Talk given at the 2016 annual meeting of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation in Washington D.C.

2. denny
@

5. EXPERIMENT HELPS
SCIENTISTS DO RESEARCH
BY CONECTING THEM WITH
FUNDERS AROUND THE
WORLD.

6. est. 2012

9. What is crowdfunding?

10. What is crowdfunding?
Publicly-funded
research.

11. How does a parasite create
zombie-like behavior?

13. Big money
!=
Good science

14. Big money
Good science
Can get in the way of

16. Impact is a decelerating
function of funding
Number of publications, number of citations, highest cited article, and high impact articles
Animal biology, ecology, and organic & inorganic chemistry
Conclusion:

17. If you want to maximize
impact, spread that funding
cross many
Conclusion:

18. Past $700,000 impact
plateaus
Berg JM (2012) Science policy: Well-funded investigators should receive extra scrutiny. Nature 489:
203–203.

19. More importantly,
The costs of doing science are
going down.

21. Less This

22. More This

23. $6.2M PLEDGED
465 PROJECTS FUNDED
50K MEMBERS

24. $6.2M PLEDGED
465 PROJECTS FUNDED
50K MEMBERS
48% FUNDING SUCCESS RATE

25. 2012 2013 2014 2015
$52,000
$520,000
$766,000
$3.8M+
Pledge Volume
Facilitated
PER YEAR

26. Every two days, a new project gets
funded.

27. Every two days, a new project gets
funded.
Every minute, $2 goes to science!

28. 32 PAPERS PUBLISHED
120+ CONFERENCE TALKS & POSTERS
4,200 LABNOTES, 350+ DOIs

29. Paper
Talk
Poster
TOTAL RAISED:
NUMBER OF PAPERS:
FUNDING PER PAPER:
TOTAL RAISED:
NUMBER OF PAPERS:
FUNDING PER TALK:
TOTAL RAISED:
NUMBER OF PAPERS:
FUNDING PER POSTER:
$162,485
31
$5,241.45
$437,305
71
$6,159.23
$205,410
44
$4,668.41

30. Who is funding these
projects?

31. 1,438 repeat backers
$120 average pledge

32. “Is my research a
good fit?”
Get in touch with me at denny@experiment.com!

34. Thanks!

35. Questions?

36. 1. Is it
research?
2. Are
you real?
3. Can you
meet the
goals?
Our review
criteria

37. 1. Is it
research?
2. Are
you real?
3. Can you
meet the
goals?
Our review
criteria
Not raising money
for a company, or
teaching a class. A
research-driven
project.

38. 1. Is it
research?
2. Are
you real?
3. Can you
meet the
goals?
Our review
criteria
Not raising money
for a company, or
teaching a class. A
research-driven
project.
Are you who you
say you are? Can
be paid out to a
U.S. bank account.

39. 1. Is it
research?
2. Are
you real?
3. Can you
meet the
goals?
Our review
criteria
Not raising money
for a company, or
teaching a class. A
research-driven
project.
Are you who you
say you are? Can
be paid out to a
U.S. bank account.
Project goals are
realistic, and you
have the resources
& experience
needed.

40. plan and get early feedback
Do:

41. plan and get early feedback
Do:
the more preparation you do
beforehand, the more fun it gets

42. Backers
Y = 53.217X + 1799 R² = 0.3977
Average pledge is $53
$20k
$16k
$12k
$8k
$4k
FundingRaised
30050 100 150 200 250
Backers

43. 60,00010,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000
Pageviews
$20k
$16k
$12k
$8k
$4k
FundingRaised
Page traffic
Y = 0.2531X + 3282.6 R² = 0.12656
Each pageview brings $0.25

44. 60,00010,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000
Pageviews
$20k
$16k
$12k
$8k
$4k
FundingRaised
Page traffic
Y = 0.2531X + 3282.6 R² = 0.12656
Each pageview brings $0.25
See more at
bit.ly/1QE7raT

45. find new and existing audiences
Do:
the internet makes it easy to find
and connect with people

46. find new and existing audiences
Do:
there is an audience everywhere

47. 46.7%
success rate

48. 0% 40%20% 60% 80% 100%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
Project Funding Goal Progress
LikelihoodofProjectSuccess Project Funding Rates
92.7%

49. treat it like a grant
Don’t:

50. treat it like a grant
Don’t:
money does not just appear, you
are in control

54. treat it like you’re begging for
money
Don’t:

55. treat it like you’re begging for
money
Don’t:
instead, invite others into a unique
chance to move science forward

56. How does a parasite create
zombie-like behavior?

59. This isn’t about
funding

60. This is about
independence.

61. A world where
anyone can be a
scientist.