A great idea and looks like a good companion to Kickstarter.<p>However the problem that this site (and Kickstarter) don't seem to solve is the problem of awareness generation/ initial marketing. For many businesses this is the hardest first problem to crack, so if Profounder provided techniques and assistance for this, it would be a lot more helpful.<p>The site seems to be premised on the business already having a large audience ("let your community help") - if this is the case I think its relatively easy to turn such an audience into a viable business - the funding in these cases should be straightforward.
Profounders's blithe disregard for American securities laws is very amusing. Probably will not be so amusing for those involved...<p>Securities offerings have to be registered. There are exceptions, but one of the big requirements for taking advantange of most of these exceptions is that you not publicly solicit investors. And Profounder is all about publicly soliciting investors.
(Kickstarter avoids those problems because your kick does not buy you an ownership interest in the company/project.)