I have written about www.kickstarter.com, a website where you can support a startup business or a business idea and you will get some benefits from the company for helping them get started. This year, Kickstarter will be adding a new twist to the game. Soon you will be able to invest in a new startup business and not just for rewards. You could acquire some equity in the business. Companies can offer and sell up to $1 million in equity within a twelve month period. These are startup businesses or existing businesses looking to do some fundraising. Remember, before you invest your money into any business, do your homework. Yes, it would be nice to get in on the ground floor of the next Facebook, but for every great business, there are thousands that fail. Only invest what you can afford to lose. Since Kickstarter’s launch on April 28, 2009, over $350 million has been pledged by more than 2.5 million people, funding more than 30,000 creative projects.

The Kickstarter funding website cannot provide investment advice or recommendations, solicit sales or compensate salespeople for providing leads or promoting specific projects. Crowd funding investment sites can’t own stakes in companies that use their services. An investment website must be SEC approved to sell equity in a company. The startup companies on these web sites are limited to offering ten percent or less of their annual income or net worth. You can also talk to your investment broker before doing an investment, as they might have other sources of crowd funding that they have researched.  Good luck with your crowd funding in the future.

It has been a while since I reminded you to do a backup of your important files on your computer. Don’t forget the photos, doc files, e-mails, program files, bookmarks, and address books. So do it now! Yes, right now. I will wait… You can just copy them to DVD or get a USB removable or portable hard drive. Any method of backup is better than none. I would like to hear a story where someone calls me and says, “My computer crashed, but I was backed up and everything is fine.” To date, I have not received this call. For more information on this and other Tech Tip issues, call Brad at (702) 294-1392 or visit www.applebyarts.com.