Get Into the Startup Ring With Steve Poland

Steve Poland (contributing writer to TechCrunch) has just launched a new site called Ringside Startup.

The idea is to launch a web startup with your help. First, he’s raising $20,000 from contributions. If you contribute you’ll be given the opportunity to vote on how to move forward with the company. The very first decision people will have to make is what business to start!

Steve will be blogging the entire experience and bringing in some experts to help along the way, including Brad Feld, Fred Wilson, Ryan Carson and others. It’s a great lineup of experienced VCs and entrepreneurs.

The project is an interesting one – using a “crowdsourcing” model of sorts to build a business. It’s not the first time someone’s taken this approach. Cambrian House is built on the idea of crowdsourcing – having the crowd (i.e. you) do a lot of the work in creating a new business.

In Steve’s case he’s crowdsourcing ideas and opinions, but I assume he’ll use the $20,000 to hire development help. I’m sure he can handle business development and marketing – plus he’s got that great TechCrunch connection, so you know this project will get plenty of attention!

If you’ve got a few dollars burning a hole in your pocket, you might consider putting some money into Ringside Startup so you can participate in the entrepreneurial experience. I didn’t notice on the site if Steve’s giving people equity in the startup he launches, but it doesn’t look like it. So when Steve sells the company to Google for $20,000,000 I don’t think you’ll reap any financial rewards from that…