How I Built This with Guy Raz

Episode: 93 Rejections, One Revolution: How Indiegogo Changed Crowdfunding Forever

Date: December 15, 2025
Guests: Danae Ringelmann and Slava Rubin, Indiegogo Co-founders

Episode Overview

This episode explores the origin story, challenges, and enduring cultural impact of Indiegogo, one of the pioneering crowdfunding platforms. Guy Raz speaks with co-founders Danae Ringelmann and Slava Rubin, retracing their journeys from personal struggles with financial gatekeeping to their relentless drive for democratizing access to capital. The discussion dives deep into their early setbacks—including 93 investor rejections—the evolution of their business model, the highs, lows, and ultimate bittersweet transition out of operational leadership.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins Driven by Personal Experiences

• Both founders’ backgrounds were shaped by financial hardship and witnessing talented but under-resourced individuals being denied opportunity.
• Slava Rubin: Immigrated from the Soviet Union; lost his father to cancer at age 15, straining family finances and inspiring his first nonprofit, Music Against Myeloma.
  • “So all of that sucked. It really put perspective into all of it. … We didn’t really have a good insurance and financial setup. … There’s lots of nice people in the world, and there are some people that are less nice. And, you know, I got to interact with all of them.” (07:32)
• Danae Ringelmann: Grew up working in her father’s moving business, saw parents lose their business in a recession, reinforcing the inequity of access to capital and the importance of values.
  • “My dad couldn’t get jobs, and they couldn’t pay the bills… But they did not fire their most loyal people. … That was a lesson for me personally about values and principles.” (11:41)

2. Early Encounter with Gatekeeping and Idea Formation

• Danae’s “Hollywood meets Wall Street” experience highlighted the powerlessness of creators without connections.
  • “This was a man in his 60s… yet he was begging me, someone with no experience, just the right name on the card, for money.” (15:28)
• Both saw the unfulfilled potential of a more democratic funding process and conceptualized a platform where “the crowd” would decide what should get funded.

3. The Founders Meet and the Role of the Internet

• Introduced by mutual friend Eric Schell; a pivotal conversation takes place at a Golden Gate Bridge lookout.
  • Slava: “If you want to change finance, you can’t do it in the finance world…You probably want to use the Internet.” (20:12)
  • Danae initially skeptical (“I thought you said this guy was smart”) but realizes tech is the only way to scale.

4. Building Indiegogo — Early Obstacles

• Original idea was equity crowdfunding, but U.S. law prohibited it, so they pivoted to a rewards-based system (perks).
  • “We decided, let’s just do one thing at a time, because simplification…is paramount.” (31:46)
• Self-funded for years:
  • “Each of us committing $30,000 of our own money…We didn’t raise a dime for…three years.” (34:04)

5. Launching at Sundance & Early Growth

• Launch strategy: debut at Sundance Film Festival, with creative “GoGo Bucks” swag to jumpstart campaigns.
  • “We gave away scarves with GoGo Bucks…every card only had $5, except one card had $500.” (38:15)
• Initial projects were all independent films, using an all-or-nothing funding model (“If you don’t raise the money, you don’t get the money.” (40:16))

6. Market Crash and Relentless Rejection

• Planned to bootstrap, then raise capital off momentum—but 2008 financial crisis hit.
• Faced 93 investor rejections.
  • “Crickets. It was hard for anybody to raise money for anything. We definitely got a lot of no's.” (41:48)
  • “We got 93 no’s before we got a yes.” (42:54)

7. Opening the Platform and Hockey Stick Growth

• In 2009, broadened from film/arts to “anyone, anywhere” — led to explosive growth.
  • “Honestly, it was like hockey stick growth, like, almost immediately after that.” (51:14)
• Philosophically committed to openness—refused to curate or limit campaigns, even at the expense of short-term profit.
  • “We believed in open…We couldn’t become the gatekeeper. Otherwise, what’s the point of all this?” (52:14, Danae)

8. Struggles of Scaling, Culture & Leadership

• Transitioning from founders in a dining room to a legitimate, staffed company created tension and forced founders to let go.
  • “All three of us as founders are really evolving and having to deal with the growth…People need to be empowered…” (57:39, Slava)
• Danae pushed for structured culture and values interviews.
  • “Can you just come back and just be here and remind people who we are?” (59:52, Slava recalling calling Danae during her maternity leave)

9. Guardrails, Free Speech, & Platform Ethics

• As scale and funding grew, grappled with content moderation and platform boundaries.
  • “We tried to navigate it—just be fair, treat everyone the same…It’s because the site was open that it just attracted these projects.” (61:34, Slava)
  • Biggest ongoing challenge became fraud prevention, not controversial viewpoints.

10. Departure and Reflections on What Might Have Been

• All three founders stepped back by 2019; Slava pushed out as CEO after strategic disagreements with the board.
  • “Definitely not [my idea]. … I got into a debate with the board and I didn’t win that debate.” (64:24, Slava)
• Regret over not consolidating all crowdfunding verticals under Indiegogo’s roof — left room for others like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, Patreon, and equity platforms.
  • “We decided that we had to think too much about unit economics and profitability. And I think that’s a shame.” (66:50, Slava)

11. Legacy, Impact & Closing Reflections

• At acquisition in 2025, Indiegogo had facilitated more than $1.5 billion in campaigns but was acquired at a more modest valuation.
• Lingering pride in democratizing opportunity:
  • “I think the world has fundamentally shifted…And I do think we were part of that.” (71:00, Danae)
  • “Preparation plus opportunity equals luck.” (69:35, Slava)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We got 93 no’s before we got a yes.” — Slava Rubin (42:54)
• “I think I just grew up with a hope or an optimism that life would be more fair and that you would be rewarded if you worked hard.” — Danae Ringelmann (16:27)
• “Can you just come back and just be here and remind people who we are?” — Slava, to Danae on Indiegogo’s culture during her maternity leave (59:52)
• “We believed in open. We couldn’t become the gatekeeper. Otherwise, what’s the point of all of this?” — Danae Ringelmann (52:14)
• “Preparation plus opportunity equals luck.” — Slava Rubin (69:35)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Early Personal Backgrounds: 06:35 – 16:45
• Formation of Founding Team: 18:49 – 23:31
• Pivot to Internet Crowdfunding: 20:12 – 23:31
• Launch & Early Model: 37:32 – 40:47
• Market Crisis & Investor Rejection: 41:25 – 43:01
• Opening Platform to All Categories: 50:10 – 51:14
• Philosophy of Openness: 52:14 – 52:25
• Team Dynamics and Scaling: 57:09 – 60:46
• Ethical Debates and Guardrails: 61:02 – 63:01
• Founders Depart: 63:04 – 66:46
• Reflections & Legacy: 68:52 – 71:49

Tone and Style

• Candid, Reflective, and Human: Honest about struggles and mistakes, unromantic about how hard it was to persist after repeated failure.
• Conversational and Anecdotal: Heavy use of personal stories and feelings, especially around family, failure, and perseverance.
• Inspirational but Realistic: Recognition of luck and timing, but ultimate stress on perseverance and values.

This episode is a masterclass in mission-driven entrepreneurship, grit, team conflict and resolution, humility before one’s own limitations, and the ways culture and values shape a company’s fate. Indiegogo's journey embodies risk-taking, endurance through rejection, and the ethical tensions of building an open platform—leaving listeners with powerful lessons on democratizing opportunity and the human costs of innovation.