BUILDING FUNDING COMMUNITIES
Karl Dakin
Capital Coach | Stakeholder Investor Campaigns | Design, Stage, and Manage or Support | Reduce Time, Money, and Risk of Raising Funding | Increase Probability of Success! | Opportunity Management
QUICK CALENDAR
NEXT MONDAY, August 12, Don Cohen show, 9 am MDT, LinkedIn Live
NEXT TUESDAY, Tuesday, August 13, Successful Funding, 8 am MDT, LinkedIn Live - TBD
NEXT THURSDAY, Thursday, August 15, Community Revitalization, 8 am MDT, LinkedIn Live – Jeff Dangremond – Impact Investing in Communities
FUNDING POINT – BUILDING FUNDING COMMUNITIES
?Almost all capital campaigns hit a wall when the small business exhausts all the investor candidates known to its leadership, and it becomes necessary to reach out to people they don’t know. The campaign must overcome all the challenges that exist when there is no existing relationship with the investor candidates:
·??????? Trust
·??????? Credibility
·??????? Knowledge of business
·??????? Knowledge of market
·??????? Time to meet or gain an introduction
·??????? Establishment of communications
?There are a number of ways to get around or mitigate this challenge which take time, may take money and may not work.
?The first approach is to get an introduction. This activity is getting someone who knows you and the investor candidate to make an introduction. There may not be anyone who exists that fits this role. A person who fits this role may be reluctant or unwilling to make an introduction (I fall in this category frequently because I know a lot of people and some of them have money to invest, but the person asking for an introduction is not a match or not ready to receive capital and I consider it to my benefit and to both the small business and investor candidate to not make the introduction.)
?Technically, matching a business with an investor by a ‘finder’ or ‘broker’ is an introduction. Hopefully, the introduction will be professional and productive. There is an expectation or a contractual commitment to pay a fee for the value of the introduction. When a fee of any kind is paid, the activity becomes regulated by the government. The type of regulation and associated government agency varies with the type of investment, source of funding, and dollar amount.
?Anytime there is an intermediary between a business seeking funding and the funding source, issues may arise with regard to the quality and accuracy of the message – the pitch. We all learned as kids playing the game of ‘gossip’ that sharing a message from person to person will result in a degradation of the message as the interpretation and transmission of the message alters from passage to passage. This happens when using an intermediary. To address this issue, small businesses should craft all of their own communications and provide them to the intermediary to be passed on to the investor candidate without change. This will prevent or limit the message from being amplified or overstated, creating expectations in the mind of the investor candidate that will have to be backed off.
?A variation on an introduction is a public endorsement. In this situation, there is an intermediary who makes a statement associating themselves with the investment opportunity and sharing it with a large number of people. An example may be a leader of an organization who endorses an opportunity for their membership, constituents, or customers. Another example may be an influencer who endorses the opportunity through a blog, podcast, or interview with their followers and connections. The ability of the person making the endorsement to cause someone to take action by linking to a website or investment platform, making a phone call, or otherwise acting to obtain a copy of the pitch.
?As previously described in this Instant Funding newsletter when engaging in crowdfunding, a strategy is to borrow other people’s crowds. By aggregating the networks of several people, organizations and businesses, it may be possible to quickly present an investment pitch to a large number of people with more top spin than cold calling or pitch slapping.
?I am experimenting and exploring the concept of building communities for funding. As I currently define this activity, a community is a digital community with a common cause. They may support a capital campaign because of their common beliefs, interests, or personal missions. Whatever the glue that binds this alignment of interest, it may be sufficient to gain an investment. I distinguish an investment from a community from that of an impact investor as representing an ongoing relationship, whereas a simple impact investment may be a singular incident or transaction.
?I see a correlation between the extended benefits of a Large Language Model (think Chat GPT) and a Large Relationship Model (a community of common action – TBD).
?Developing relationships is rarely instantaneous. Certainly, love can happen at first sight, and I have seen investment opportunities that immediately captured my interest. However, my special definition of membership in a community is based upon a long-term commitment.
??A funding community cannot be built overnight. Like building a brand, it is a progression over time. The length of time means that while adding more members, some members will quit or fall out of the community.
?The existence of a funding community should be viewed and managed like an asset. There will be an investment in its creation and in its maintenance. It may require constant improvements to maintain its existence. The time and cost of building a community will address the need for money ‘right now’ or ‘yesterday’, so work in advance of seeking funding is needed.
SUCCESSFUL FUNDING
NEXT TUESDAY, August 13, Eric Hanson will be my guest again on my Successful Funding show. Our topic of conversation will be “Getting to Yesâ€. We will discuss how to tip over an investor to provide funding.
You may register now to be in the audience at:
YESTERDAY, AUGUST 6, Tom Fanning with Boomzaa was my guest on the Successful Funding show. LinkedIn Live at 8 am MDT. We discuss funding for workforce housing and collaboration within the housing, capital, and economic development markets. We focused on investment crowdfunding as a better tool for raising that difficult to find pre-development money.
You may see a recording of the show at:
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You may view recordings of all past Successful Funding shows at my LinkedIn profile under Events:
RCI COMMUNITY FUNDS
As a member of this new company, I am working with a team of professionals to craft a new funding mechanism for revitalizing underserved communities.
YESTERDAY, Bill Huston was our guest on the Community Revitalization show. We discussed investment crowdfunding as the best approach to community funding. The ability of ‘everyone’ to invest in a local business is viewed as a game-changer that has yet to earn the reputation it deserves. @Stephen Shaff and Karl Dakin hosted the show.
You may register to be in the audience for this show at:
LAST WEEK, we introduced the RCI Community Funds team in the inaugural Community Revitalization show. We discussed the business model of RCI for creating a series of individual Diversified Community Investment Funds for selected communities and creating an academy to share this information with community leaders.
You may view a recording of the show at:
DON COHEN SHOW
I was a guest on Monday on the Don Cohen Show. I was joined as a guest by Erwin Jack and Bill Barkhouse . We discussed ‘Empathyâ€- the ability to see and feel things from the perspective of the other person. Is this a skill, natural talent or a little of both?
You may see a recording of the show at:
Don is my mentor and guru on using LinkedIn as a social media platform to build my brand and build my community of individuals and organizations who work like me to help small businesses and communities raise funding.
SUBSCRIBE
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Karl Dakin, the Capital Coach
Dakin Capital LLC
Capital Coach | Stakeholder Investor Campaigns | Design, Stage, and Manage or Support | Reduce Time, Money, and Risk of Raising Funding | Increase Probability of Success! | Opportunity Management
7 个月How would you describe a community of funders?