The Point: Mobilizes people to reach “tipping point” for their cause

Drawing upon Malcolm Gladwell’s concept of the “tipping point,” a Chicago start-up called The Point allows its users to coordinate groups to successfully pull off fundraisers, petitions, boycotts, or any number of other causes.

According to its approach, only once the “tipping point” of the number of members in a campaign has been reached should the members “activate” the campaign and display it to the public, ensuring a nice base of support for that group. The company, founded in September has just raised $4.7 million from Rugger Ventures, Old Willow Partners, and Silicon Valley-Baltimore firm New Enterprise Associates.

The company provides lots of entertaining examples of how the approach can be employed, from frustrated consumer, to under-appreciated employee, loving parent, concerned citizen and smart shopper on the company’s home page (bottom right). There’s a tour here.

And here’s the page of actual campaigns underway, from an effort to raise $10 billion(!) to create a weather-shielding dome over Chicago, to a demand for better healthcare for workers at Wal-Mart.