The document discusses crowdfunding as a new way to finance small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It provides a brief history of crowdfunding from early examples in the 1880s to the growth of crowdfunding platforms starting in 2006. The document outlines the main types of crowdfunding models including donations, rewards, debt, pre-sales, and equity. Crowdfunding is defined as "community funding" where investors are fans and ambassadors. The crowdfunding market size has grown significantly in recent years and is projected to continue growing. Crowdfunding provides benefits beyond just financing, such as enabling market research, marketing opportunities, and access to other forms of financing.