How to Prepare for Crowdfunding
We hope you enjoy this guest blog from Carolyn Knight, of Odoro
So, you have what seems to be a great idea. You’ve started fleshing out your business plan, and a few of your trusted colleagues are on board to help you get your project started, if you can get the right amount of funding. You believe you’re ready to start looking into your crowdfunding options, but you may have never done this before.
What if potential financial supporters aren’t interested? There are a lot of people who are willing to back ideas with potential, but how do you communicate the potential of your idea, especially in the online space? How do you convince people and organizations to back you?
The key to improving your chances of receiving crowdfunding is to make sure your project and you are ready. There’s no need to rush the process if you don’t have all your ducks in a row. Here are some of the things you’ll probably want to do before you launch a campaign to get your idea crowdfunded:
1. Figure out how much funding you need
It’ll seem as though you didn’t do the necessary research if you launch a crowdfunding campaign and your online profile reads: “I’ve come up with this brilliant business idea. I need as much money as you’re willing to give me.”
Potential financial supporters want to know specifics. Even if you have the most innovative business idea in the world, no one will want to hand money over to you unless you can tell them how much money you need for your project and how you plan to use that money.
2. Build your credibility
You have to seem credible and competent to potential financial supporters. So, write down all of your relevant business accomplishments and create a written, online pitch that includes a summary of all of your relevant accomplishments. Have a friend or colleague read over your written pitch to check for grammatical errors and make sure you don’t cross over into the territory of arrogance. You want potential funders to think you're the bee’s knees, but you don’t want them to think you have a grandiose sense of self-worth. Make sure you don’t cross the line.
3. Back yourself up with the right skills and the right assistance.
If you don’t have a background in computer science, you may have some trouble convincing potential funders that you’ll be able to monetize a cloud-based storage service. In this scenario, you’d need to prove to funders that you have the right team of programmers at your side to help you create the cloud service in question. It’s essential that you let funders know you have the brainpower, manpower, and willpower to accomplish your goals. So, make sure you are loud and proud about who’s working on your team and about all of the relevant experience you have.
Getting crowdfunding is one of the most challenging things you’ll have to do as you try to launch a new business idea. Make sure you’re prepared for the challenge!
Author’s Bio: Carolyn is a guest blogger on the subjects of small business funding, ecommerce best practices, and order management software as it relates to the use of BigCommerce, 3dcart, and Shopify.
Getting Involved in Crowdfunding, Bonnie Bling Stylie
Fabulous guest blog from Tim Hunter-Davies
I was recently made aware of a new crowd funding website called Bloom VC, and more specifically a project from a small business called Bonnie Bling.
6 Reasons Why I’m supporting the Bonnnie Bling crowd funding project
Bonnie Bling is a range of Scottish slang word jewellery made from acrylic plastic. Each piece is designed and made by the girls from their studio in the Hidden Lane, Glasgow. The main range includes necklaces, earrings, badges and cufflinks featuring common Scottish slang words or phrases. This is currently stocked in around 20 outlets across Scotland
They want to make all their own products here in Scotland and need their own laser cutting machine to make it happen.
Whether its a gem-encrusted Prada Jacket, shiny Versace or Dolce & Gabbana – Bling is all the rage!
What is crowd funding?
Crowd funding describes the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money and other resources together, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. See Wikipedia for more..
So, here are my 6 reasons for getting involved in crowd funding Bonnie Bling:
1. Supporting Small business
I remember what it’s been like in the past to have an idea but not be able to fund it to fruition. Nows the time to help make it happen for others…
2. They’ve got Good Numbers
Before I parted with my cash I got in touch with them and asked a few business questions – half expecting a flaky answer, and thus removing myself from funding. Instead I got an immediate honest reply with all the figures I asked about.
In summary, they sold 6,000 units last year with 20% of orders coming through their website. They’ve had a cracking start to the year and with all the publicity they’ve had I’d expect them to achieve their forecast.
So, at the end of the day, I’m not expecting them to waste the investment.
3. They’re making news
Lana Del Ray, X Factor’s Amelia Lily, MTV’s Laura Whitmore, Tallia Storm, Mary Portas – they’ve all been photographed wearing Bonnie Bling.
Pretty impressive for a small business just breaking through.
4. A Business that is Design Led
The project is design led, it’s fashion, it’s about tapping into the popular sub-culture of today’s youth. Ok, it’s the complete opposite of some of our clients, but that’s not the point.
It’s design led by enthusiastic people. Enough said.
5. I’m supporting Scottish Business
Move over negative news – it’s time for a bit of booom in your step and encourage people out there making a damn good go of it.
6. You get rewards
Other than feeling good about a philanthropic act, with a Bonnie Bling crowd funding promise you get rewards – some of them perfect for birthday and christmas presents. Although I may just get a blinged-up “HD” knuckle duster made for an upcoming party!
Go forth and get involved!
So, now I urge you to get involved – even if it’s just for £5, £10 or £20.
After all, wouldn’t it be great to see one of Bonnie Bling’s products on a celebrity on tv or in a magazine and be able to say “I helped fund that company”?!
Go to http://bloomvc.com/project/Big-up-our-Bling for more information.
Tim lives and works on Skye and runs Skyewebsites and Hunter Davies
Board Appointment for Boyle
Thrilled to announce our founder and CEO Amanda Boyle has been appointed to the Board of the Entrepreneurial Exchange, Scotland’s leading organisation for entrepreneurs.
Amanda took her place alongside new Chairman Chris van der Kuyl, CEO of BrightSolid, at the Exchange’s Annual Conference in Gleneagles on Thursday.
She said: ”The Exchange has been part of my business life for more years than I'd like to admit and, more personally, I've made some genuine and loyal friends as a result. Practically, Exchange members have provided a sounding board to some of my best decisions and my worst moments in business; the sort of situations family and friends simply don't get. I've also recruited fantastic non execs and advisors for various Boards.
“I can genuinely say I would not have achieved as much as I have, nor even had the ambition that I have, without the support, encouragement and mentoring of Exchange members.”
Amanda promises fresh thinking, challenging conventions and positive results in her new role.
Good luck, Amanda.
Bloom and the ECA
Currently, there are more than 1,400 crowdfunding platforms operating worldwide. But apart from the FSA, which is looking carefully at how to regulate the equity-based crowdfunding model in the UK, there is no regulation of the hundreds of crowdfunding platforms being launched across the UK and Europe.
Hence the launch of The European Crowdfunding Association (ECA), a not-for-profit industry body comprised of leading platforms, funds and individuals active in the crowdfunding space in Europe.
The association was conceived in early 2012 by a group of entrepreneurs and investors, including Bloom, to provide a unified voice promoting crowdfunding as a source of capital to support the development and growth of for-profit businesses, social enterprises and other projects.
Chris Puttick, co-chair of the ECA says: "Crowdfunding can be a powerful tool for getting start-ups and other projects funded and Bloom’s successfully funded project Wake Up Call is a great example of what can be achieved. The industry is still in its infancy and new approaches and applications are continually being developed."
Co-chair of ECA Mike Fauconnier-Bank continues: "The ECA recognises the importance of educating the crowd, regulators and businesses seeking funds about the exciting opportunities and potential risks of crowdfunding. In doing so we strive to promote a broader public engagement with entrepreneurship in general."
Amanda Boyle, CEO and founder of Bloom and Jeff Lynn, CEO and co-founder of Seedrs (an equity crowdfunding platform soft-launched last month), are co-founders of the association, and both see the benefits for individuals raising money and for those donating it.
Jeff says: “The main benefit is to help both investors and entrepreneurs understand how it works, which platforms are operating legally and which are not, and how best to use crowdfunding to allocate or raise capital."
Amanda says Bloom is immensely proud to be a part of the ECA at such a formative stage. “It’s hugely important to us that crowdfunding gets the support and recognition it needs to become an accepted alternative source of finance, and we’re delighted to be working with such an experienced and passionate group of people to make this happen.”
Beta Testing Over for Bloom
Crowdfunding platform Bloom VC comes out of beta today with a successfully funded project under its belt and 30 more in the pipeline.
Bloom VC (Venture Catalyst) launched in November and the platform has been tested by users – both project owners and donors – since then.
Now that the fine-tuning is complete and the first milestone reached, founder and CEO Amanda Boyle has made the decision to close the beta test and start work on enhancing the features of the platform.
“We’ve had great input from our users and it’s helped us to create a platform that’s intuitive to navigate and well-integrated with the social networks essential to help spread the word and ask for support for projects, said Boyle.
“The next phase of development is all about developing a deeper support mechanism for users, an even more effective analytics dashboard and enhancing the experience for our donor community.”
Designed and built by the award-winning team at Everyone, the platform is hosted by Bloom’s technology partner, vps.net, whose CEO Phil Male is on the Bloom board.
Male commented: “We are extremely proud to be the technology partner for Bloom. Working closely with innovative and exciting new ventures is what we do day in day out, what better way is there for us to explore new ways of developing fresh ideas than to support Bloom?”
Student Kev Pickering became the first in Scotland to successfully crowdfund a project, his new movie, Wake Up Call. He reached his target in just four days, but went on to raise 46% more than his target by the end of the 30-day crowdfunding campaign.
Pickering said: “Bloom has been brilliant for me. Raising money for a student film is not easy and asking friends and family for money is never easy either, so being able to point friends and family to a page where they can easily read about the project and see what their money will be used for was really helpful.
“The staff at Bloom is extremely helpful and very accessible. Bloom has really been beneficial to me and my project "Wake Up Call" and I will definitely crowdfund with them for the next film.”
Bloom has more than 30 exciting new projects in the pipeline, ranging from technology to games, apps, cosmetics, music and another two movies.
Check out the team that helped us reach this milestone:
Technology partner – www.vps.net
Web developer - www.weareeveryone.com - Winner of New Business of the Year at the Scottish Business Awards, February 2012
Guest Blog; Dream Idea UK - A new resource for entrepreneurs
Millions of viewers have tuned in to watch innovators and inventors being thoroughly grilled, and sometimes assisted, in the hit TV programme Dragons’ Den. Now new website, Dream Idea, seeks to bring a similar concept to the world of social media networking: Facebook meets Dragons’ Den.
This new online community aims to bring together experts, entrepreneurs and investors in order to collaborate and develop robust and successful business ideas. While pitching a new idea is often a very nerve-wracking experience (particularly when faced with ‘dragons’!), Dream Idea provides a platform aiming to remove some of that pressure – a place to ‘meet’ potential investors and get to know them before actually meeting them. It also allows members to gain contacts and build relationships with fellow entrepreneurs and future partners.
The founders of the site John Rebholz and Stephen Smith, entrepreneurs themselves, both have a first-hand understanding of the importance of opportunity and hope to help young and new entrepreneurs with successful networking and making the right connections”.
Budding entrepreneurs are invited to set up profiles detailing their business idea and proposal in the hopes of attracting investors and experts to advise them. There is also the opportunity to privately register ideas in return for a Certificate of Ownership for those who are not quite ready to share details but wish to take a first step toward making a dream idea a reality! All ideas are protected by a secure, member’s only, online environment with user-defined privacy settings where Non-Disclosure Agreements are set in place as a requirement of membership.
The site features real investors looking to make smart investments and secure brand new opportunities in grass-roots companies. Numerous business experts of various sectors are also on board acting as mentors to offer advice and a helping hand to new businesses. The crowdfunding hub on the website also means you have the chance to capitalise on your own ideas as well as investing in others’!
The aim of Dream Idea is to present a one-stop online shop for entrepreneurs in the early stages of starting a business – from the glimmer of an idea to a trading business needing a push in the right direction.
Celebrating Our First Funded Project
Wow, fully funded in just four days.
Congratulations to successful project owner Kev Pickering, whose movie Wake Up Call not only reached, but actually surpassed its funding target.
At the end of his crowdfunding campaign, Kev had raised £586, that’s 46% more than his target.
What made him so successful so quickly? Kev told a good story, showed a great video, and he reached out to his friends and family first to ask for their support. Add to that a series of fab rewards – I mean, who wouldn’t want to go to a movie premiere or have their name on the credits as Executive Producer? – and this project was one destined to win from outset.
Kev is a student at Edinburgh College of Arts and this is a sequel to his very first short film, “Wake Me Up, 2002”.
"Wake Up Call" is a character driven short crime film, based in the Edinburgh underworld. It follows the characters of Mr Fraser, an ageing gangster and Duncan, an up and coming criminal, and what happens when their paths cross. It is an observation of modern violent culture and the mindless brutality that surrounds it.
As a student at Edinburgh College of Arts money is tight and this, Kev’s most ambitious project to date, needed the right funding to reach the widest audience possible. Kev explains in his pitch why this is so important to him, and he details what he plans to spend the money on; case expenses, make up/effects, costumers, catering, music rights, transport, locations, equipment hire and festival entry fees.
We wish Kev the best of luck with his new movie, and hope to see him back here again crowdfunding for his next venture.
The Hidden Benefits of Crowdfunding
The beauty of crowdfunding is that it delivers far more than just hard cash.
Obviously the money you raise is important, why else would you launch a crowdfunding campaign?
But crowdfunding is about much more than just the funds you raise, and we’re going to reveal the hidden benefits.
If you work your campaign effectively, you could benefit in a number of other ways, all vital to help you grow your business or indeed support your community or social enterprise in the future.
Firstly, you’re able to do market research about your product or service. By asking people to give money in return for your reward, you can establish whether or not there is a market appetite. If people are willing to give you money so you can create a product they want, then you’re on to a winner. You’re able to demonstrate proof of concept when you reach out to raise additional funding later on.
You also build an engaged community of customers, people not only willing to pay you to start your business but happy to tell their friends about you also. Building testimonials from this super-supportive crowd when your project is successful means you start your business with some really positive and powerful case studies to underpin your marketing efforts.
Often the reward is the produce or service the money will be used to develop, so in effect you are pre-selling, generating a healthy order book to launch your business. Not many businesses can boast that they started out with a full order book.
The fact that crowdfunding is based on the use of social media (often free but always inexpensive compared to traditional PR) means word of mouth PR and the buzz around what you’re doing might also provide some newsworthy media coverage for your business or social enterprise.
All of these benefits stack up into a significant opportunity for when you take your business to the next stage and need to raise additional funding, maybe from banks, Angel investors or VCs. You are in a much stronger position to negotiate, having already provided the answers to many of the questions they will ask.
But remember, your crowdfunding campaign is not just a one off activity. Once your project succeeds (and even if it doesn’t) what you’ve started leads straight into the next stage of your business or social enterprise. You continue to engage with your customers, build on the support they’ve given you to aspire to more and there’s no reason why you can’t crowdfund again.
In fact, once you’ve experienced the “hidden benefits” we’ll be surprised if you don’t.
Rewards v Equity
Bloom is a reward model. If you put your project on our site you don't have to give up any equity or ownership of your business, nor do you have to pay any of the money back.
Simple you'd think, but there's some pointless and ill-informed scaremongering going on. From webinars proclaiming crowdfunding is a bad idea to simple confusion over what is/isn't/could/couldn't be legal. While it's important to engage in discussions and debate about the value, opportunities and potential pitfalls of crowdfunding, it's only fair that these should be based on fact. So, time to set the record straight ...
There are clear distinctions between the three differing crowdfunding models:
Peer to peer, or debt-based - a simple loan that must be paid back. Loans are straightforward, it's a simple transaction, you just have to make sure you can repay it.
Equity-based - you sell shares or, more often, parts of shares in return for investment. Individuals who give money to your project are investors and own equity in your company. The perceived wisdom is, with an early stage business, the less equity you give away the better.
Reward-based - which is the Bloom model. In this case, the backer makes a promise to pay you money (if you reach your target) and receives a reward in return. Often but not always, the reward is the product or service the money is being used to develop and deliver, so in effect, pre-selling.
Bloom is a reward model. If you put your project on our site, you don't have to give up any equity or ownership of your business, nor do you have to pay any of the money back.
Bloom is all about encouraging and motivating project owners to successfully reach their targets, it's about encouraging and motivating backers to make promises that contribute to a greater goal.
With Bloom, you don't give up equity or repay the money, just deliver the reward and you retain complete ownership of your business.
Promises and rewards, what could be simpler?
How much time should I spend on my project?
How long is a piece of string?
It's difficult to give specific time guidelines, but we'd say as much as you possibly can; we recommend at least an hour a day before, during and after you launch your project.
Before you make your project live it is important to spend time creating the very best pitch you can; create a video people will want to watch and share (it doesn't have to be professional, just engaging) and craft your story so people reading will not only understand what this is and why it is so important to you, but how they can support you on your journey and share your success. You also need to be building up your networks, both online and offline, reaching out to people on Twitter and Facebook, working your LinkedIn connections, and raising awareness about what's "coming soon".
Once your project is live, you need to be working on your project every day, thanking your backers, reaching out to others, updating your project regularly, emailing your database, posting on your project wall, tweeting links to your project, sending out press releases and offering to write guest blogs on relevant sites. It's also important not to forget there are other people crowdfunding on Bloom too, so it's great to support them where you can.
Once you've reached your target, you can't just forget the backers who made it happen for you. You've built a vibrant community, these are your future customers, your brand ambassadors, the foundation upon which you're going to build a successful, sustainable, scaleable business, so make sure you engage with them regularly. Thank them immediately, ensure they get their rewwards as soon as you can physically achieve that, and then keep in touch. Even if you didn't reached your target, your backers believed in you and will hopefully stay around to support your future plans.
It sounds a lot. It is a lot. But remember, the more you put in the more you get out. It's worth every second.
Crowdfunding for Students
It's tough enough being a student with a great business idea. But when you're a student with a great business idea and a pile of student debt, accessing finance to launch your startup is going to prove a challenge.
Even without the current economic climate, someone with student debt and no previous business experience is unlikely to come out of that conversation with a cheque book, a loan and an overdraft facility. The bank of mum and dad is usually open for business, but what if you need a couple of thousand pounds, rather than just a couple of hundred?
Crowdfunding is the perfect opportunity for young graduates who want launch a business after leaving full-time education, or indeed for enterprising students who want to generate an income while they're studying.
It's perfect for two reasons, firstly the fact that crowdfunding works so well with social media means it's ideal for Generation Y who have grown up with friends/fans/followers on a variety of social networking platforms.
And secondly because the promises of money are not investments or loans. The student or graduate is not expected to give up equity in their fledgling business nor add to their already growing debt by paying anything back, instead they maintain complete control over their work or business. This is hugely important if the business is potentially high-growth and might be seeking angel or VC investment further down the line.
Fiona Godsman is chief executive of Scottish Institue for Enterprise, and she is excited by the opportunities that crowdfunding opens up for students.
She said: "At SIE we help students to become entrepreneurs. We identify young people with innovative early stage ideas and provide them with practical advice and support to help turn their ideas into viable business propositions.
"But it's hard for these young entrepreneurs without track records to get financial support, which is why crowdfunding is such a fantastic innovation.
"Not only does it provide them with much needed seed funding, but by doing so, it demonstrates that the business community has faith in their ideas, which gives them the confidence to succeed."
The 3Cs of Crowdfunding
Create: You’ve got an idea. It might be for a startup, a student business, a new product, a community or social venture, but you have an idea. You created that idea. To turn it into reality you need to create a compelling campaign, to tell your story in such an engaging way the people not only want to help you, but they will ask their friends and family to help you too.
Be creative with your project, create a must-see video (it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money), something that people will watch and share, and create a series of must-have rewards, from a spectacular public thank you to an all-singing all-dancing first off the line product that they helped fund.
Look at every aspect of your crowdfunding campaign and ask yourself if it’s the most creative, most exciting, most rewarding, most inspirational, most desirable, most memorable you can possibly make it. If the answer’s no, then try again.
Connect: Crowdfunding is all about linking people with ideas to people with money and expertise to help them make it happen. It’s about using social networks with global reach to deliver local impact. Use your networks, work them carefully, it’s what networking and connecting is all about.
Increase your network before you start crowdfunding and start to talk to them about what you’re doing, why, and how they can help. Search social networking sites for the most relevant groups and discussions and join in. Then, when your project goes live they are already up to speed with what you’re doing and what you need them to do for you.
Keep connecting during your project campaign, you need to post regularly to all the sites you’re linked to, you need to be publicly thanking your supporters on Twitter, FB, LinkedIn and you need to be keeping everyone up to date with your progress.
Make good connections during your crowdfunding campaign and you can be sure that you’ll finish the campaign with an engaged audience that wants to continue to support you, a customer-base that wants you succeed, and proof of the market appetite for your idea.
Collaborate: You can use your crowdfunding campaign to seek advice and support – as well as money – harnessing the wisdom of the crowd. All those people you need to help you are out there, ready and willing to help. You just need to know how to find them, how to engage with them, how to reward them, and how to thank them.
Start to look at your own network and see who could be helpful, look at their network and see if they know anyone that would be useful to you and your project, and start to build relationships. Post questions on Twitter, into LinkedIn groups, on FB pages of individuals and organisations with a sjmilar interest. People love to help, but they won’t know you need it unless you ask. Find out which companies, organisations, academic or charitable institutions are expert in your field, and talk to them.
Ask for advice, ask about their experiences, and then, when you’ve successfully completed your project make sure you jump back into the crowdfunding world and offer your advice and experience to others.
Use social, get social, be social
One of the key success factors of crowdfunding is the ability to use social media to the greatest effect. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and others all give you the opportunity to reach a wide network of people who may help to fund your project.
Consider this: the average student has more than 250 friends on Facebook; the average Twitter user has more than 100 followers; the average business man or woman has more than 300 connections on LinkedIn. And each of those connections may have the same or more. And so on. If you could persuade even half of your online connections to give you £10 each then you’re well on your way before you even ask your friends and family.
So it’s important not to wait until your crowdfunding project is live before you start tweeting and posting and linking-in. This needs to be part of your strategy before you begin; you should be reaching out and engaging with all your connections, offline as well as online, while you’re creating your project. Tell them what you’re doing, and ask for their support. And when your project goes live, you need to keep in touch with them, both directly – via social channels or in person – and indirectly, with updates and posts on your project page.
We reckon you need to spend at least an hour a day (not necessarily all at once) engaging with people to ask them to make a promise to your project and giving them compelling reasons why.
The more effort you put in, the more likely you are to reach your target.
3 Steps to Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding on Bloom is as easy as 1,2 3.
We've laid out the 3 all-important steps but remember, each step takes time and effort. You need to spend time planning your project before you post it, reaching out to your networks before you launch, and then repeat steps 2 and 3, keeping in touch with everyone with regular updates, throughout the duration of your campaign.
Good luck!.
Want to know more about Bloom? Watch our new video
Crowdfunding with Bloom? It's really simple. You can launch a project or support a project from anywhere in the world. Come and be a part of our growing community.
Bloom - the Venture Catalysts!
A New Year Message from Bloom founder Amanda Boyle
What are you looking forward to in the new year?
Thinking about 2012 made me realise how much I relish the challenges and opportunities ahead. The short answer is building a world-class, kick-ass business... but that's a pretty short contribution, so here's the unabridged version.
I can't remember ever being so enthusiastic and excited about a New Year. Listening to the news - unemployment, debt, business failures - some might think it more appropriate to curl under the duvet and wait for the worst to pass. But, spend a few minutes on Twitter or LinkedIn or any of the established socially networked sites this holiday season, and the message is loud and clear, people are optimistic, positive and enthusiastic about the future. And no one is more so than me!
It's almost two years since I stumbled across the embryonic, online phenomenon that is crowdfunding. What got me interested was what always hooks me... there's a problem looking for a solution and an appetite for disruption of the status quo. So I got to work finding out more, analysing the data and reviewing the legislation.
For anyone unfamiliar with the model, crowdfunding enables people to raise the funding for their start-up venture, community project or social enterprise from their friends, family, and social networks. Just as we've been doing since the dawn of time, only now using the Internet to reach farther, spread the word and without sacrificing ownership.
There are already some terrific sites, delivering millions of dollars, pounds and Euro to get things started. Who hasn't heard of Kickstarter or Indiegogo or Sellaband, leading the way for newbies like Bloom - Venture Catalyst or PeopleFund or WeDidThis. Today, there are 1574 sites and counting across the world, it feels like the beginning of a revolution.
I thought I'd achieved just about everything I wanted to, had no ambitions to repeat anything, and was waiting for something exciting to come along. It's taken 12 months of focus, determination and persuasion to get this far; not forgetting a fantastic team and an incredibly patient, supportive board, who are as deeply committed as I am to growing the entrepreneurial eco-system.
The biggest milestone to date has been developing and publishing the website, the next goal is to build the community that will generate £1million for startups, projects and causes. If that's not worth looking forward to, I don't know what is.
Wishing you a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
Insights and Tips
Did you know that campaign success rates double with the first contribution, quadruple once the 10% mark has been reached and are more than five times as likely to succeed when 25% of the target amount has been reached?
Crowdfunding might be new to the social space, but those who've been in the game for a couple of years now are starting to share some of their insights into what makes a successful campaign, based on their early experiences. Indiegogo shared the above stat, and they have also revealed the following insights:
- 70% of campaigns that meet their funding goal have between three and eight rewards.
- Project updates every 1-5 days double the contribution rate.
- More contributions have been made to $25 rewards than any other, and the largest amount of money has been raised through $100 rewards.
So how do you make the most out of these insights? Here are our top tips:
1. Reach out to your friends and family as soon as you launch your project. They are most likely to support you and help you reach the early milestones towards success. Others are more likely to follow suit if they are confident that your nearest and dearest are supportive of what you are doing.
2. Choose your rewards - and their values - very carefully. Bear in mind the crucial numbers highlighted above and make sure you have created rewards that are not only compelling, but are pitched at the right value for your target audience.
3. And remember to update your project regularly, refresh your images, swap your featured videos, post updates on your project and talk to the people who are commenting and supporting you. Share all these updates via your social networks, and by regular email updates to those who are active online.
So now what?
You've created your project, it's now live on the Bloom platform and you're waiting for lots of lovely donors to choose their rewards and promise you some money. How do you get the word out that you're here, that you're ready for business and you're looking for help?
Here are some tips that will help you on your way:
1. Facebook - update your FB status with the link to Bloom so all of your friends can see your link in their News Feeds. Post your link on their walls and ask them to support you by donating and also by sharing the link amongst their friends. Ask them to post an update all about how they have supported you, why your project is important, and with a request to others to do the same. Remember to publicly thank those that help.
2. Video- consider making a funny video, something that will make people laugh and want to share the link - and obviously you need to use it as the feature video on your project and you can also upload to YouTube and ask people there to share it. Make sure the video ends with a "call to action", ask them to look at your project, choose a reward, share the link to the project with their contacts.
3. Twitter - you could tweet out details of individual rewards, share your goals and ambitions, publicly thank those who donate, and tell people why they should support you. Ask your followers to RT your link. And remember to keep your tweet to less than 120 characters so others can RT and add their comments.
4.Blog - if you have a blog, then start writing about what you are doing, why you need support, the difference it will make to you and to the people your project will benefit. Share photos and videos on the blog too. And link it to your project and your Facebook page.
5. Work colleagues and offline networks - Not everybody is online or active in a social network, so make sure you communicate with your other networks as well. Send out an email with a link to the project and ask for support, ask them to send the email to anyone they know that would like to help also. When talking to people make sure you tell them about your project and tell them to visit the Bloom site to support your project. And remember to include your project in all the usual offline PR and media activities you carry out.
6. Press releases - crowdfunding is still relatively new and so your local newspapers may well be interested in what you're doing. If you send them a short press release, give them a quick phone call, tell them what you're doing, why and what makes it newsworthy, they may well write a story and include the link to what you're doing.
7. Internet - make sure you search online for anyone talking about crowdfunding, or about something relevant to your project. Think about the people you would normally sell to or talk to, visit their sites, look for their blogs, seek them out on Facebook and Twitter and find a way to engage with them.
8. On the Bloom site - you can refresh and add new videos and images or you can rotate the collateral you have by selecting a new featured video or image every couple of days. Use the comments and updates sections to talk to people who are donating.
9. And don't forget to ask your friends and family.
Good luck. And remember, we're here to help.
Bloom on the BBC
Wow, we've certainly stirred up some interest with our launch last week, we've been quoted everywhere from the BBC to The Times in India.
Just in case you missed it, here's the link to the BBC article.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-15795509
NESTA support for Bloom
So excited to announce we have secured a financial partnership with NESTA, the UK’s foremost expert on innovation.
Robert Crawford, Director of Innovation, Investment and Growth at NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) said they are delighted to support us and look forward to learning from the our crowdfunding model.
Founder and CEO Amanda Boyle said: ”There’s a real need to support students and graduates, in science, tech and the arts, many of whom have fantastic ideas. And we now have more than a million young people who can’t find a job, so are looking at starting their own business instead.
“Through Bloom they not only raise the money they need to start up, but they are also proving the concept, building a customer base, often pre-selling their product or service, and actively creating a community of fans who want to engage with them.
“And all without having to give up equity in their business. It puts them in a very strong position to scale their business and start their journey on the road to angel or VC investment.”
Amanda emphasised that Bloom is not about replacing banks or the traditional funding organisations, but is simply filling a crucial funding gap at the very early stages, and offering ongoing mentoring and support to help ambitious individuals and groups turn their ideas into reality. In effect, creating a pipeline of opportunities for the angel and VC community.
Bloom, currently in beta testing, has already attracted projects from all over the world. The platform launched with a number of exciting projects seeking funding including an educational anti-sectarian film, dairy-free foods for babies and toddlers, and a music discovery and promotions website.
Over the next week the site will also feature an eco-friendly business which aims to recycle used coffee granules into plant food, a universal e-ticket solution, virtual technology for the camera, an organisation that wants to turn one of the dirtiest beaches in the UK into a clean, tourist destination, and the world’s first “Imax for the home” immersive dome display.
Mr Crawford said: “There are a number of great business ideas out there that aren’t able to attract traditional types of investment and support to become a reality and thrive.
“By using the Web to jumpstart new ideas and find new sources of funding, we believe we can do more to ensure more of these concepts see the light of day and are given the opportunity to drive the economy forward in future.
“We very much look forward to working with Bloom and to learn from the model they are developing.”
We are also delighted to announce we have secured vps.net as a technology partner, and our platform has been developed using the very latest global cloud technology, kindly donated by vps.net.
Phil Male, CEO of vps.net, commented: “We are extremely proud to be the technology partner for Bloom. Working closely with innovative and exciting new ventures is what we do day in day out, what better way is there for us to explore new ways of developing fresh ideas than to support Bloom?”
Softly softly catchy monkey
Well, the soft launch has happened, our first projects are profiled on the platform, and we're spending our time smoothing out the little glitches.
At the moment, you can watch our project videos and choose the rewards you want, hopefully later this week you should also be able to make a promise.
And you can upload your projects too. They won't go live until Global Entrepreneurship Week - our formal launch - but you can perfect your pitch, make a stonking great video, create some really exciting rewards and preview how it will look on Bloom.
What we'd like to do now is to thank everyone who has helped us get this far - we are by no means all the way there yet, plenty more hard work still to come, but we're grateful for all the support.
Stick with us, Bloom is going on an incredibly journey and we want you by our side all the way.
How big does your social network need to be to hit your target?
Want to know how how big your social network has to be to reach your funding target?
Musician Alan Bern needed to raise $10,000 to fly his 14-strong band to Copenhagen - it took him 43 days, and these are his statistic:
Alan did 3 postings, with audio and video, spaced in approx. 3 weeks. He reached out to his first circle of friends and fans via e-mail (450), facebook (1075) the band’s fanpage on Facebook (531) and another music fanpage (500). Each posting caused a wave of backers totaling in 138 backers accounting for 10,971 dollars.
More than three quarters of his backers invested 50 dollars or less for which they received rewards like signed CDs and DVDs. These smaller backers, Alan explained, were very keen on this reward scheme. The bigger backers didn’t care about the rewards. They just cared about supporting the initiative. In total Alan reached out to around 2500 contacts.
According to blogger Pim Betist, who shared Alan Bern's story, there must be some overlap between the different media he used (e-mail, facebook, etc) but it gives us a ball park figure to work with. 138 people actually went ahead and backed the project. This represents just 5% of Alan’s network and the actual figure is less than that, because not all backers came from Alan’s network. The first wave of backers did, but the second and third were friends of friends.
You can read Pim's blog before which gives more details, but you can see the value of building and engaging with your social network if you want to be successfu.
Hello...and welcome to Bloom.
We're so excited to see you here, whether you are starting a project, looking for a project to support, or simply dropping by for a look. Feel free to poke around, we're sure you'll find something interesting you might like to donate to, or a reward that takes your fancy.
It might even simply give you the inspiration and encouragement you need to take that first step to making your big idea a reality. Enjoy.