

Running a successful crowdfunding campaign isn't easy. The odds are heavily stacked against you, as very few end up succeeding. "Statistically, up to 89% of campaigns fail. Kickstarter has the highest success rate, however, the average funding amount ... You Could still Pre-Order ORII Ring on LOCODOR. https://www.locodor.com/projects/voice-powered-smart-ring-that-turns-your-finger-into-a-smart-phone/   Source: How One Startup Raised 10 Times Its Original Crowdfunding Goal

Kickstarter Gold Brings Back Successful Creators for New Projects

  Kickstarter gold, a project that will run through July 31, will introduce a group of over 65 successful and outstanding creators of Kickstarter, putting new spins on ideas from their past legendary projects, or as the platform phrases it, to offer “New Takes on Iconic Projects”. Among these are the 3Doodler, Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, Music for Cats and more. The crowdfunding platform selected creators not just based on past success but also on their creativity and innovation. According to Kickstarter, repeat campaigners bring in a third of all successful project pledges, a total of over $1 billion since 2009. Some of the projects being offered by Kickstarter veterans include Star Trek-themed 3D-printing pens from 3Doodler; The creator of the 2015 campaign to make a music album for cats will be [caption id="attachment_2918" align="alignright" width="300"] It's alive!!!!!!!!![/caption] kickstarting a new album that can be enjoyed by both cats and their owners; Also on Kickstarter Gold: a new animated short on African-American achievement from Karyn Parsons and a tile game to help people learn Chinese from the maker of Chineasy. Yoy can explore all the live Kickstarter Gold projects and also follow along to learn creators’ stories.   [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqv1emgissE[/embedyt]      

LOCODOR and EquityX Partner: Offer companies and entrepreneurs a unique mix of funding and access to professional manpower

Social Crowdfunding platform LOCODOR, and EquityX - which is the world’s first platform that allows startups to pay part time talent and service providers with future equity or a combination of cash and equity, which gets valued when the next financing occurs - are announcing today their collaboration. This partnership will empower companies and entrepreneurs listed on LOCODOR, and enable them not only to get funded and to have the LOCODOR team’s support for their crowdfunding campaign, but also to recruit workers for equity (or equity and cash) on EquityX, en route to executing their vision. [caption id="attachment_1374" align="alignright" width="320"] an attractive package for startups[/caption] LOCODOR is a quickly growing crowdfunding platform that allows startups to raise funds for equity and enable entrepreneurs to raise money and realize their various projects. LOCODOR is comprised of marketing and e-commerce professionals that help products and ideas come to life. The company specializes in finding projects that were under-financed but provide a solution for a real need or pain in the market – or are simply very cool. Out of some 40K projects in Kickstarter and Indiegogo alone, there are a lot of hidden gems. LOCODOR is out to get them, and boost their campaign. You can sign-in to LOCODOR here. EquityX is an innovative platform, on which startups can easily define and track tasks and pay through a flexible set of arrangements (hourly, by-task, maintainer) with future equity, which gets valued when the next round of financing occurs. EquityX handles all the complexity related to accounting, legal and compliance issues, making it the ideal hassle-free solution for startups. The legal structure was developed by top lawyers and accounting firms and is trusted by 100+ startups and 1,000+ experts who are already active on EquityX. EquityX enables and facilitates a unique type of contract and functionality: Pricing the expert’s effort in dollar amounts instead of abstract percentages - which convert to options at the next qualified round. Experts have no voting rights - can exercise their options only at an exit event. Clean cap-table - one line covering all experts, keeping it easy to read for startups and their boards. Import existing freelancers and advisers in and find more through the platform. For more information on EquityX Press info:  batja@equityx.com General inquiries: gabby@equityx.com    

German Real Estate Crowdfunding Market is set to Boom

This is a recap and edited version of two recent reports published in crowdfund insider by Therese Torris and JD Alois The road ahead for the German real estate crowdfunding market has been cleared last month, with the threat of being excluded from the scope of application of the crowdfunding regulation, the Kleinanlegerschutzgesetzt (KASG), taken off the table. It’s expected now to embark on a rapid growth path. Although a few early crowdfunding projects popped up in the German real estate market in 2012, it has only taken off after the entry into force of the KASG in July 2015. Most real estate projects raise funds in form of subordinated loans regulated by the KASG. According to a report made by Michel Harms, In 2016, the market doubled in size to reach €40 million. In the first five months of 2017 alone, 51 real estate projects raised €52 million. The market is thus expected to triple in size by the end of 2017. In 2016, more than 80% of the 48 projects were residential development projects (construction, renovation, rehabilitation), half of which were in big German cities, with Berlin being the top location. As mentioned, most platforms use the regulated subordinated loans, ahead of bank loans and bonds. The average loan duration is 21 months, the median interest rate is 6%. Three leaders emerge In the short time since 2015, three leaders have already emerged: Exporo, Zinsland and Bergfuerst, three dedicated platforms for real estate crowdfunding. Together, they make up for more than three-quarters of the real estate crowd-financing in Germany. Exporo was incorporated in 2013 by Simon Brunke, CEO, Björn Maronde, Julian Oertzen and Tim Bütecke. The company launched its first project as Exporo GmbH at the end of 2014. Since then, the platform has broken away from the pack by raising more than €64 million cumulatively, which amounts to a market share of over 40%. The platform has financed 21 projects from the beginning of 2017 alone. Many of these are large projects, at the upper limit of the German prospectus-exemption of €2,5 million. To fuel its expansion, Exporo recently raised €8 million from e.ventures, Holtzbrinck Ventures, Sunstone and BPO Capital.   Zinsland was founded in 2014 by Carl-Friedrich von Stechow, CEO, Dr. Stefan Wiskemann and Moritz Eversmann. The platform launched its first project in 2015. Since then, it has financed 25 projects, 10 of which were funded in 2017, for a total of €18 million. It claims to have 2,600 members. To meet its aggressive growth plans the company expects to double its number of employees by year-end.   Bergfürst was started much earlier than its competitors, in 2011, as an equity crowdfunding platform launched by Dr. Guido Sandler, CEO, and Dennis Bemmann. The platform launched its first real estate project in 2014 and pivoted shortly after to dedicate itself exclusively to real estate projects. To date, the platform has raised nearly €13 million to finance 20 real estate projects. Whereas most competitors require a minimum investment of €500, Bergfürst lets retail investors participate with €10.   Bergfürst transition to real estate crowdfunding is an exception. Other equity crowdfunding platforms who fund SMEs and startups, such as Seedmatch (through Mezzany), Companisto or FunderNation, have tried their hand in real estate crowdfunding with a few projects. But they seem to have given up competing with the more specialized platforms. This is in stark contrast with the French market where the two leading equity crowdfunding platforms, WiSeed and Anaxago, became the leaders in real estate crowdfunding, head of specialized platforms such as Clubfunding, Fundimmo or Homunity. The Newcomers Next to the three leaders, around ten new entrants try to carve a market for themselves: Zinsbaustein, launched in 2016, is the number 4 with 8 projects financed to the tune of €9 million. Others have only financed a few projects so far: iFundedstarted in 2015 and opened for business in 2016. It intends to attract German and international investors who want to invest in Berlin. Its average size of projects is €800K. Home Rocket, started in 2015, Home Rocket operates from Austria but addresses both the German and Austrian investors and developers. immofundingstarted in 2015, also operates from Austria. Renditefokusstarted in 2015. ReaCapitalstarted in 2017. The latest entrant is Engel & Völkers Capital, a joint venture between real estate broker Engle & Völkers and SME lending marketplace Kapilendo which proposes retail investors to co-invest with institutional investors in real estate projects. Platforms have many innovations in store, including finding new sources of funding to accelerate their growth. Their main challenge remains to increase the awareness of Platforms. The market will also be under close watch for investor protection. As Michel Harms points out, the German real estate crowdfunding market has not yet experienced a single default.     Large Housing Project in Vienna to be crowdfunded on newcomer Sarego New German real estate crowdfunding platform Sarego is offering investors a piece in a real estate project in Vienna. The project is developed by company Vermehrt GmbH who is crowdfunding one million euros for the energy-efficient renovation and modernization of Gründerzeit-old (century) building in Vienna. It is interesting to note that CrowdDesk, that supplies Sarego with a white label crowdfunding platform, operates its own real estate platform. From as little as €100, investors can access Sarego and invest in the project with an estimated return of 6.50% per annum with a term of 15 months. Sarego says they have more real estate projects in Austria that are queueing up to list on their platform, and they expect to work not only in Germany and Austria but also in Switzerland and Poland.

Evernote is a busy man’s best friend

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoDcIuGr3LM[/embedyt] If you haven’t been acquainted with this powerful productivity tool yet, now is the time. There are not many apps that let you Capture a note once, and have it immediately available on all your devices, for instance. You can also have a group notebook, on which to collaborate on a project or an idea. And as far as searching your notes – Evernote lets you search even for handwritten stuff within it (!). What else is it good for? Well, you can, of course, Clip web pages and images, but then you can also search for text inside images. Cool, right? At the Plus program, you can even forward emails into Evernote, and at the premium level, it’s possible to Search for text in PDFs and in Office docs, to annotate PDFs (imagine that!) and to scan and digitize business cards and documents. For those of you already in the business of postponing your reading for weekends or other designated times, The Evernote people actually suggest you read stuff on Pocket  (another cute tool) – and whatever you really want to delve into, forward to Evernote. So this really really helpful productivity tool, which I've been absolutely addicted to for a while now, is waiting for you to sign on here.  

This Portable Air-conditioner is on fire (and has a Bluetooth speaker)

It's so cool! It's so hot! It was just a year ago that the Zero Breeze got almost six times the money it set out to raise, $100K, ending up with $574k pledged from 1,149 backers. And it just keeps rolling since, both raising money and selling - currently the most sought after product on Locodor, and buyers are coming from all over the world. you definitely can blame the summer setting in for that, but you'd have to also attribute it to the cool (the last pun, I promise) features of this cooling apparatus: the air-conditioner also functions as a Bluetooth speaker, a night light, and a smartphone charging station. it's capable of cooling a 50 square feet room (about 4.6 square meters) down to 44 ℉ (about 6.7 degrees Celsius) making it perfect for home or office use, for a tent or an RV, a college dorm and more. The Zero Breeze sells for around $400 or $600, depending mainly on whether you buy the native battery for it or not. Of course, if you buy a couple of Zero Breezes or more you end up saving more money per unit. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE6f523m-eY[/embedyt] On Locodor: Locodor is an innovative crowdfunding platform that sets out to empower entrepreneurs and their products and startups, assigns them project managers, and makes sure that their project doesn't get lost in the crowd.

The Cardboard for VR - oops sorry, AR - is exploding on Kickstarter

A Daily Wrap-up of some of the interesting stuff that’s going on in the crowdfunding scene: By now, we all know the cardboard headsets for virtual reality, but The start-up Aryzon has taken the cardboard to the next level and created the cardboard for augmented reality. By making use of a set of lenses, cardboard, and a smartphone camera, the headset is able to place virtual content projected from the user’s smartphone screen within their own environment. Aryzon states that for most people, the current $3,000 Microsoft Hololens is not an option and that it is simply diversifying the market by offering a $30 product that works with every smartphone (IOs & Android). The augmented reality headset is shipped as a DIY kit, meaning that it fits right through your letterbox. Judging by the amount they've raised thus far, 95k Euros, way more than the 25K goal, there are a lot of people out there eager to experiment with augmented reality. The campaign ends on July 3rd.  [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duvA_ewkoho[/embedyt]     Sony on Crowdfunding? Yeah, that’s correct engadget reports that the first product from Sony's Global Education division, meant to help kids learn to code while they have fun building robots is out on Indiegogo trying to gather some $100,000 and meantime get some valuable feedback. The available perks go for around $300 and $400. The design kits include more than 30 hours of kid-friendly coding instruction and multi-colored blocks with sensors and actuators. The project currently sits at almost $14,000 in funding and kits are set to ship out to backers in November. Here’s an infographic showing how it works: [caption id="attachment_2847" align="aligncenter" width="485"] How to use Koove[/caption] Journalist who was sued by Netanyahu and ordered to pay $33K raises the entire amount Israeli newspaper Haaretz published that journalist Igal Sarna, Who was ordered to pay 115,000 shekels ($32,700) in a judgment in a defamation case filed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara has managed to raise the full sum from a crowdsourcing campaign on Israeli crowdfunding site giveback. The amount of the judgment was raised within 36 hours after the campaign was launched and slightly exceeded the amount of the judgment. The Netanyahus sued Sarna for comments that he posted on his Facebook page implying that the prime minister's motorcade had stopped the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway one night and that the prime minister's wife had kicked the prime minister out of the car. The balance, or the entire amount if the judgment is overturned on appeal, will be donated to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Igal Sarna says to Haaretz.

Israeli Crowdfunding Campaign - Turn your suitcase into a writing table project - gets funded in four hours

A Daily Wrap-up of some of the interesting stuff that’s going on in the crowdfunding scene: Geektime.co.il is breaking news on an Israeli Carry-on suitcase Kickstarter project that got funded in 4 hours. The goal was 15K, but it’s getting close to 120K as this is being written, and there are still 18 days to go. Samsara, the suitcase’s name, is built of types of aluminum, that “combines Titanium, Magnesium and Zinc, creating a material that is not only lightweight and durable, but also fireproof”. The flat top of the suitcase serves as a perfect surface for a laptop, and you can charge it or charge your smartphone up to 10 times, if your laptop is USB-C compatible. https://youtu.be/t71ubNyRYNw 130K campaigns for college expanses on GoFundMe since 2014 The Washington Times writes about a father trying to get his son into Clemson University, and gives this amazing stat: Crowdfunding is quickly becoming an alternative approach to rising tuition costs. According to a GoFundMe guidebook released in February, more than 130,000 campaigns have been created since 2014 to raise money via the online platform for college expenses, and those campaigns have raised more than $60 million from more than 850,000 donors. A new community energy crowdfunding platform businessGreen reports that Leading community energy developer Mongoose Energy will today announce the launch of a new crowdfunding platform, offering people the opportunity to invest in community-scale renewables projects. The company said the new initiative would tie investors with UK community energy projects and allow them to invest through community energy bonds within a tax-free Individual Savings Account (ISA) wrapper, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).  

TV goes Crowdfunding: Vibrant TV Launches an Equity Crowdfunding campaign; offers a 30 sec' commercial for a month for $5,000

[caption id="attachment_2828" align="alignnone" width="300"] Well, definitely sounds like a good deal for crowdfunders[/caption] The Chicago located growing television network Vibrant TV offers the public an opportunity to get their hands on some equity in it, through a crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine. The television network, which seeks to raise $1 million, has recently signed significant distribution partnerships with such major media companies as Sling TV, Roku TV, and Amazon Fire TV, as well as Smart TV providers like Sony Opera, Tivo, and Samsung Blue Ray players, among several others. Vibrant, which focuses on internationally-produced programs, asks for a minimum investment of $125, at a unit price of $1.25 (100 units). The pre-money valuation of the company is $6 million. Some of the perks offered to investors are the kind only a TV network could hand: the basic one, for a $150, is a one-year free subscription to Vibrant TV. For a $1,000, Vibrant TV will air a video of you in a montage with all other investors at this level. At $2,500, backers can get Sponsorship credit (i.e. "this show is brought to you by...”) for their business for one month. And at $5,000 Vibrant will create a 30 seconds commercial for your business to air for one month. The target closing date is on or before August 31, 2017.  

4 Great Tools to Boost your Startup Marketing

Congratulation, you have just started your own business! Say you got funded, be it through a crowdfunding website or elsewhere. Now you need to focus on one of the more important and difficult tasks for a startup: Marketing. Startup marketing is a unique challenge often times because of the limited resources, whether its time, money or talent. How are you going to attract customers to your new company?  Here are some quick, easy, and affordable tools you can use to jump start your marketing campaign. StartupLister   StartupLister is a marketing platform with a suite of products to help you submit your startup and tell your story. StartupLister manually submits your information to startup directories, review sites, and communities to help you create profiles for your startup, build backlinks, and rank better on SERP’s. This tool helps you write your pitch and build a custom hit list of journalists that cover your industry. Connect to your email account and then send your pitch instantly. Jooicer Jooicer is a marketing tool to grow your Twitter account and increase your company’s followers. Jooicer uses tools such as follow the followers of your competitors, Follow/Favorite by keywords, Follow/Favorite cleanup and direct messages to strengthen your following. 3. Kickstagram  Kickstagram is a fast-growing Instagram growth company that helps businesses turn their Instagram accounts into an incredibly powerful sales channel. It does this by increasing engagement with your target audience, usually reaching 60,000 Instagram users per month for each client. 4. Control  Control does multi-source analytics for you, through integration with Stripe, PayPal, and Square - so you can see all your transaction data on one dashboard. It helps you track your key SaaS and Commerce metrics, review historical data, and compare business performance over specific date ranges. You can segment buyers by country, total lifetime value and get alerted to anomalies such as fraudulent transactions.    

MIT Grads wants to let Anyone Invest and Start a Bitcoin Fund with a new Platform

  The Digital Currencies industry are hitting record high's thanks to an overwhelmed increase of investors creating their own investment fund. In the front line, off-course, is the first crytocurrency company Bitcoin. Bitcoin is trading at around $2,450 a share.  A year ago it was only trading for $540. This HUGE jump has to do with MIT Grads that want to let ANYONE Invest In, or Even Start, a BitCoin Fund. A new platform called Catalyst would enable investors to build their own investment funds. Catalyst, which would enable ambitious cryptocurrency investors to effectively build their own investment funds, using algorithms of their own choosing to decide when to buy and sell the currencies. The company plans to open a beta version of the platform to developers, enabling them to upload codes representing their preferred trading strategies to the platform and begin developing track records of making or losing money. Then, outside investors would be able to chose a Fund on a Social Platform that contains profiles of Bitcon professionals. A previous project by the Enigma team sought to use a bitcoin-style blockchain and sophisticated cryptography to let consumers share confidential data with big companies, whether for surveys or for transactions like bank loans, on terms they could control. But the project was slow to gain traction with the big enterprise companies who’d need to participate to make the platform work. In Catalyst, Enigma plans to make various datasets available for use in automated trading decisions, from historic price information to analyses of the overall sentiment of news stories and social media posts about cryptocurrencies.   The company plans to also invite users to create their own datasets and make them available—perhaps for a fee—to those setting up funds and looking for mathematical indicators of how and when to trade.      