In November 2025 I posted a question on my X account that was prompted by the apparent declining popularity of equity crowdfunding in the UK. Data company Beauhurst had tracked the number and total value of equity crowdfunding projects on an annual basis. Crowdfunding Insider picked up on my initial question, and clarified the decline in their own article: “The number of online securities offerings dropped to its lowest level [in 2024] since 2014. In 2021, investment crowdfunding peaked at 569 funding rounds. In 2024, there were just 297—almost half as many. The amount raised is also heading down; in 2021, £773 million was raised online, and only £324 million in 2024.”
It continued a theme I had started in April 2025, and I want to take a few moments to share what I believe are key reasons for the decline.
End of Low Inflation and Interest Rates
When Crowdcube and Seedrs (now Republic) started in the UK we were experiencing a period of almost zero inflation. The Net Present Value calculations of my Open University course seemed hardly necessary. It was more straightforward to assess a pitching company’s financials and reach a decision to invest, or not. It was also far cheaper to borrow money, if that’s what anyone wanted to do to make investments.
The return of both inflation and higher interest rates has complicated the equations. This is particularly clear when looking at return rates on debt crowdfunding (P2P lending).
Low Levels of Investor Success
Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, once said that the key measure of equity crowdfunding’s success was not the sums raised by startup business founders, it should be the returns enjoyed by investors. Without a base of retail investors it cannot work.
Equity crowdfunding is a high-risk investment. The FCA advises that nobody should have more than 10% of an investment portfolio in high risk sectors. Nevertheless, success stories appear few and far between. Early investors in Revolut, for example, include a number of paper-millionaires. If only – they wish – Nik Storonsky would buy back all their shares, or let them be sold on secondary markets.
A dozen UK investor success stories are in an article I wrote for the Crowdsourcing Week platform. That’s less than one per year since Crowdcube and Seedrs launched.
Alternative Retail Investment Opportunities
These are easy to find. Gold has risen by 65% in the past 12 months. Bitcoin began the year at $94,000 and finished it around 7% lower. In between, it edged at one stage above $120,000. These investments are more liquid than equity crowdfunding, and independent valuation data adds transparency.
This year I have been contacted by people encouraging me to invest in artwork by up and coming artists, and in casks of whisky and property developments. Investments in such sectors are far more opaque, but it doesn’t necessarily mean equity crowdfunding is regarded by everyone as better or safer. This has contributed to the equity crowdfunding decline.
Lack of Trust and Transparency
Crowdfunding investors have plenty of right to feel aggrieved when they see the companies they backed go into Administration, and then are bought again by the original founder(s). Debts are written off, including crowdfunding investments.
It has happened to me. Although it is still trading, I did not make an effort this year to gift anything produced by the East London Liquor Company, or visit the distillery restaurant or bar. Investor discounts were not maintained. It is a true case of “all I got was the lousy t-shirt.”
I have seen newspaper reader comments when cases have been reported of original founders buying their business back from administrators. Accusations of theft and fraud are some of the milder comments. And there is always some input from the “I told you so” brigade who perhaps find glory in never taking a risk.
Who Speaks Up For Equity Crowdfunding?
The expected champion is the UK Crowdfunding Association. It was formed in 2013 with the purpose of promoting the interests of crowdfunding and alternative finance platforms, their investors, and clients. A section of its website is for Case Studies. In over 12 years of its existence it now has two.
If anyone from UKCFA reads this, I’d be very happy to help get the Case Studies up to a much more respectable level that demonstrates the multiple benefits, effectiveness, and flexibility of crowdfunding in a manner more appropriate to your mission.
Crowdfunding in Europe has already achieved a significant level of growth, adoption and maturity. Various forms of crowdfunding now offer a wide variety of opportunities for Europeans to pursue a range of financial and community-minded/philanthropic aims. Here is a review of equity crowdfunding platforms in Europe, including some niche ones that show how this alternative finance sector is developing in specialist ways.
What is equity crowdfunding?
This form of crowdfunding enables founders of privately-owned businesses to raise funding through selling equity in their company. It is particularly useful for businesses that are at a pre-trading stage with no income because they are unable to qualify for loans, and for businesses seeking modest investment levels that are often too low for venture capitalists to be interested. One of equity crowdfunding’s great benefits to the companies raising funds is that if a business fails the owners do not have to repay equity investments, though it comes with high risks for investors: only one in ten new businesses last ten years or more. Yet successful ones can provide investors with exceptionally high levels of return.
The Americans have arrived in Europe
In the UK the equity crowdfunding sector is dominated by Crowdcube and Republic Europe (formerly Seedrs), which between them have more than an 80% share of the UK equity crowdfunding market. Republic Europe is a recent rebranding of the Seedrs platform since being acquired by the US platform Republic, and exemplifies US expansion in to the European market. Both the UK platforms have European offices that are authorised under European Crowdfunding Service Provider Regulations (ECSPR) to run cross-border fundraising projects throughout the full European Union.
Since February 2023, another US equity crowdfunding platform, Wefunder, operates a pan-European platform which is based in The Netherlands. As in the United States, Wefunder EU enables retail investors to invest in privately-owned businesses alongside angel investors and venture capital funds.
Opportunities to crowdfund across almost the whole continent in single projects, and the arrival of US players, has put pressure on the smaller platforms and the industry is entering a period of consolidation through mergers and acquisitions. The European Crowdfunding Market Report 2023, released in January 2024, informed us that 42% of equity platforms expected to either merge with another platform or be acquired by another platform in the near future.
Impact investing
At the same time, more platforms are trying to carve out a unique marketplace niche. ECSPR provides tremendous opportunities for platforms that were previously restricted to operating within national boundaries to flourish if they can add the right types of investor to their network throughout the whole European Union plus the EEA (European Economic Area).
Platforms that have focussed on particular industry sectors include the French platform We Take Part, which is dedicated to supporting cleantech and climatetech startups. It bridges the gap between entrepreneurs and investors through highlighting innovations that contribute to a sustainable and resilient future. Similarly, Invesdor Group, originally from Finland and now operating across Scandinavia, the UK, and German speaking Austria and Switzerland as well as Germany itself, has positioned itself as an impact investing platform. It offers equity investments and loan opportunities through bonds. Italy’s Ecomill is another equity crowdfunding platform dedicated to energy transition and sustainability.
One key aspect of such impact investments is that backers are seldomly concerned only with a financial return on their investment. They also gain a personal reward from knowing their investment decisions are making a contribution to social and environmental benefits, on whatever scale they may be.
Wider investment opportunities
Some platforms have moved away from a sole focus on crowdfunding as a way for privately-owned business to raise investment budgets. In the UK, both Crowdcube and Republic Europe have developed secondary markets where buyers and sellers can trade shares in private companies that they did not originally acquire through either of the platforms.
With more than 80,000 investors and total investments of over €50m, the German equity-based crowdfunding platform Companisto has several renowned business angels, corporate finance specialists, and venture capital companies in its network.
Sowefund, in France, works with VCs to provide startups with funding from a far smaller “crowd” of more institutional investors. In the UK the SeedLegals platform operates in a similar fashion with a network of angel investors, family funds and VCs. The Envestors platform based in the UK has a network of only high net worth personal investors who sign up to invest significant amounts each year.
Mamacrowd is a leading equity platform in Italy.
In the Republic of Ireland, equity crowdfunding is dominated by the Spark Crowdfunding platform, which began in 2018. However, since May 2023 the Irish-based venture private equity group VentureWave has owned a majority stake in the Estonian platform Funderbeam, which has moved more towards the institutional VC, family funds and angel investor sector.
In Belgium, on the other hand, the Spreds platform (formerly MyMicroInvest), continues to focus on equity and loan crowdfunding for early stage businesses planning to raise between €50,000 and €1,000,000. The platform fully believes in the multi-faceted power of the crowd to help validate a business concept and demonstrate consumer interest, while experienced investors help to examine the valuation of a company and the potential returns on investment.
Investing outside Europe
There are platforms that provide European-based investors with cross-border opportunities to diversify their investment portfolios through acquiring equity in startups, or lending to micro-businesses, in developing economies.
Crowdinvest in the UK is a good example: it features equity investment opportunities in tech startups in developing economies, including India. Built on Web3, tokenised cross-border transactions are made using blockchain technology.
LendaHand in The Netherlands raises funds across Europe to facilitate loans to small and micro-businesses in developing economies.
Platform regulation
Equity crowdfunding platforms have to meet strict legal requirements and complete a thorough Due Diligence process for each project they host. They are regulated by financial authorities, such as the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, its equivalent in each other country in Europe, and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for platforms trading under ECSP Regulations across the whole European Union and the EAA.
There are several online platforms that allow non-high net worth investors to purchase shares or fractional ownership in high-value assets like luxury watches, art, cars, wine, and whisky. These platforms make it possible for everyday investors to diversify their investment portfolios and participate in the ownership of assets that would otherwise be beyond their reach, and for which they may feel a personal passion. The assets often become the property of a ring-fenced individual company, owned by crowds who acquire equity in the various companies.
Like any investment, there’s a risk of loss, especially since these assets can be more volatile or influenced by market trends. Many of these assets also require a long-term holding period to realize their potential appreciation. During such an extended time, these investments are often less liquid than traditional stocks or bonds, although some platforms do offer a secondary market for trading. There can also be costs for safeguarding these assets that would not be applicable to investing in company equity. Blockchain and NFT technology are making an impact in this sector.
A leading source of data on fractional ownership investment performance is the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFLII), which tracks the performance of 10 popular “investments of passion.”
Knight Frank’s Luxury Investment Index Q4 2023
Asset class
12-month price change (%)
10-year price change (%)
Art
11%
105%
Jewellery
8%
37%
Watches
5%
138%
Coins
4%
56%
Coloured diamonds
2%
8%
Wine
1%
146%
Furniture
-2%
40%
Handbags
-4%
67%
Cars
-6%
82%
Whisky
-9%
280%
Here are some relevant platforms. I have chosen a cross-section to show the range of what is available.
Konvi
Konvi is a pan-European crowdfunding platform, based in Dublin, Ireland, for people to invest through shared ownership of luxury items like watches, art and fine wines. A holding company is created for every asset that is going to be funded. This holding company and its purpose is to own, manage, and sell that one particular asset. When a person invests in an asset, they become a shareholder in this holding company. Konvi was founded in 2020,
ARTSPLIT
ARTSPLIT allows retail investors to buy fractional shares in high-value artworks. The platform, which is based in Paris, France, selects and acquires pieces from established and emerging artists, offering them as “Splits” to investors who can purchase shares. Investors can choose from a curated collection of artworks, which are professionally valued, insured, and stored. This allows retail investors to own a portion of blue-chip and contemporary art without the need to invest large sums of money.
The minimum investment can vary but typically starts from as low as €50 per share, making it accessible for a wide range of investors. ARTSPLIT offers a secondary market where investors can trade their shares. This means investors can buy or sell their shares in the artworks with other investors on the platform, providing flexibility and potential liquidity.
Wine Owners
This platform is based in London, and has a focus on fine wine and spirits. It operates as both an investment and a wine portfolio management platform. Investors can buy, sell, and manage wine collections with the platform acting as a marketplace. The minimum investment varies depending on the specific wine but often starts around a few hundred pounds. It is ideal for wine enthusiasts and investors looking to directly own bottles of fine wine or build a diversified portfolio.
CaskX
This platform specialises in whisky casks from leading distilleries in Scotland and the US. Investors can purchase entire casks or fractions of whisky casks, with the option to let them age or sell when the value appreciates. Its head office is in California, though it also has an office in Scotland.
WiV Technology
WiV Technology is based in Oslo, Norway, and offers fractional ownership of fine wine and rare spirits. It uses blockchain technology to tokenize fine wine assets, enabling secure trading. Investors can purchase shares in individual bottles or cases of wine, and the platform offers full traceability and provenance verification. The minimum investment starts at around €50, and there is a secondary market where investors can trade wine tokens, providing liquidity. It is ideal for investors interested in combining blockchain technology with fine wine investment.
A look to the future of crowdfunding in Europe
I will leave the final words to the European Crowdfunding Network. It seeks to align crowdfunding with the new European Commission’s vision for sustainable growth
“As Europe advances its sustainability and digital innovation goals, crowdfunding can play a pivotal role. Platforms are already facilitating direct investments in renewable energy projects, circular economy initiatives, and technological start-ups, directly supporting the EU’s green and digital transitions.
Crowdfunding is also an important tool for fostering democratic engagement in the economy. By allowing European citizens to invest directly in securities or loans for businesses, crowdfunding offers a transparent and participatory model for financial inclusion. Though small in scale compared to institutional mechanisms, crowdfunding enables bottom-up economic participation that aligns with the EU’s ambition to strengthen social cohesion and economic resilience.”
For 10 years I have been an independent crowdfunding advisor, with no attachments to any particular platforms. If you have crowdfunding ideas or plans you would like to discuss with someone who can give objective views and support, please get in touch through [email protected].
The diversity of businesses I found using crowdfunding in September demonstrate the flexibility and versatility of this alternative source of finance. They included organisations asking for straight donations, businesses offering rewards for donations, and businesses offering equity to prospective new shareholders. The sums involved ranged from £3,000 to £1.25 million. Success has been varied – some might have been popping champagne corks while others might have to look in the mirror and answer some tough questions. I wonder if any will enter the crowdfunding category of the BOLD Awards?
Straight Donations
Cumbria Wildlife Trust had raised 80% of what is needed to buy and protect a 3,000 acre wilderness of Skiddaw Forest in the Lake District. It launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the final £1.25 million from the general public, and it had reached 85% of this target at the time of publishing this blog. A closing deadline is not visible on their project.
Strongly featured in the news in late September, AFC Wimbledon had to call off their game against Newcastle United when heavy rain caused a sinkhole to appear in their pitch. A crowdfunding page quickly gave the club’s supporters a chance to make donations, and it was great to see Newcastle United chip in with £15,000. As of September 30, the total raised had reached almost £123,000.
A Portuguese association for travel agents is asking for donations towards possible legal costs. They want to start an action against Ryanair for what they claim is “abusive commercial or legal practices.” Some may wish them “good luck.”
Rewards for Donations
A young entrepreneur in Leighton Buzzard has developed a refreshing mist spray with built-in sunscreen. Her financial target on Kickstarter was for £3,000 worth of pre-orders, though her personal aim of reaching 1,000 pre-orders before Christmas will go a lot further to providing product validation to develop her Beame business further.
Tilted Axis Press hopes to raise £75,000. Faced with cuts in arts funding, this independent London-based businesses needs to plug a gap to continue publishing translations of books written by Asian and African authors. It is offering signed copies of newly published titles and will continue to add more rewards throughout the campaign. However, it is progressing slowly and has reached only just over £8,000, though there are 27 days left for people to get behind it.
Pilgrim Brewery in Reigate is offering a range of rewards in a bid to raise £50,000 to buy new brewing equipment. This is the first stage of a complete overhaul that will see them demolish the existing brewery and build a new one to put the equipment in. In the meantime they will be able to keep brewing. The product rewards on offer (some are in the image below) represent discounts of 15% to 20% off their normal taproom bar prices. Here are some further examples of crowdfunding used by breweries.
Equity Crowdfunding
Pro Espresso beat its £110,000 target quite comfortably and raised £151,814. It’s a subscription business that allows members to enjoy top quality coffee at home. The business is supported by an espresso machine manufacturer.
Not so positive are the results for the upmarket Embers Camping holiday company. They had reached 71% of their £200,001 target with just two days left. Perhaps the recent torrential rain and flooding brought home to people what a precarious investment it could be.
No such worries for the chocolate drink specialist Knoops. They had reached their £1 million target within two days of the project being thrown open to the public. This is never a case of just good luck, it is always due to good planning and hard work in the earlier stages.
Fermtech is an Oxford-based startup that produces a zero-carbon protein that adds taste to plant-based foods. With just four days left to run they had raised £364,000, 5% above their £325,000 target for 10.82% of the company’s equity.
MPower is a Swiss-based company hoping to raise £1 million for 9.89% equity in the business. MPower raises money from retail investors in Europe, and lends it to lower and middle income earners in Africa, plus small and medium size businesses, to acquire solar panels and electrical appliances. Access to an energy source and equipment can transform lives and accelerate the growth of a small business.
Within each of these three forms of crowdfunding, there are some similar basic rules that apply to being successful.
Do not go public until you have some guaranteed support that means your crowdfunding will begin with a bang and not a whimper.
Keep supporting your crowdfunding project on social media, and by email if you have a database of addresses.
Plan each stage of the project and prepare plenty of image and video content in advance.
You can follow me on Twitter to see my updates and comments on crowdfunding projects as I post them. I am an independent crowdfunding advisor with no formal ties to any particular platforms.
BOLD Awards is an international annual award programme for 33 categories of digital industries and the technology that powers them. Crowdfunding is one of the categories. Projects entered into this category should be able to demonstrate the steps taken to invite others to support their cause and help raise funding, though the winner will be a crowdfunding campaign that also delivered much more than just funding. Entries that are at least started before October 17 will miss a €100 increase in the entry fee, and they can be updated any number of times before the final deadline in December. The award ceremony for the BOLD Awards sixth edition is a black-tie event in Lisbon on 28th March 2025. Enter now – and I hope to see you there!
Crowdfunding is a proven and popular way for craft beer brewers to raise money to expand or accelerate growth, or even to start in the first place. It is also a popular way for many thousands of beer drinkers to be able to say “I own part of a brewery.” Here is what I consider to be the key factors.
Funding sourcesfor craft beer brewers
Crowdfunding is popular with craft beer brewers because there are few barriers to using it, beyond the hard work it involves. And many brewers already have a crowd of buyers and drinkers to appeal to who consume their products on a regular basis.
Bank and P2P loans are restricted to businesses that are already trading, with an income and a future order book that looks solid enough to make the repayments. An existing brewer may be able to secure a bank loan, but a new startup won’t. Banks also require guarantees against loans, and if a brewery goes bust its owners will still be liable for the debt. That’s not a comfortable feeling.
As for VCs, the craft beer sector is very fragmented with many small players. From 2018 to 2022 the number of UK brewers grew from 1,489 to 2,426.
Organic growth is typically slow. It can be difficult to scale fast as it is the antithesis of being a craft product. An exit strategy of an eventual sale to a big drinks company would be difficult to achieve as they have already had their pick of the crop. The Budweiser owner, AB InBev, acquired Camden Brewery; SABMiller purchased Meantime, which was local to me in Greenwich, south east London; Carlsberg took over London Fields; and Heineken acquired Beavertown, founded by Logan Plant, son of the former Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant.
As well as limited opportunities to scale, many of the newcomers seeking funding don’t want to raise enough money for VCs to even consider them in the first place.
Crowdfunding is flexible
During Covid, several brewers turned to reward-based crowdfunding to ask customers for their support. Pre-Covid, the Manchester Union Brewery had relied on keg sales in on-trade outlets. When lockdown closed the pubs, they asked their community for donations to install a canning line that would enable them to switch to online orders for home delivery. Incentives to support their appeal included discounts off future purchases, shorter waiting times for deliveries, and inclusion on a “Wall of Honour.” It raised £46,141 from 617 supporters in 64 days.
This method of crowdfunding continues to be used by breweries to raise money to build or expand taprooms (which are on-site public bars). As an example, in March 2021, the Skinners Brewery in Cornwall raised £152,301 from 2,449 supporters in 28 days to build an outdoor drinking area at its site in Truro. Perks for donors included beer vouchers, tickets to exclusive events, branded merchandise and online sales discounts.
Skinners Brewery in Cornwall raised money through crowdfunding to build its outdoor drinking area
Bringing forward demand to generate pre-payment by offering beer vouchers can ease short-term cashflow issues, but has to be carefully judged so that those issues aren’t merely delayed until another time.
Many startup breweries offer shares in the business through equity crowdfunding. One running in November 2023 was Signature Brew, whose business model is to brew collaboration beers with bands and musicians. Founder and CEO Tom Bott had exceeded the £700,007 target for 4.59% equity by +25% with a few days left before the round closed.
Crowdfunding is popular with startups, but not it’s exclusively for startups. Exmoor Ales was established in 1980, and in March 2024 it closed a crowdfunding round that had raised £330,048 from 329 investors. Perks for investors included the standard branded merchandise, discounts on online orders, and a limited amount of free beer for life for larger investors as long as they remained a shareholder.
Good crowdfunding is good marketing
Running a crowdfunding campaign can generate significant media coverage and social media buzz. It serves as a marketing tool, creating awareness about a brewery and its products. This increased visibility can attract not only backers but also potential customers.
In 2023, the southeast London Gipsy Hill Brewery brewed the first carbon-negative beer without using offsets. In October ’23 they began a round of equity crowdfunding and announced their aim to be the world’s first carbon-negative brewery by 2030. The crowdfunding raised awareness of the brewery’s carbon reduction accomplishments to date and future aims. The founder and CEO was interviewed by the Sunday Times, and a television station camera crew turned up to film him at the brewery.
Crowdfunding empowers consumers
Benefits for backers
The most commonly hoped for outcome from investing in an equity crowdfunding campaign is a good return on investment. The founder of Camden Town Brewery, Jasper Cuppaidge, used equity crowdfunding in 2015 to raise £2,749,860 to build his own brewery in London. The amount of equity this involved meant the brewery was valued at around £50 million. Eight months later, having come to its attention, and seeing the extent of its public support (good crowdfunding = good marketing), AB InBev bought Camden Town Brewery for an estimated £85 million. In under a year, the 2,172 crowdfunding investors had secured a 70% return.
Successful crowdfunding does not always mean that a brewery will go on to achieve long-term commercial success. There is a risk. After 25 years the Skinners Brewery in Cornwall was forced to close in October 2022, despite its new outdoor venue paid for with crowdfunded donations.
However, small-scale investors know that a low entry cost to buy some shares can be recovered through using the online discounts that are often offered as perks. When they have saved enough money it effectively means they have reached a breakeven point and become a shareholder at no cost.
When businesses are registered under the HMRC’s EIS and SEIS schemes, crowdfunding investors who are UK taxpayers can reclaim from 30% to 50% of their initial investment. Any eventual return on investment is outside of Capital Gains Tax, or if the business sadly fails then even more of the initial investment can be reclaimed through the taxman.
Beyond ROI, sociable investors like to meet like-minded people at investor events, and can visit a brewery’s taproom bar at any other time to seek out kindred spirits.
Some investors like to invest in several breweries to create an annual schedule of perks of free or at least subsidised beer deliveries at home.
And of course there is the opportunity to drop “I’m a part owner of a brewery” into conversations.
Non-monetary benefits of a brewery having a crowd of backers
Crowdfunding is not just about raising money; it’s about helping to build a community around a brand or a business.
New crowdfunding research findings reveal that crowdfunding backers enjoy a sense of deciding which companies and products will make it to the marketplace. It gives them a tenuous link to the buzz of entrepreneurship with little personal risk – depending on the size of their investments.
I believe it’s then reasonable to consider that having contributed to the existence of a brewery, its new brewing equipment and premises, or a taproom, the crowdfunding backers will be very loyal.
Regular visitors to a brewery taproom can be encouraged to try limited quantities of new beers and give their feedback. Or packaged products could be delivered to crowdfunding backers at home. This form of product validation helps decide which new beers to take to full production.
Brewery supporters, whether investors or donors, can also be very useful as brand advocates. They can give word-of-mouth support and encourage friends and colleagues to try a brewery’s products. They may be able to provide vital business connections and make introductions, and also personally offer to provide a range of services from accountancy and legal advice to decorating offices and servicing vehicles.
To summarise, beer is a product that relationships can be built around, rather than simply regard an investment through crowdfunding as a transaction.Anyone who leaves it at just taking the money is missing a trick or two.
Crowdfunding’s a great way for small business owners to raise alternative funding that’s usually not enough for VCs to be interested. An article published in September 2023 by Small Business Trends gave an overview of five types of crowdfunding, plus five benefits that crowdfunding delivers.
Crowdfunding can certainly do more than just raise money for a business, and here are more than five benefits.
Crowdfunding can provide social proof and product validation to show that startup business founders are going in the right direction.
It can also be used by existing businesses of any age to develop new products and expand.
Early crowdfunding backers can provide valuable feedback as a business tries to fit all the pieces of a jigsaw together to achieve success.
Early backers can also become brand advocates in a virtuous circle that allows customers to become investors and investors can become important customers.
Pre-orders can de-risk the first production run of a new product, and even multi-national companies including Sony, Coca-Cola and Mattel have used crowdfunding to test consumer demand.
Crowdfunding is very flexible and not only for consumer-facing businesses. Although it’s not exactly small these days, B2B mineral extraction company Cornish Lithium has just closed a crowdfunding round having raised £5.1m.
Whatever type of business you have, a well planned and executed crowdfunding campaign also provides great marketing support to build awareness of a business and attract interest. Get in touch if you want to discuss your ideas.
Crowdfunding opportunities can also appeal to everyday retail investors who choose to support companies that are active in certain specialist business sectors.
Fashion
Recycled clothing is becoming more and more popular as awareness grows of the amount of waste in the fashion and clothing industry. Immaculate Vegan is an upmarket vegan and sustainable fashion platform. Encouraged by 56% year-on-year sales growth, it launched an equity crowdfunding campaign that closes/closed on September 26. Its target was £200,000 – it reached over £300,000 from more than 300 investors.
Cycling
There have been many successful small business crowdfunding projects in the cycling sector. I guess they appeal to people who want to invest in businesses that may help get people out of cars and tackle air pollution.
Two years ago, the Smart Tyre Company startup in Ohio, USA, developed an airless tyre for road bikes in partnership with NASA. They claim they have both the elasticity of rubber and the strength of titanium, and made them available through crowdfunding on Kickstarter. With 16 days to go at the time of writing, almost 300 backers had pledged just short of £125,000 to order a set of the innovative bike tyres.
Scottish startup Intra Drive is also using equity crowdfunding, through Crowdcube, to help bring its new 8-speed mid-drive for e-bikes to market. The redesigned e-bike motor comes with enhanced efficiency that simplifies manufacturing; a lighter gearbox; integrated electronics; an innovative display interface; and it is easier for manufacturers and consumers alike to fit it.
Healthtech
Healthtech startup AudioTelligence launched a crowdfunding campaign for its hearing enhancement device. Having decided to go-it-alone rather than sell out to an established rival, their small business crowdfunding goal is £400,000 to fund the manufacture of an initial batch of 1,000 units. Feedback from these early backers will be very valuable to aid product development.
Sport
The company that owns both the Cornish Pirates rugby club and Truro City football club in Cornwall, Kernow Sport, has raised over £413,000 from nearly 500 investors by offering equity through crowdfunding. It’s the first stage of raising a £2.5m total as the main benefactor begins to wind down his personal investment in the two clubs, reported the BBC.
Community-based projects
The legendary Filmhouse Cinema in Edinburgh is raising the first £250,000 of a total £1.25m needed to re-open with a 21 year lease in its existing building which is being refurbished.
By September 17, a 2021 Masterchef contestant was over 80% of the way to raising £35,000 through reward-based small business crowdfunding to help him open a new restaurant in Bishop Auckland, northeast England.
Proptech
HouseStars is an AI-powered app that connects property owners with building trades people. It is 98% of the way to its £125,001 equity crowdfunding target on Seedrs. As at September 25 there were 23 days left to run. SEIS investor benefits are available, which for taxpayers include a rebate through the tax system of 50% of the amount invested.
Food and beverages
World Tea News reported that New York-based Leaves of Leisure, a luxury herbal tea brand with a focus on zero and low caffeine teas, has launched a crowdfunding campaign aimed at growing the brand and expanding into new markets. CEO and Founder Allison Ullo hopes to raise $50,000.
Crowdfunding, through offering equity or bringing new products to market, is definitely a strong option for many small businesses with big ambitions. I am an independent crowdfunding adviser, with no ties to any particular platforms. Whatever sector you work in, crowdfunding is very flexible and could play a role to help turn your innovation and dreams in to life-changing reality. If you’d like an objective assessment of how crowdfunding could provide a solution for you, and how close you are to being ready to use it, then please get in touch. Send a message to [email protected].
I was recently asked about crowdfunding by the founder of a startup business that makes a range of non-alcoholic wine. There was nothing confidential in my reply, so I thought I’d share it with you.
You’re absolutely right that crowdfunding can be a more time consuming way to raise money compared to perhaps a VC investment or an angel investor. Yet there are other benefits that go way beyond the money it raises.
For example, VCs were queueing up to invest in Chapel Down (the celebrated English sparkling wine maker) when in 2014 they launched their equity crowdfunding campaign. Beyond raising £3.9m in three weeks, their CEO Frazer Thompson told me that crowdfunding had generated 1,500 brand advocates who would spread positive word-of-mouth, buy Chapel Down products at every gift-giving opportunity, and create sampling opportunities by stocking their wines (now beers as well since they built a brewery with some of the money they raised, and gin too) both at home and in their company drinks cabinets. Priceless!
Crowdfunding creates a virtuous circle whereby customers can become shareholders and shareholders become customers. I’m caught up in it myself as an investor in a craft brewery and a gin maker. If “my brands” are available, why drink others? Shareholders catapult themselves right up the brand loyalty ladder.
Hop Stuff Brewery started five years ago when it raised £58,000 through offering 34% of equity. It’s now valued at over £25m, with products stocked in Wetherspoons (which encourages lower than regular cost product trial), Tesco and Majestic Wine; it has a growing chain of beer and pizza outlets; and international sales and franchise brewing agreements. Hundreds of their 1,000+ investors from three rounds of crowdfunding on Crowdcube attended an “Investor Fiesta” event at their new brewery back in August.
A network of investors can be used for research purposes and to ask for ad hoc assistance such as help recruit staff, recommend suppliers, volunteer their own services, and so on. At the Hop Stuff event I heard a fellow investor volunteer to use his contacts to help sort out supplies of CO2, which if you remember was in short supply in the summer.
Even if it’s not a main aim of the crowdfunding, it could find you an angel investor. This happened to some people I know who started a business making tissues from bamboo. To begin with, all they wanted was an initial £10,000 of orders through rewards crowdfunding to provide validation they weren’t wasting their time. A backer was impressed with what he saw and stepped forward to invest, which allowed the founders to greatly speed up product development and company growth. So do eveything as professionally as possible.
They were a top-seller on Amazon very quickly. Within three years the company founders raised £500,000 in October 2018 for 10% equity on the Seedrs crowdfunding platform – they had a business valued at £5m!
Their latest news is The Cheeky Panda tissues are now stocked in Tesco and Morrisons; in the summer they signed a £1m corporate investment deal that valued them at £20m; and right now they are running a second round of equity crowdfunding for existing investors in which they are offering 5% for £1m.
Good crowdfunding is also good marketing. I call it an ultimate direct marketing campaign. There’s a start date, an end date, lots to do, and if you fail to hit target you don’t raise any money. Naturally there are risks, though by breaking a crowdfunding campaign down in to component parts each potential risk can be addressed and minimised. I’ve created a Seven Stage Assessment to check if a business is ready to start crowdfunding, and identify areas that need to be addressed before going public.
My approach is more from a marketing angle, since that’s what I’ve always done. I am not a finance expert and not qualified to give financial advice. Though I can provide an experienced layman’s assessment on how appealing any offer may be to the public. I do have a post-grad diploma from the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing and a Professional Diploma in Management from the Open University Business School.
One vital tip is that crowdfunding should not begin until you have done enough personal pre-selling for 30% of the financial target to fly in to your crowdfunding campaign within the very first few days. This applies whether you’re trying to generate product orders or offering equity. This gives immense confidence to other backers who don’t know and haven’t met you, and creates valuable momentum. So if you have a target of £200,000 your pre-selling should reach a guaranteed support level of £60,000 in the bag before you start crowdfunding in the public eye (ideally more to allow for dropouts).
Early success is newsworthy and hard-working PR will generate media coverage to add to your early momentum. On the other hand, crowdfunding without pre-selling is like shovelling quicksand – hard work and you get nowhere.
How much it costs and how long it will take depend on:
how well your business rates against my Seven Stage Assessment
how much work has to be done to become investment-ready
of that, what can be done internally and how much has to be outsourced
including how enthusiastic and good you are at using social media – and “it’s ok, my kids use Facebook, they can help” isn’t good enough
success rate of using PR to secure media coverage
how long it takes to drum up support to reach the first 30% of your target.
If you have no social media networks to drive people to your crowdfunding project it may first require months of work to build some. Or months to accumulate impressive media coverage you’ll be able to refer to, or both, ideally.
Outsourcing support and input can even begin with the pitch document. A 30-chart deck may be very thorough but it’s too much for a potential equity investor to wade through with enthusiasm. Most look for the first reason they can give themselves as to why not to invest so they can move on to the next opportunity. Simply having to spend too long to get a feel of an opportunity is a good enough reason to discard it right away.
Don’t forget the taxman. Many retail investors prefer businesses to be registered with HMRC under EIS and SEIS agreements. These Enterprise Investment Schemes allow tax-paying investors to claim valuable rebates of up to 50% of the cost of their investment, and shelter capital gains from CGT. Under SEIS a company founder can invest up to £100,000 in their own business and claim a refund. Make sure you understand and take advantage of these benefits for yourself and your backers.
To close, what you see online when people and organisations run crowfdfunding campaigns is like the tip of an iceberg visible above the waterline. Invisible under the water is a vast amount of planning and preparation, and a fair amount of stress. It’s not impossible to run a crowdfunding campaign alone if you’re tough and resiliant enough, though most people need some help and support, be it technical or emotional or anything else. This comes either from a team of willing supporters who between them provide all the necessary skills required to achieve your success, or you need a budget. Most times it’s a bit of both. If you want to talk about your ideas that could transform your life please get in touch, [email protected].
For many startup entrepreneurs (and d-i-y investors who back them) the most significant form of modern day crowdsourcing is crowdfunding. Rather than trying to impress a single backer to support a business idea, perhaps through chasing a grant or bank loan, or by catching the attention of an elusive angel investor, crowdfunding has decentralized the process and enables business startups to ask crowds of people directly – some of whom they know and many they don’t – to each provide a relatively small level of support. It also builds communities of followers and supporters, where customers become investors and investors become customers in a virtuous circle.
Favourable “light touch” treatment of equity crowdfunding (where investors pay for a slice of ownership of a business, and accept the risk that it may fail) by the financial regulators allowed the UK to emerge as the world’s market leader. Crowdcube was one of the first equity platforms to appear, in 2011, and it recently announced a total figure of more than £500 million invested so far in 700 funding rounds. The banking app Revolut and the Scottish brewery Brewdog, both currently worth over £1 billion, launched through Crowdcube.
Although some of the startups supported by crowds of sometimes relatively unsophisticated backers might be mocked by professional investors for some fanciful financial forecasts, many disruptive and challenger brands have emerged whose impact on established business sectors often far outweighs their market share or company valuations. Being new can mean a fresh approach unbound by a legacy of the past, even though a lack of a track record makes it hard to interest traditional investors at the beginning.
Here are examples in three business sectors where challenger brands used the power of crowds and are disrupting the status quo.
Banking London-based Revolut, the UK’s fastest growing fintech company, ran a crowdfunding campaign as recently as 2016 to raise £1m and get started. Crowdfunding was also good marketing for them as it generated a core crowd of hundreds of investors who would become keen customers and brand ambassadors.
Revolut’s CEO and co-founder Nikolay Storonsky
The co-founders’ business idea came from their personal frustration with exchange rate markups, inexplicable foreign transaction fees and the overall hassle of managing a bank account abroad.
Today, Revolut provides over two million customers (two million customers acquired in two years!) with a debit card allowing the holders to spend money in 150 currencies with no fees. They estimate they have saved their customers over £560m in traditional banking fees, and in 2018 raised $250m through corporate investment which valued the business at $1.7bn (£1.2bn).
Brands like Revolut and fellow banking newcomer Monzo are definitely shaking up the traditional banks and changing customer expectations. The technology was there, but the existing high street banks still provided us all with slower, less sophisticated and more expensive services. With us all the way, are they?
Brewing Behind Brewdog which is now a unicorn startup valued at over £1bn, there are many smaller craft brewers that continue to launch with modest funding and provide UK drinkers with a vast choice of beers and ales made with hands-on quality control and finer ingredients than high volume mass-market brands can access in sufficient volume.
An example is the fast growing Hop Stuff Brewery in south east London. City finance professional James Yeomans found he enjoyed home-brewing more than his time spent in the office and became determined to take it further. In 2013, without any commercial brewing experience – but he could talk “money” – he used equity crowdfunding through Crowdcube to raise £58,000 in exchange for 34% ownership of his startup craft beer brewery.
The business grew, and alongside attracting corporate investments it ran a second round of equity crowdfunding that closed in January 2017, and then a third smaller one in early 2018. Although corporate investors were by now queuing up for a slice of the business and crowdfunding was unnecessary for purely financial reasons, crowdfunding has provided Hop Stuff with a dedicated following of over a thousand supporters happy to perform unofficial Brand Ambassador roles. They influence people to sample the brewery’s products through positive word-of-mouth, and ask pubs and bars where they drink to stock them.
Hop Stuff is currently opening a number of its own “beer and pizza” bars under the Taproom brand, filling a global order book and signing overseas franchise brewing agreements. Compare this to the rest of the UK beer trade: the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) recently reported annual sales were 1.7% down, and in August 2018 the BBC reported UK pubs are closing at a rate of 18 a week. Hop Stuff Brewery is certainly bucking the trend, has just moved to larger brewing premises, and five years after launching with £58,000 raised through equity crowdfunding it is valued at over £25 million.
At an invite-only event for his crowdfunding investors in August 2018, founder James Yeomans announced that packaged Hop Stuff Brewery products will soon be on the shelves in London branches of Tesco, Oddbins and Majestic Wine.
Grocery items Bamboo is a fast-growing sustainable product with four growth cycles a year. Tissues made from bamboo rather than paper are naturally stronger, softer and more hygienic. They can be made with a 65% smaller carbon footprint.
Who created and introduced this breakthrough eco-friendly product to the UK? Was it corporate giants Kimberly-Clark or Procter & Gamble that own market-leading worldwide tissue brands? No, it was a pair of UK holidaymakers who returned home from China, researched possibilities and wrote a business plan to utilise abundant supplies of unwanted surplus bamboo they had seen being left to rot.
A modest reward crowdfunding project on the Crowdfunder UK platform with a target to generate £10,000 of orders gained the attention of a crowd of early adopters and, by chance, an angel investor. Within three years the founders of The Cheeky Panda tissue company ran an equity crowdfunding campaign with Seedrs that raised £500,000 and valued their business at £5m. The brand is a top seller on Amazon.
So even in the high-volume fmcg sector (fast moving consumer goods) dominated by massive brands that are supported with multi-million £ advertising budgets, crowdfunding – the crowdsourcing of both money and a community of supporters – enables entrepreneurs to introduce innovative products and disrupt existing markets.
If you are considering crowdfunding as a means to launch a startup, or maybe to grow an existing business, I can provide you with independent crowdfunding advice and hands-on support. I have no ties to any particular crowdfunding platforms. Please email me, [email protected]. Let’s discuss your ideas and set about building them in to a plan of action.
Hribarcain is a newly founded UK technology company that was launched on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in 2016. After starting in a small design studio in Bristol their first product launch was “Magno, The World’s First Magnetically Controlled Pencil.” They then developed a range of titanium pens and expanded internationally to provide products to thousands of customers worldwide, raising over £250,000 in revenue. As an SME marketing and crowdfunding specialist I was keen to meet the company founders at a recent networking event and hear more of their story.
Co-founders Ashley Hribar-Green and Matthew Aston Cain are British entrepreneurs with a wealth of experience in product design engineering. After working for one of the largest technology companies in the world (Dyson), Ashley and Matthew launched Hribarcain to pursue their dream of designing products that challenge convention as a result of ground breaking innovation. In this case it began with a range of magnetically controlled propelling pencils with a subsequent brand extension in to pens.
Rewards crowdfunding allowed Hribarcain to promote their products direct to end-user buyers without first needing retail distribution agreements. They also used Indiegogo in 2018 for a campaign with US dollar pricing, whereas their Kickstarter campaigns have been priced in UK pounds.
Matthew already had previous experience from using reward crowdfunding on Kickstarter to generate orders for his range of Astoncain minimalist watches with top quality components and functions at a reasonable price. At a recent networking event in London organised by Masterclass Crowdfunding, he happily shared 10 top tips based on his seven years’ experience of using reward crowdfunding.
1. Have a clear and concise video that runs under 2 minutes – it’s your business card. This is his advice after sometimes using longer running videos.
2. Advertising – use some! Let people know you’re crowdfunding
3. At the close of the project don’t simply just fulfill the reward item orders, up-sell to the buyers. In Magno’s experience it can add a further 15% sales income
4. Make your pricing attractive, reduce it to create urgency within the limited time period of your crowdfunding project, maybe to 50% of RRP
5. Possess a clearly defined USP (Unique Selling Proposition) to stand out from competitors
6. Use quality photography in your crowdfunding project. It will help to enhance the image of your product or service and reassure people you’re serious about what you’re offering them
7. Only use quality, reliable manufacturers who won’t cut corners and reduce the value of your items
8. Price in a minimum 50% margin to allow for mistakes and to afford some marketing (see Point 2)
9. Consider fulfillment delivery costs right at the start of selecting reward items and maybe opt for smaller, lighter ones, or at least smaller packaging to meet postal rate sizes
10. Find other crowdfunding project owners who have complementary products, such as matching up pen makers and notebook suppliers, or maybe cooler boxes and food and drink providers, and agree to co-promote each other’s products to your respective networks.
All of these are great pieces of advice, though there’s also a lot more to consider. If you are considering using reward crowdfunding yourself then please get in touch via [email protected] for us to meet, either in person in London or maybe on Skype, and discuss your ideas and how to effectively plan for success. You can also follow me on Twitter, @Cliveref.
The UK consumer energy market is dominated by six companies who between them supply over 90% of the market. Newcomer and disruptive brand People’s Energy raised almost £488,000 last year through reward crowdfunding on Crowdfunder UK, and started trading in August 2017. They needed startup cash, and offered savings against future bills as rewards. Their eventual aim is to really shake up the market through acquiring a million customers who will all be shareholders, making company decisions and receiving a slice of refunded profits.
Here’s the “gap in the market” they want to exploit. None of the current “Big Six” energy companies are recognisably customer-centric. There is a generally critical public perception that they offer complicated tariff structures making it difficult to find the best prices or to compare different suppliers, and that they deliver similarly uninspiring levels of customer service – no more than 43% of any of the Big Six’s customers would recommend their supplier.
There is also public resentment over their “profits before people” ethos: consumer prices never drop when wholesale energy prices do, and energy prices have risen at three times the rate of general inflation over the past 20 years. Amid unproven accusations of collective price-fixing, in April 2017 the Government put in place a price cap on each suppliers’ top tariffs, possibly remaining in force until 2023.
A relatively uncompetitive market dominated by a few large, unresponsive companies who lack customer trust is a ripe target for disruptive new entrants, which is what People’s Energy aims to be. Karin Sode, People’s Energy’s head of marketing, kindly answered some questions for me.
People’s Energy launched by using donations-for-rewards crowdfunding to raise over £487,000 and generate 2,055 customers. What was the thinking behind this?
We differ from all the other suppliers in that we want to give our customers shares in the company and pay back the profits to them, not to some other faceless shareholders. For that reason, we turned down potential investors who wanted equity in return for their investment.
Equally, equity crowdfunding was not an option because although it would have been easier for us [than reward-based crowdfunding] it would dilute the model and our unique offering of ownership to customers. We knew that it was a tall order but we were determined, worked very hard at it, and are pleased that we succeeded and were able to launch the company on 1 August 2017.
Was it difficult to get an operator’s licence given you will operate very differently from the Big Six?
Ofgem (the UK energy market regulator) has been very welcoming and appreciative of the very different model we offer to help shake up a market that suffers from real trust issues. Getting the initial licence was not the hardest thing, a bigger challenge was one of initial funding to get started, and we resolved that through our crowdfunding campaign.
After receiving the licence, we then went through a probationary period called ‘Controlled Market Entry’. We could take on only a limited number of customers while we proved to Ofgem we had the operational capability to serve them well. We went through that period fast, and successfully, and I’m very pleased to say we are now fully licensed to operate and welcome as many customers as we can.
A stated aim is to put 1 million people in charge of their own energy as shareholders in People’s Energy. Will you need to raise more money to achieve this?
We will operate on a “cost plus model” based on wholesale prices and our fixed costs, plus a small buffer that allows us to be robust. We’re a new business with no legacy costs to have to cover. There will be a single tariff for all customers, with our prices always in the lowest 30% of other tariffs on offer. Right now we’re in the lowest 10%. We are now broadly self-funding.
However, there will be a need for some further funding to realise other ambitions to invest in innovative renewable and energy storage solutions. In the meantime, a key interim aim is to sign up 20,000 customers within 18 months of our launch, which is a deadline of February 2019.
Where will People’s Energy customers come from?
We hope to appeal to younger customers through our sharing economy model. Market research shows that the more innovative companies operate in a more community/membership way, such as Giffgaff (a mobile/cell network) and Monzo (banking services).
We plan to build out the community approach and encourage people to share what we offer through personal endorsement to their contacts. This will help us grow the numbers at pace. In addition, we are currently in talks to establish partnerships with various bodies that will help drive up customer numbers more quickly.
In terms of offering your customers control, what sort of issues will they have a say in?
A key aim is to rebuild trust between consumers and energy providers. That can’t be done through words and promises but has to grow through the actions we take. Offering customers an element of control is therefore a direct attempt to make people feel heard and valued, really given a voice.
We want customers to have a say in whether or not we use the profits to purchase renewable generation facilities (including wind and solar farms), invest in development of power storage, or if they prefer to have the profits repaid to them.
We also plan to consult customers on whether they want profits shared depending on their energy usage or if every customer should get the same rebate. The latter option would support individuals in lower income households, but may not be considered fair for people with large usage such as small businesses. We believe the customers should have a chance to decide for themselves rather than us deciding on their behalf in a remote boardroom.
People’s Energy will provide electricity only from renewable sources. Will residential prosumers be able to sell back to you energy they produce from renewable sources?
We are not yet able to accommodate this, though it is absolutely something we want to facilitate as soon as we possibly can. For now, after switching over to People’s Energy for their energy supply, people will be able to continue to sell back surplus energy they produce to their current supplier.
If you are considering a crowdfunding project, whether offering equity or providing rewards, please get in touch if you’d like an objective assessment of your ideas from an independent crowdfunding adviser. Please email me at [email protected] or contact me through Twitter, @Cliveref.
Update on 20th March 2018 CrowdFundRES is a European project that contributes to the acceleration of renewable energy growth in Europe by promoting crowdfunding for financing renewable energy projects. It has published a practical guide for crowdfunding platforms, project developers, investors and policy makers on “Crowdfunding Renewable Energy.” You can access it here.
In my role as an independent crowdfunding adviser I attend many live pitching events and meet plenty of people who have run successful crowdfunding projects. My 10 Top Tips are based on many meetings and conversations with people working at crowdfunding platforms and with entrepreneurs who have run successful crowdfunding campaigns, mainly equity based and some donations-for-rewards projects. This is intended more for commercial enterprises than fundraising for worthy causes, though many aspects would still apply.
Examine projects by other crowdfunding users in your business sector.
Build your own networks of relevant people for as long as possible before going live. Every person you have ever met is a potential backer! This crowd-building includes making professional media contacts to ensure a good response to press releases in your local area and sent to relevant trade/business sectors.
Thorough planning and preparation is vital. Decide on who (the types of people) you want to tell about your offer; create in advance what you’re going to tell them (the content); plan when to tell them (don’t overload demands on your own time by telling everyone all at once, stagger it); decide which communications channels to use – social media, PR to secure media coverage, meetings and events, content marketing, paid-for advertising. You might want to start getting media coverage months in advance to allow time for items to be published so you can refer to them in your crowdfunding pitch.
Pre-sell to your closest contacts and supporters so that you can count on at least 30% of your funding target or pre-orders arriving in the first few days. This gives the project vital momentum and encourages other would-be backers to get off the fence. Also check for opportunities through your crowdfunding platform (when your project is accepted by one) to identify and contact backers in their network with a relevant investment/product history.
Ensure you and your partners/support team (a team of people is important because most crowdfunding attempts by a sole individual fail) have appropriate social media skills, or have a budget to access some.
Crowdfunding can be a fulltime role. Why wouldn’t it be? Success is possibly going to transform your life for the better. Organise your day job, maybe by taking on temporary support, so you have the time to answer questions, send out information, and personally meet prospective backers. Don’t forget – people invest in people, get out and meet some would-be equity investors or people who could place large orders.
Set weekly targets to monitor progress and check that you are doing enough, and establish what’s working well and what isn’t. Change your plans based on your weekly assessments to do more of what’s working best.
Make it easy for your backers to tell their own networks about your crowdfunding project, provide them with content to use by email and in various social media formats.
Be flexible to accommodate other opportunities that may arise, such as offers of retail distribution or interest from an angel investor.
Invest some time on your new backers because they could turn in to important brand ambassadors for your business.
In short, you will need:
soft ‘people skills’ and confidence to engage persuasively with potential backers;
an ability to segment audiences and identify key prospects;
skills to harness the power of the written word;
social media skills;
an easy-to-deliver and understand SMART business plan and financial projections (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timetabled);
a budget to bring in extra help and any skills or capabilities you lack within your immediate team (such as video production, effective use of social media, writing press releases, organising events);
a campaign plan with KPIs to monitor progress;
and maybe a campaign manager to help you hold it all together and make it work, if you think you need one.
Or contact me, an independent crowdfunding adviser, at [email protected] or on 07788 784373. I can take you through a seven-stage assessment of your readiness to start crowdfunding and identify areas that ought to be strengthened before you go ahead. Then we can start planning how you will achieve success.
For example, VCs were queueing up to invest in 
Even if it’s not a main aim of the crowdfunding, it could find you an angel investor. This happened to some people I know who started a business making tissues from bamboo. To begin with, all they wanted was an initial £10,000 of orders through rewards crowdfunding to provide validation they weren’t wasting their time. A backer was impressed with what he saw and stepped forward to invest, which allowed the founders to greatly speed up product development and company growth. So do eveything as professionally as possible.
breaking a crowdfunding campaign down in to component parts each potential risk can be addressed and minimised. I’ve created a Seven Stage Assessment to check if a business is ready to start crowdfunding, and identify areas that need to be addressed before going public.
To close, what you see online when people and organisations run crowfdfunding campaigns is like the tip of an iceberg visible above the waterline. Invisible under the water is a vast amount of planning and preparation, and a fair amount of stress. It’s not impossible to run a crowdfunding campaign alone if you’re tough and resiliant enough, though most people need some help and support, be it technical or emotional or anything else. This comes either from a team of willing supporters who between them provide all the necessary skills required to achieve your success, or you need a budget. Most times it’s a bit of both. If you want to talk about your ideas that could transform your life please get in touch, 
If you are considering crowdfunding as a means to launch a startup, or maybe to grow an existing business, I can provide you with independent crowdfunding advice and hands-on support. I have no ties to any particular crowdfunding platforms. Please email me, 
Or contact me, an independent crowdfunding adviser, at