Therese Torris has written a great article about crowdbusiness and us on crowdfundinsider

Crowdfunding, in particular in its presales form, has proven an excellent channel to accelerate the process of innovation and lower its risk. It enables entrepreneurs to get early feedback and submit their prototypes and service concepts to the ultimate market test: the customers’ willingness to pay. But why not appeal to the crowd even earlier in the innovation process, why not crowdsource idea generation and selection as well?