I think one important thing here to note about crowd-sourced funding is that it doesn't just eliminate the middle-man, but rather it connects the end consumers with the product directly. It may seem a small difference, but it is real.
Consider this, when a company goes to get funding, it is the company and the investors together who are postulating what consumers might want. In this model, the consumers fund what they actually want, not what some guys who got lucky once or twice (VCs) assume people want.
Add that to the fact that VCs like to fund things that are going to be like winning the lottery, whereas consumers want to fund things that seem useful to them right now. Huge difference.
Indeed. Consider how many layers of buffering exist between consumers and makers in traditionally financed projects. Not only do you have a convoluted connection during creation (capital investments, layers of management, etc.) you have an equally convoluted connection during production (retailers, distributors, marketing, management). All of this blunts the strength and the edge of the consumer-creator feedback loop.
That's not only a huge efficiency and effectiveness difference (how do you tell what someone really wants when there are N levels of bullshit between the creator and the consumer?) but it also makes for a much stronger emotional connection.
Consider this, when a company goes to get funding, it is the company and the investors together who are postulating what consumers might want. In this model, the consumers fund what they actually want, not what some guys who got lucky once or twice (VCs) assume people want.
Add that to the fact that VCs like to fund things that are going to be like winning the lottery, whereas consumers want to fund things that seem useful to them right now. Huge difference.