Unlike Kickstarter, you are not buying a product or donating to an artist. Instead, you are investing in a businesswith the hope of earning a return on your investment.

You decide which companies are worthy of funding. If the business does well, you may make money.  If it doesn’t do well, you lose all your money.

Either way, you join a community of other investors who seek to help the startup succeed. You sometimes get neat perks from the companies too.