Although the incentives to use crowdfunding are compelling for some creators, crowdfunding also presents certain challenges. Perhaps the greatest of these is the disclosure requirement. Other sources of funding, like home-equity loans, friends and family members, and angel investors, allow creators to keep their innovation secret from the general public, including competitors, prior to selling their product or service. However, crowdfunding requires cre- ators to disclose their innovations in a public forum. The disincentive is strongest for those creators who are most worried about imitation, especially during the period between raising capital and launching their product, when the difference between crowdfunding and other sources of capital in terms of disclosure risk is most severe