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Can a new startup raise its first 50K financing round via crowdfunding platform w/o a VC backing? What are the best deal incentives for the investor?

Assuming there is a functional product built, intial traction, paid customers & team in place. This is a software technology startup and as such please refrain from examples from any irrelevant platforms such as Kickstarter/Indiegogo.

Filed under: Crowdfunding: Angel Investor, Raising Venture Capital

3 answers • 10 years ago

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Shaun Nestor, Content Marketing Advisor & Agency Consultant answered:

You are asking one question and inferring another. Do you want to know if it is possible to raise that amount on a crowdsourced site or are you asking for the best crowdsourcing site for your fundraising?

In short, yes. It is entirely possible to raise that level of funding without a VC and on crowdsourced platforms.

You obviously need to know the differences between "general public" crowdsourced audiences and professional VCs; they are looking for different returns. The casual crowdfunder is generally looking for something tangible (that is why sites like Kickstarter work so well) as well as a financial incentive.

VCs are looking for a return on their investment.

The casual crowdfunder is more likely to be sold on the idea of getting in on the ground floor and being part of something bigger than their usual life.

If you can clearly identify what problem your product is solving, and who will benefit, you can build your incentives around complementary frustrations and painpoints.

If your product is an accounting application for small business, for example, find partner services that also help small businesses.

If you have other questions, or I wasn't specific enough in some areas, please book a call with a couple of times that work for you and we can dig deeper.

To your succes,
-Shaun

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Davide Magrini, Funding & business dev for EVERY STAGE enterprise answered:

First of all let's specify there are different kinds/models of crowdfunding platforms for business. There are reward based ones like Kickstarter/Indiegogo, and these are usually used as sort of pre-selling platforms; it seems it's not at all your case! There are, instead, equity crowdfunding platforms, that probably match with what you need. Some examples are EarlyShares, Crowdcube, Fundable or maybe Angelist too can fit very well for your startup, even though it's not exactly a crowdfunding platform, but I'd say better a crowdsourcing platform. In each case, still, you'll have to deal with VCs and investors, and satisfy their questions and requirements. What changes, mostly, is that you can get a higher audience. If, instead, you're looking for revenue shares platforms, I reviewed about 400 international platforms, and I looked a lot for one like this, but no one is really working with real revenue shares model (and probably it's not at all easy to do!). In case you need to dig in more, I'd be glad to set a quick call. All the best!

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