Is it a good idea to raise funds through crowdsource with an animation of explanation video showing how the platform works?

Starting crowdfunding while in beta is good - you already passed part of the way. So for backers it is less risky to support you. When I've started my project - the only real option was KickStarter. Now it is the same because only KickStarter has "blockbuster" effect - huge paying audience. On KickStarter you'll collect at least ten times more if to compare to #2 IndieGoGo. Sure if your project will pass KickStarter moderation. But it is worth trying. Giveaways, in my opinion, is always better: you test your production chain & keep full control over your business. Also the product is the core of your business and improving your product will lead to higher valuation. If you have community - try to make it bigger & tell your followers about your crowdfunding plans so they prepare to back you when funding starts. If there is no community - start to build one. Also prepair press kits & at least 10 updates (when 30-50-75-100-150-200% of goal reached, explaining functions of your product etc.), make spreadsheet with press (also include communities related to your project) contact details, check your project category on the selected crowdfunding platform for projects related with yours (for future cross promotion). Hiring expert is pretty useless, I think. Calls on clarity.fm will work better as you not tied to one person and may get more opinions, probably, for the same price. And it is not so much information in the net about crowdfunding to lost in it. All you need (considering you already have great product) is: 1. good project page (which means video + photos + text) 2. good work with press (not so much may be done: press kit + send it over the contacts you have - the result is related to kit quality and amount of contacts) 3. some ways to utilize KickStarter organic traffic (that's "30% rule" & crosspromotion - these ways generally don't cost a penny and both work great for me and 2 more projects I've mentored). Call me for details - I'll be happy to help.

It's all about building a relationship with these journalists and bloggers. You want them in your pocket long term. Ultimately, they are usually interested in the same things as you, which gives you a chance to connect on a deeper level and make an online friend. If you make a friend, then maybe they can even introduce you to their other journalist friends when the time is right. Ps: when you finally do send them your stuff, keep it short and make sure your visuals get the point off without them needing to read a description. Visual storytelling is huge. Remember: people don't like to read

As someone who has founded and fundraised for a social venture, I can tell you that the fundraiser must be the CEO or President. Fundraising for a non-profit is all about building a relationship with your donor base, and the donation is often as much because the donor likes the person & people as much as they like the work being done by the Foundation. One of the most difficult paradoxes of raising for a non-profit web platform is that the more someone becomes excited by the potential of the platform, the more that they would prefer to invest cash for equity than simply donate and looking back on it, I think that would have simplified things for my social enterprise and would have been able to attract far more capital. The other avenue that you can explore is to build in tipping or crowdfunding for your operation directly into the online experience but that will only be a viable source of funds with significant traffic and thus, the operating capital required to grow the business requires proactive outreach to supporters. Happy to speak with you about this in more detail in a call.

I'd need to understand a bit more about your business, but I suspect one answer is to work toward getting an accounts receivable-based credit line. Amazon is a good company that pays it's bills. Lenders will either loan against the Amazon receivables or buy them from you at a discount. This approach is expensive but if cash flow is your issue, worth exploring.

Apps are difficult to fund on IndieGoGo as few are successful, and we rarely take them on as clients. Websites like http://appsfunder.com/ are made for that very reason, but again, difficult to build enough of a following willing to pay top dollar for an app that could very well be free, already existing in the marketplace. A site that is gaining more traction you may want to look into would be http://appsplit.com/. Again, Appsplit Is Crowdfunding For Apps specifically.