[johnkchow]

I work in a crowdfunding startup where GoFundMe is our #1 competitor. We knew they were dominating the personal causes space, but we didn't know they were doing THIS well. I have much respect for their huge revenue/growth while taking 0 VC money.

A huge part of their success is SEO/PR (which is just a huge positive feedback loop). The product has great onboarding and they offer good customer support (guaranteed 15 min or less response times, which is important when you're dealing with people dealing with tragedies from natural events). While I agree that the design is horrible, from a pure UX standpoint their site is extremely simple to use. The typical user is someone who's not tech savvy, and they're won't care if they raise thousands of dollars.

Also, let's get off our high tech horses here and stop blasting GFM. The reason why a lot of people here on HN haven't heard of them is because we here most likely are educated and have good jobs. We can afford for whatever shit comes our way. Also, most donations come from personal networks i.e. friends and family members, while larger campaigns get additional support from local communities. Crowdfunding sites like Fundly and GFM really do affect people's lives for the better.