First major coverage of BountyUp.com by traditional media – my hometown “Times Colonist” finally ran a piece, titled “Online venture gaining steam“. While complementary (especially the wickedly-good photo), it ran a little short on accuracy – apparently I’ve got a “crowd-surfing” website.
However, after three turbulent years, McKenty’s website is starting to garner international attention. Created in 2005, Bountyup.com has received millions of donations to fund projects for Oak Bay science students, North Carolina choirs and Middle East social activists.
Trust me – if I had received “Millions of donations”, I wouldn’t still be freelancing for NASA. I believe the word I used was “dozens”. Ah well.
Oh, and I never got paid for being in the circus. My first paying job was shoveling horse manure, several years later.
Still, the coverage (plus the recent coverage of the Oak Bay High School Bounty) has been enough to get me excited about the project again – even after Microsoft launched their competitor. I’m toying with the idea of using 99designs.com for a face-lift, but what I really need is some improvements in usability. What are YOUR favorite contest sites?
#1 by Angeline at July 21st, 2008
Hey Joshua,
First off – congratulations on the big press hit and the snazzy photo. Your web site is really interesting. I checked it out and love the idea of people joining together and making SOMETHING happen. Hence, why I work for crowdSPRING..
At our site, buyers post a project, watch creatives all around the world contribute, and then the buyer picks the winning design. We have contracts that protect the intellectual property of each of our creatives, as well as the buyer’s rights.
Check us out and post your project at our site: http://www.crowdspring.com. We’re pretty talkative and will spread the word about it all over the internet!
Plus, if you’re ever in Chicago, we invite you to visit our offices join us in a ping pong or Rock Band tournament. Your choice!
Congrats again, good luck with BountyUp!
-Angeline
Community Manager,
http://www.crowdspring.com
#2 by Patrick at July 21st, 2008
Wow, that article was a case study for “not doing your homework”.
But, really, congratulations! BountyUp seems like a cool idea, and I really hope it takes off for you.
#3 by Bruce Giovando at July 31st, 2008
99designs for a facelift? I hear the designer for BuyLater is pretty steezy. Why don’t you just use this design http://tinyurl.com/5rfpvj, a bunch of people I’ve showed it to think its pretty dope. Who knows maybe I’ll actually get paid for my work one of these days.