Business struggles to stay small

Kickstarter, the famous crowd-funding site, has a refreshing new view on growth.  They don’t want to.

"As a company, we want to stay small," says Perry Chen, the CEO of Kickstarter.

That’s a unique view for a company that is doing as well as Kickstarter.  The company has launched almost 80,000 projects totaling more than $350 million in funds.   And, according to Inc.com, the majority of the projects are extremely high quality.

“About 10% of the films at last year's Tribeca Film Festival, Sundance, and South by Southwest were funded, at least in part, by Kickstarter, and two films even garnered Academy Award nominations,” writes Eric Markowitz.  “And thousands more books, art projects, design objects, music albums, and documentary films owe their creation, at least in part, to Kickstarter.”

According to Chen, however, Kickstarter is not meant to be a marketplace for products, for him it is a place for creative projects and art.  He doesn’t want the company to go public, nor does he want it to start becoming a place for investors.  Because of this, Kickstarter has declined to take advantage of the JOBS Act- which allows for investors to gain equity through online crowdfunding. 

For Chen, Kickstarter isn’t a company that makes money for people- including him.  Rather, it’s a place where great products and art happen because people want to see them happen. 

And that’s a refreshing new idea.