 Hi, I'm Nick Statt with The Verge and we're here at our booth on the CES show floor. I'm here with Slava Rubin, CEO of Indiegogo. Thanks for coming down to us. Yeah, thanks for having me. Last few years, CES has been inundated with crowdfunding or crowdfunded projects. A lot of consumer-like technology, but Indiegogo doesn't actually make any of these products, they just help get them funded. So what brings you out here this week? Yeah, you know, we came actually three years ago now, the first time, and I think we can count the Indiegogo funded projects at that time on like one or two hands. And now at Indiegogo, at CES 2016, we actually have 110 companies that are funded on Indiegogo, which is super exciting. And so we just, you know, look to support all of them and also there's a lot of inbound in terms of people that are interested to learn more. The other thing is we're super excited, we're making an announcement this week at CES, which is we're launching our enterprise crowdfunding offering, which is, we've always been working with smaller players, entrepreneurs, and individuals, but now the Fortune 1000, the big companies, GE, Anheuser-Busch, Harman, are all coming to Indiegogo to really do R&D market validation to bring these amazing new products out to the market. Right, and so crowdfunding has always seemed like this thing for scrappy, smaller startups who want to just propel something to the masses and get it out there and help them, you know, make thousands and thousands of units. Why does this now make sense for a company like GE? I mean, what do they get out of crowdfunding that they can't just do through their normal channels? Absolutely. So Indiegogo, when we created it, it's an open platform where anybody can raise money for absolutely any idea. So we have generosity.com for the personal fundraising. We also have lots of films and creative and theater and artists, but definitely gadgets and hardware and tech is a hotbed of what's happening on Indiegogo. Like you mentioned, a lot of that is these smaller, earlier stage entrepreneurs, but really what it's about is just an open space, a place to experiment, to engage with your audience, to use social, to get feedback, to actually understand how is your idea or product resonating with the market. What are some of the other products you expect large corporations will take to a crowdfunding platform? Yeah, it's going to vary. So Hasbro used us, so they're a toy and gaming company, to be able to find different innovators to come up with new games. So they actually had a challenge and they were able to then fund one of the five games that were the top five games. Also, you have Harman, who is coming out. They announced yesterday they'll be coming out probably within a month with new headphones that will have noise specific cancellation qualities. There's no concern within Indiegogo that this might kind of quash out the little guys or give the larger companies an unfair advantage. I mean, if Indiegogo in crowdfunding was designed for the small player, if they have to compete with maybe a similar product with a company like GE or Hasbro, does that create any kind of concern over what's fair and what's not fair? It's the opposite actually. So it's an open platform where anybody can use it no matter what. So we've already had larger companies using it for the last couple of years. But what actually is happening is the larger companies are actually looking for the new hot entrepreneur on Indiegogo. So they're actually collaborating. With Shocktop, they actually want to stop the drought. So they have their campaign as part of Anheuser-Busch, where they're actually identified like DropABrick and Ava, which are two different entrepreneurs to be able to have technology to help stimulate better environmental practices with water. So DropABrick is like a plastic brick you put in your toilet. It disseminates water away so you have less water per flush. This is an example where the larger companies are actually working with the entrepreneurs. So it's actually creating a hotbed together. Where else has crowdfunding been untapped? Where can crowdfunding go from here? If there are some specific items to highlight, for example, like Shiftwear, this is a sneaker that has e-paper as part of its actual material. So it connects to your phone. And you can actually change the look of your sneaker by color or artistry or whatever it looks like on your app. So you actually don't need to have different sneakers or different...and it changes on the fly. Or you have something like Bolt bikes. So Bolt is equivalent to a motorbike, but it's actually an electric bike. So it can drive up to 40 miles an hour, has the thrill of a motorcycle, but has the ease and the legal requirements of just a bicycle. Super cool. But there's tons of other, like you said, internet of things, personal devices. But I do think the next round is going to be more AI, more robots. You have like Jibo on Indiegogo or Buddy. You also have Chip just came out yesterday, which is a robotic dog. For anybody who doesn't want to actually clean up the poop or actually look for the fur, you can actually have a robotic dog that will actually follow its robotic ball that plays fetch. What sets Indiegogo apart from a competitor like Kickstarter is you don't necessarily need a working prototype. It can be an idea. It can just be something small that you have the ambitions to carry out and you want to raise some money and try and do it. I guess what is Indiegogo doing right now to make sure that a shoe like the Shiftware can actually happen down the line so they don't take in all this money and then they discover, well, you know what, we can't make an e-ink shape-shifting shoe. Yeah, so one of the beauties of an open platform is there's nobody at Indiegogo that's going to judge you. There's enough VCs out there. There's enough bankers out there. There's enough government constituents. There's enough high-level corporate types. There's enough other platforms that will judge you. At Indiegogo, it's totally open where you get to put up your idea. You need to be transparent about where you're at. Are you at idea stage, at prototype stage? Are you manufacturing? Are you already selling? And then it's up to the funders. The backers, if they want to support you. Sounds pretty cool. Thanks, Slobber Rubin.
 Hi, I'm Nick Statt with The Verge and we're here at our booth on the CES show floor.
 I'm here with Slava Rubin, CEO of Indiegogo.
 Thanks for coming down to us.
 Yeah, thanks for having me.
 Last few years, CES has been inundated with crowdfunding or crowdfunded projects.
 A lot of consumer-like technology, but Indiegogo doesn't actually make any of these products,
 they just help get them funded.
 So what brings you out here this week?
 Yeah, you know, we came actually three years ago now, the first time, and I think we can
 count the Indiegogo funded projects at that time on like one or two hands.
 And now at Indiegogo, at CES 2016, we actually have 110 companies that are funded on Indiegogo,
 which is super exciting.
 And so we just, you know, look to support all of them and also there's a lot of inbound
 in terms of people that are interested to learn more.
 The other thing is we're super excited, we're making an announcement this week at CES, which
 is we're launching our enterprise crowdfunding offering, which is, we've always been working
 with smaller players, entrepreneurs, and individuals, but now the Fortune 1000, the big companies,
 GE, Anheuser-Busch, Harman, are all coming to Indiegogo to really do R&D market validation
 to bring these amazing new products out to the market.
 Right, and so crowdfunding has always seemed like this thing for scrappy, smaller startups
 who want to just propel something to the masses and get it out there and help them, you know,
 make thousands and thousands of units.
 Why does this now make sense for a company like GE?
 I mean, what do they get out of crowdfunding that they can't just do through their normal
 channels?
 Absolutely.
 So Indiegogo, when we created it, it's an open platform where anybody can raise money
 for absolutely any idea.
 So we have generosity.com for the personal fundraising.
 We also have lots of films and creative and theater and artists, but definitely gadgets
 and hardware and tech is a hotbed of what's happening on Indiegogo.
 Like you mentioned, a lot of that is these smaller, earlier stage entrepreneurs, but
 really what it's about is just an open space, a place to experiment, to engage with your
 audience, to use social, to get feedback, to actually understand how is your idea or
 product resonating with the market.
 What are some of the other products you expect large corporations will take to a crowdfunding
 platform?
 Yeah, it's going to vary.
 So Hasbro used us, so they're a toy and gaming company, to be able to find different innovators
 to come up with new games.
 So they actually had a challenge and they were able to then fund one of the five games
 that were the top five games.
 Also, you have Harman, who is coming out.
 They announced yesterday they'll be coming out probably within a month with new headphones
 that will have noise specific cancellation qualities.
 There's no concern within Indiegogo that this might kind of quash out the little guys or
 give the larger companies an unfair advantage.
 I mean, if Indiegogo in crowdfunding was designed for the small player, if they have to compete
 with maybe a similar product with a company like GE or Hasbro, does that create any kind
 of concern over what's fair and what's not fair?
 It's the opposite actually.
 So it's an open platform where anybody can use it no matter what.
 So we've already had larger companies using it for the last couple of years.
 But what actually is happening is the larger companies are actually looking for the new
 hot entrepreneur on Indiegogo.
 So they're actually collaborating.
 With Shocktop, they actually want to stop the drought.
 So they have their campaign as part of Anheuser-Busch, where they're actually identified like DropABrick
 and Ava, which are two different entrepreneurs to be able to have technology to help stimulate
 better environmental practices with water.
 So DropABrick is like a plastic brick you put in your toilet.
 It disseminates water away so you have less water per flush.
 This is an example where the larger companies are actually working with the entrepreneurs.
 So it's actually creating a hotbed together.
 Where else has crowdfunding been untapped?
 Where can crowdfunding go from here?
 If there are some specific items to highlight, for example, like Shiftwear, this is a sneaker
 that has e-paper as part of its actual material.
 So it connects to your phone.
 And you can actually change the look of your sneaker by color or artistry or whatever it
 looks like on your app.
 So you actually don't need to have different sneakers or different...and it changes on
 the fly.
 Or you have something like Bolt bikes.
 So Bolt is equivalent to a motorbike, but it's actually an electric bike.
 So it can drive up to 40 miles an hour, has the thrill of a motorcycle, but has the ease
 and the legal requirements of just a bicycle.
 Super cool.
 But there's tons of other, like you said, internet of things, personal devices.
 But I do think the next round is going to be more AI, more robots.
 You have like Jibo on Indiegogo or Buddy.
 You also have Chip just came out yesterday, which is a robotic dog.
 For anybody who doesn't want to actually clean up the poop or actually look for the fur,
 you can actually have a robotic dog that will actually follow its robotic ball that plays
 fetch.
 What sets Indiegogo apart from a competitor like Kickstarter is you don't necessarily
 need a working prototype.
 It can be an idea.
 It can just be something small that you have the ambitions to carry out and you want to
 raise some money and try and do it.
 I guess what is Indiegogo doing right now to make sure that a shoe like the Shiftware
 can actually happen down the line so they don't take in all this money and then they
 discover, well, you know what, we can't make an e-ink shape-shifting shoe.
 Yeah, so one of the beauties of an open platform is there's nobody at Indiegogo that's going
 to judge you.
 There's enough VCs out there.
 There's enough bankers out there.
 There's enough government constituents.
 There's enough high-level corporate types.
 There's enough other platforms that will judge you.
 At Indiegogo, it's totally open where you get to put up your idea.
 You need to be transparent about where you're at.
 Are you at idea stage, at prototype stage?
 Are you manufacturing?
 Are you already selling?
 And then it's up to the funders.
 The backers, if they want to support you.
 Sounds pretty cool.
 Thanks, Slobber Rubin.