Mozo Bank used equity crowdfunding to raise 1 million Pounds in 96 seconds in the UK. Platforms like Symbid and Seedrs are also available to startups in the Netherlands. The crowd invests – you give up equity of your startup. Nathan Rose, author of the newly released book “Equity Crowdfunding: The Complete Guide for Startups and Growing Companies”, shared insights he gained from researching 20 startups and their equity crowdfunding campaigns. You can hear the full interview on the podcast – here are some key takeaways.
Plan backwards
As with any fundraising, you should also plan your equity crowdfunding campaign “backward”: when do you need your money to be in your bank? “Plan for two to three months”, says Nathan Rose, who analyzed successful campaigns across Europe and beyond. Depending on the momentum you want to build leading up to the launch of your campaign, you will need to plan for even more time – see next paragraph.
Build momentum
GoHenry, another company Nathan knows well, only opened their deal on the platform after they already had half of the investment secured. How did they do it? They offered the deal to their email list, which they built ever since they built their company. They also got a couple of lead investors.
1 million in 96 seconds?
So how was Mozo Bank able to raise 1 million in 96 seconds? “It’s a nice headline – but really, it did not take them 96 seconds to raise 1 million. It took them a year to build an engaged community first”, Nathan highlights an important point. The fundamental way to build momentum is to build a “following”. People, who are engaged and involved in the progress of your startup in some way. People, who can be called to action to invest as soon as your campaign goes live.
Founders who understand that fundraising, and especially fundraising via the crowd, is just another part of active communication with your audience and stakeholders, will have a great chance to succeed. Equity crowdfunding platforms become available across Europe now – time to take a look at this opportunity for your startup?
