A colleague of mine, Mercyhurst Professor Kristan J. Wheaton, just posted a very provocative blog. In it he took a look at crowdfunding and then contemplated its application in all types of intelligence.
His point was that crowdfunding is important not only as a source of revenues for would-be entrepreneurs, or for the development of new products and processes, as well as the launch of movies etc. It is also a rather convenient place that we should watch for emerging competitors and other competitive threats.
In other words, here is another way we can watch out for our current and potential competitors. Had you thought about this is an application of crowdfunding? I had not, but I have now.
For you, the greater lesson learned should be that any time you see a new development or site that could be of value to your business, also look at it from the point of view of using it to provide valuable CI on your competitors.