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> buying and building are two different things

Consider the way Kickstarter projects describe their "backers". On the "Why Kickstarter?" page they say backers are "helping to create something new". Yet, one could easily consider Kickstarter simply a website for pre-orders, no different from buying in any other method.

The line between a buyer and a backer/builder isn't so clear.



> The line between a buyer and a backer/builder isn't so clear.

It is pretty clear, if you are funding someone'e kickstart project then you did help them build it but if you pay for a product which was built using the creator's(or some other investor's) money then you did not build it.


Some Kickstarter projects are posted after the product is essentially built and just needs some finishing details. The line gets fuzzy there.

It's even more fuzzy when you consider beta customers for a software company. Heck, how about when I contribute information to Google Maps? Or give feedback and make feature requests for my accounting software?


I think the line between "customer" and "investor" is actually pretty clear.




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