Crowdfunding your favorite neighborhood small business
A new startup, Lucky Ant, is expanding that idea to help small businesses in your neighborhood. The idea is that small businesses are full of great ideas, and they know the community as well as anyone, but they don't always have the funds to see their ideas come to light.
So each week, Lucky Ant will promote a new small business whose project you can support. By the end of the week if the funding goal for the project is reached, the small business gets to move ahead on the project, and the funders get their perks -- and the fuzzy feeling of helping a small business grow in your neighborhood. If the goal isn't reached, funders pay nothing.
Like the businesses it's promoting, Lucky Ant is also just getting off the ground so their reach is limited to New York City. But look for this idea to expand to other neighborhoods.
The current funding project, a fitness studio known as Bari, wants to trademark its unique workout brand. In return they're offering funders everything from workout gear to one-on-one training sessions with a top trainer.
Lucky Ant reminds me of a DC startup that's crowdsourcing ideas about what small business to build in a neighborhood. Both of these startups are connecting consumers with the small businesses that make their neighborhood interesting and unique. Crowdsourcing projects like these are wins for businesses and consumers (aka neighbors).
How Lucky Ant Works from Lucky Ant on Vimeo.
[Via GOOD]
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com