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My fascination with the concept of crowdsourcing started back in 2004, as it did for many who read James Surowiecki’s brilliant book “The Wisdom of Crowds.” The idea that the collective wisdom of a large group could prove superior to the expertise of individuals is powerful. It has been proven out to a great degree by experiments both large and small. However, for the longest time I wondered about the commercial aspects of collective wisdom. There’s no doubt that crowdsourcing has plenty of technical applications, from prediction markets to market intelligence. While there is certainly immense value to be found in those applications, I was more interested in how it would impact the small business economy. Fortunately, in the years since I was first introduced to the concept, countless solutions have emerged that can help small businesses and startups leverage the crowd to solve problems they face on a daily basis and punch well above their weight in the market.
