Investing In A Kickstarter Project

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - If you wish you could go back in time and invest in Google in 1998, you may have a chance to invest in the next big creative project. But read the legalese.

Remember the movie the Producers where two crooks got people to invest in a bad musical so they'd never have to pay back money in a show they thought would fail? Now you have a chance to invest in creative projects without ever entering the offices of Bialystock and Bloom.

Kickstarter is the world's largest web platform for the funding of independent creative projects.

Creative types use kickstarter to ask individuals to contribute the funding their projects, in exchange for a reward. The reward can be a copy of a book, tickets, or even a product that is, if fully funded, going to be brought to market. So far, more than 29,000 creative projects have been funded. But since this is the legal report and not the great idea report, you need to be reminded to read the fine print.

If enough people sign up to fund the project, investors' credit cards will be charged. But that's to start development -- long before those who gave money will see their reward. So investors in a company that was making sunglasses that record HD video for the reward of one pair of sunglasses, are getting restless a year after ponying up but not yet seeing a reward. Who knows if they'll see it by springtime (for Hitler).