New website helps generate millions of dollars for projects - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports

NEW YORK (AP) -- Kickstarter, the website where people ask for money to finance their projects, can sometimes generate millions of dollars more than what was originally sought.

In April, three-person startup Pebble Technology sought to raise $100,000 to make 1,000 wristwatches that can be programmed with different clock faces. Donors on Kickstarter showered them with $10.3 million.

Kickstarter is the largest of dozens of sites devoted to crowdfunding, in which donors contribute small sums of money to get a project off the ground.

Co-founder Perry Chen has said that the site was born out of his frustration at being unable to organize a concert. But it's becoming a potent launchpad for tangible products as well, upending in some cases the usual way things get made.