Indiegogo co-founder Danae Ringelman discusses her original concept for democratizing capital access before pivoting to online crowdfunding.
0:00 / 0:22exact quote · 22.4s
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“What drove me back to business school was to start something that would make the funding process more democratic. And my initial idea was a fund, actually, with a democratic twist. Where the investors could be lots of people putting a little bit in. And then there was a democratic process to actually vote on what would get invested in.”
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More from Danae Ringelman
Insight
Ringelman: Traditional gatekeeper financing locks out audience demand
“And that was the moment that I realized that there was
A huge room of people that wanted this thing to happen, yet they didn't have the power to make it happen, and it was all dependent on one person to say yes. And that was the inequity that drove me to even…”
Danae RingelmanDec 15, 2025▶ 15:2293 Rejections, One Revolution: How Indiegogo Changed Crowdfunding Forever
Disclosure
Ringelman: Curating campaigns would violate Indiegogo's open platform mission
“Philosophically, we couldn't become the gatekeeper. Otherwise, what's the point of all of this?”
Danae RingelmanDec 15, 2025▶ 43:0593 Rejections, One Revolution: How Indiegogo Changed Crowdfunding Forever
Disclosure
Ringelman: Indiegogo initially explored equity investments and SEC exemptions
“We also did explore, is there any SEC loopholes we could get around? So at the, and when we were first starting, we were actually, we're thinking investments, like full on investment.”
Danae RingelmanDec 15, 2025▶ 24:0193 Rejections, One Revolution: How Indiegogo Changed Crowdfunding Forever
Disclosure
Indiegogo co-founders each committed $30,000 of their own money to launch
“I remember each of us committing 30,000 dollars of our own money, which was a big chunk of our savings, or at least for me.”
Danae RingelmanDec 15, 2025▶ 27:0393 Rejections, One Revolution: How Indiegogo Changed Crowdfunding Forever
AssertionSupported
Indiegogo operated without raising outside funding for three years
“We actually didn't raise a dime for, was it four years? Three years.”
Danae RingelmanDec 15, 2025▶ 27:1493 Rejections, One Revolution: How Indiegogo Changed Crowdfunding Forever
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