Keeping in Touch with the Crowd : An Exploratory Study of Relationships Between Firms and Funders after Successful Reward-based Crowdfunding

Abstract: Crowdfunding has become more than just a mean of raising money for firms that develop products. Through crowdfunding can firms get in touch with potential customers and get market validation of the product. On the other hand, the individuals that participate as funders in crowdfunding campaigns have shown to do so because they want to be a part of the community that affects and ultimately realises the product. This has created an interesting relationship between firms and funders where mutual benefits besides the transactional affairs exist. Previous research has mainly focused on topics and processes related to the actual crowdfunding campaign. However, much less research has examined how firms that have successfully crowdfunded their products continue to work with their funders after the campaign. Thus, the aim of this thesis has been to investigate this. The conducted research was exploratory in nature, where a multiple case-study approach was used to investigate nine firms from all over Europe that had crowdfunded products. Using a content analysis was the collected empirical data coded, which formed propositions. These were ultimately discussed in relation to previous literature in order to form conclusions for the research. Analytical generalisation was sought in the research, meaning that the findings were generalised in the context of the study. Additionally, the results were also used to propose suggestions for future research. The results of the study showed that the investigated firms experienced that the funder relationship was demanding in terms of communication and information transparency. The firms acknowledged that there was a common interest among the funders to remain updated on the continuous product development. Thus, firms had to maintain frequent communication with their funders and also transparently share information on the development progress. On the other hand, the funders were found to act as value co-creators by giving firms feedback on their products. Furthermore, in some cases the funder community was used to find lead users that could be involved in coproducing activities.