Quoted from TigerLaw:Private equity money will virtually never do a pure start up. If there is no existing revenue they have little interest. Even with existing revenue, banks will not really loan you money these days unless you don't need it and have a personal guarantee that will cover the amount borrowed.
I know of at least 2 individual investors that would be interested in any investment opportunities that are rooted in a well-researched business plan. It just seems to me that the back of a napkin, pie-in-the-sky dream can only be sold to a certain type of individual. If people are serious about collecting money for a start-up, they can be serious about writing a business plan that outlines it rather than getting a bunch of pin-addicts with more money than brains to throw their cash onto a start-up craps table based solely on one or two persons' reputations.
The reason these entrepreneurs are crowd-sourcing their projects is because they don't want to be burdened by the business realities that real investors demand. This, to me in itself, is the root of long term failure. And don't forget, JJP hasn't yet proven their crowd-sourcing is viable on the long term. Why are they demanding more and more down on their hobbits? The answer lies in their cash flows and it hasn't yet been proven that JJP is anything more than an elaborate ponzi scheme. JJP is at the point where their numbers should be giving them adequate access to capital. If not, that tells something about their numbers.
This is only speculation, but I am not clouded by a fantasy of the Great Pinball Rebirth that seems presented by some thinking on this board.
I wish JJP the most success, but the cash grabs on pre-orders of their second machine does not bode well in my book. I know they planned to do it, but with the sales success of WOZ, it really shouldn't be necessary.