Access to pertinent information that is business oriented is essential for every entrepreneur, investor and analyst in this big information drives world. Crunchbase, the giant in business data, provides information related to companies, investors and prevailing market conditions. However, the subscription of each individual can be quite costly to a good number of people hence the inception of the concept called “Crunchbase Group Buy”. This paperwork focuses on what Crunchbase Group Buy is, how it operates, its advantages, and its moral implications.

Crunchbase-group-buy

What is Crunchbase Group Buy?

Crunchbase Group Buy is referred to as the scenario whereby several users obtain a single subscription to Crunchbase and share the expenses of the subscription among themselves. This method is an ideal way for people or small businesses to acquire an access to the premium features of the Crunchbase which is at a reduced cost when compared to the normal charges. Group buying has became popular practice among several online communities especially the startups, owners of small business, freelancers and researchers who need to use the rich Crunchbase syntex but may not afford an individual subscription.

Curious about how Crunchbase group buying works?

In general, the procedure of execution of the Crunchbase Group Buy is as follows:

Formation of a Group: Interested individuals can join a club using online social networks or managing sites. The size of a group can be different but as a rule is small enough to be manageable and big enough for the subscription cost to be reasonable.

Subscription Purchase: Someone from the group buys subscription and usually selects professional plan that allows inviting multiple users to login. This feature-explained to be a premium subscription-is then shared among members of the group.

Cost Sharing: The total amount of money used to purchase the subscription is distributed among the members with each member contributing a portion of the whole amount. Payments are mostly made using payment systems or escrow systems that reinforce safety and professionalism of the group.

Access Sharing: The user who subscribed uses the system to create other users and invite them or provide them with the password. Depending on the location or subscription level this could be allowing several users to log on to the same account or having to log on to different accounts.

Benefits of Crunchbase Group Buy

Cost Saving:

The most significant advantage of Crunchbase Group Buy is the cost-savings that can be attained. People can make use of the premium features by sharing the subscription costs instead of incurring the burden of paying for the full subscribed amount.

Access to Premium Features:

Some premium plans on crunchbase contain lots of valuable data like search parameters, company information, and investor details, and are extremely useful for users as group buying facilitates access to such features that may otherwise be beyond the reach of most people especially small or medium size firms due to financial limitations.

Collaborative Networking:

There’s an additional advantage brought about by group subscriptions in which there is a building of relationships where everyone not only shares the subscription but the members also share what they know including friends. This cooperation can prove to be of aid to start-ups, business people, and students.

Flexibility:

In most cases, group members are free to join or leave the subscription whenever they wish thereby meeting the needs of those who would like to have short stints with crunchbase.

Ethical and Legal Implications

Though there are some financial benefits associated with Crunchbase Group Buy, it is imperative to look into the possible ethical and legal concerns:

Terms of Service Violation

Like all other subscription services, a service such as Crunchbase has terms of use that prohibit users from sharing their logins or accounts causing account sharing outside an organization. Buying accounts of other doesn’t so working might breach these terms enabling the site to terminate such an account or suit an individual.

Security Breaches

This practice poses privacy risks since different users log into the same account and use the same password. If one user’s account is hacked, it creates possible attacks on all clients as it brings vulnerabilities and risks data possession.

Effect on Service Providers

This became the practice especially after the introduction of Aspirant Group. The service providers such as Crunchbase may lose their revenue models. If subscription fee income declines, the company will cut costs which will comprise the level of service, product enhancement and support, and other services.

Final Thoughts

Nevertheless, Crunchbase Group Buy is a radical but uneconomical way of utilizing some business tools. It presents evident merits as regards pricing and access, yet it also provokes certain moral and legal concerns. Users that wish to take this approach should be able to consider the negative aspects of this approach against the positive aspects and benefits and fully comprehend the use of the platform to its users.

With the evolution of business intelligence, the industry may introduce new pricing models or new plans directed towards small businesses or individuals created as a response to the growth of the demand for business intelligence. Only this time, group buying will probably remain a common approach to accessing information such as the one provided by Crunchbase, only this time there will be a need to think better about the fication more generally and its broader implications.