Investment Crowdfunding – Part 14 of 20+ Series – Crafting an Offer
Karl Dakin
I help you overcome challenges to raising capital. Take advantage of my Motivated Money Method to identify those investor candidates that are most likely to invest. Top expert in fundraising.
Too often I see an investment offer that matches no one. It generates no motivation leading to no investment. It implies that anyone with money should be begging for the opportunity to invest in that particular small business. It reflects a complete failure to understand the capital industry, the different motivations of different investor candidates, and an engagement in the most basic of marketing activities.
?I designed the investment offer that is being used in the investment crowdfunding of Greens Gone Wild . It reflects serious consideration and analysis of who is most motivated and therefore is the best investor candidate to target with an offer. The offer is paired to match the investor candidates like a pair of socks. Once the investor candidates for a particular small business are identified who are most motivated to invest in that business, the investment offer should fit them as well as can be designed. The Greens Gone Wild offering memorandum, Form CF-2 Disclosure Statement, and financials can all be viewed and downloaded on their crowdfunding page at CrowdSprouts .
?In crafting the offer, I am assuming that the three key factors in assessing the likelihood of any investor candidate to invest in a particular business have been met: (1) do they know you, (2) do they have the funding you seek, and (3) do they have sufficient motivation. The job now is to customize/personalize the offer as much as possible to not only meet the needs and wants of the selected investor candidates but also to push all the bells and whistles that will trigger an investment.
?I am not seeking to avoid being turned down because I already have assessed what motivates my selected investor candidates. It may be monetary or non-monetary. It may be direct or indirect. The offer has to contribute to fulfilling the mission of the investor candidate. Optimally, the offer represents the only solution to achieving the mission of the investor candidate and they cannot look elsewhere to go to someone else.
?I have assessed consumers, resellers, suppliers, causes, governments, allies, and competitors to zero on the center of the center of the bullseye in targeting the most motivated investor candidates for a particular business.
?With this market analysis in hand, my goal is to create one or more offers to as many investor candidates as needed to reach the capital goal set for the campaign. Depending upon the analysis, a single offer may be enough or a variety of offers may be needed for different individuals or stakeholder groups. However, continuing analysis will be conducted to try to achieve the optimal match. If an investor candidate prefers the color red over the color blue, I will change the coloration of the offering memorandum. My greater focus will be on what the investor candidate is passionate about – what gets them up in the morning.
?As described in previous editions of this Instant Funding newsletter, offers limited to a return on investment are not enough to differentiate an offer of one small business from another. Commonly, the only difference in offers is the description of the management team, the products and services of the business, and the marketplace. All of these serve to create trust in the ROI projections, but they do not change the amount of ROI offered. Investor candidates are left to pick and choose from a very large number of investment opportunities all offering the same ROI.
?While all of this narrative has been focused on the investor candidate, the small business should also consider what it may accomplish within a capital campaign in addition to raising money. As has been described within the description of the Greens Gone Wild investment crowdfunding campaign, the primary goal of the campaign is to gain new customers with raising capital as a secondary goal. If a small business is going to invest time and money into the capital campaign, instead of treating it as a singular, separate activity, the small business should consider everything else the campaign may contribute to achieving the goals of the business. Promotion of the campaign allows the business to tell the world its purpose and build its brand, to share information on its products and services, and to affirm existing relationships and build new ones.
?The next several editions of the Instant Funding newsletter will take a deep dive into different investment offers to match the different investor candidates considered by Greens Gone Wild in designing its investment package. This will include offers that may have been made to candidates that were not targeted for this campaign.
?Successful Funding Show
Last Tuesday, I launched on LinkedIn Live my new streaming show titled Successful Funding. Don Cohen, the producer of his Hour of Empower show was my guest. We engaged in a conversation with the show audience on the topic of ‘community’ – a group of individuals who you support and who support you.
?The Successful Funding show will repeat weekly at 8 am MST on Tuesdays on my LinkedIn profile. The next show is on January 30 where my special guest is Havey Tuck . We will discuss franchises and funding.
?If you would like to view my first show or any show in the future, a recording may be found on my posts under my LinkedIn profile page
?I am reaching out to guest candidates who are working to support small businesses. This may be in the provision of products and services, in economic development support programs, in different types of funding, or as a goal of making an impact in local communities. If you are interested in being a guest, please send me an email with a short bio and description of how you are supporting small businesses.
?Information Request
?A young entrepreneur in Bangladesh reached out to me seeking sources of debt funding. If located in the United States, I could point this person to several different programs. Still, I do not know of programs in Bangladesh or anywhere else in the world that might be available to help entrepreneurs anywhere in the world. If you know of any programs, please email me at [email protected] . Information received from this request will be shared in this Instant Funding newsletter.
?Charity Fundraiser
?I am completing a guide – Dakin’s Edge - to raising money for charity. The guide is very narrowly focused for use by a single individual raising money for a specific charity through a single event. Within the guide, I will be using my own experience in raising money for the Cancer League of Colorado through its Over the Edge event and for Camp Wapiyapi through running a 5K race on May 18th in the Colfax Marathon. Within the guide, I will also share how I used Chat GPT to design and develop a personal campaign plan.
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?This week, I presented as a guest lecturer in the University of Denver’s course on Entrepreneurial Finance for the 10th consecutive year. It was a pleasure to speak and thanks to Professor Andy Sherbo.
?Don Cohen
?I appeared on Don Cohen’s Hour of Employer show last Wednesday where I was joined by Paul Banks and discussed ‘raising capital’.
?SuperCrowd 2024
?I will be co-hosting the SuperCrowd 2024 event: “The Impact Crowdfunding Event of the Year” which will be held April 17th and 18th online. Early registration is now open and you can get deep pricing discounts over the day of the event tickets. I have been asked to make a presentation at Noon MST on April 18th where I will share examples of investment crowdfunding offers I have designed that are targeted to small business customers.
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Karl Dakin, the Capital Coach
Dakin Capital LLC
?? Excited for your new LinkedIn Live show! The journey of learning never ends. As Albert Einstein once said - The only source of knowledge is experience. Your initiative provides a great platform for many to gain insights and wisdom directly from experts. Keep inspiring! ?? #entrepreneurs #success #learninginprogress