Nova’s crowdfunding experience: lessons from executing a members-exclusive funding campaign

Hey, we are Ramón Rodrigá?ez and Andrea Marino, Co-Founders at Nova, the Global Top Talent Network.

Welcome to Talent First, our newsletter where those who believe that talent is the most important resource in the economy get together.

Every week we cover a new topic related to attracting, hiring, developing, and retaining talent, as well as the learnings from our journey building Nova.

Summary:

• Why we decided to launch an equity crowdfunding campaign: To strengthen member engagement, expand strategically, and position Nova for long-term success.
• Lessons from running a campaign unconventionally: Balancing exclusivity, transparency, and creating excitement among a highly engaged audience.

1. Why we chose equity crowdfunding

Before diving into the lessons learned, let’s start from the basics, why did we decide to go through an equity crowdfunding campaign?

There are many good reasons why a company should consider equity crowdfunding, in fact, companies of all kinds and sizes have been through this journey (Revolut or Qonto are two unicorn examples). Any company can benefit from turning customers into brand ambassadors with higher incentives, even more so those with a strong consumer brand.

In 2021, at Nova, we decided we could benefit significantly from strengthening the tights with our early members who were rooting for our success and started to see Nova’s value. We took the decision to go ahead but also to do things a bit differently taking an unconventional approach which you’ll read more about in the following lines.

So there we were, 1 year from the official launch of the new Nova, and instead of seeking venture capital or opening a crowdfunding campaign to the public, we opted for a highly exclusive equity crowdfunding round limited to Nova members. Let’s dive into the reasons for that and the lessons we learned on the journey.

1.1. Turning members into partners

Our members have always been the lifeblood of Nova and since day 1, as our principle of “Member obsession” would testify, we built the network around them.

As we saw organic growth spike and significant engagement metrics compared to other communities, we realized our members were willing to do even more to support our growth if they had the chance to. Among the various roles we created over the years (read more about the city leaders as an example) we thought that the brand love could become even stronger via an equity crowdfunding that would bring members closer to our key decisions.

By inviting them to invest, we sought to deepen their connection to the network and engage them not only as users but also as long-term stakeholders who could contribute ideas, open doors, and help Nova thrive.

When the discussion first started, it didn’t take long to become a decision, and in January 2021 we started setting things in motion.

1.2. A strategic move to fuel our growth

Besides the engagement, there were other important reasons. At that early stage, Nova wasn’t ready for VC funding. Our technology was still being built, and we were refining our product-market fit. We could not present yet a clear scalable product, our recurring B2C memberships were far from being implemented and our B2B product was highly service-based. At the time, it would have been easier to be funded by a traditional headhunting agency corporate innovation team than by VCs who have a completely different perspective.

However, on one hand, we were not ready to turn to big corporates for funding, and at the same time, we knew that our members, already experiencing the value of Nova, could see the potential impact of scaling this talent network globally.

Crowdfunding allowed us to capitalize on this understanding, bridging the gap between early-stage development and the major milestones needed to attract VC interest. This for us meant a stronger technology to allow for scale and having proven that Nova as a concept could be replicated around the world and was not just a lucky Spanish strike.

The crowdfunding enabled us to fast-track expansion into Italy, a market where we saw an opportunity to establish a strong presence with minimal effort compared to others thanks to an early organic members growth that started and a very similar culture to the Spanish market.

2. Lessons from our unconventional campaign decisions

Now that we established the two main reasons for turning to equity crowdfunding, we can move on to how we did it and what we learned on the way.

Running an equity crowdfunding campaign is a complex process, and we are sure you can find many insightful articles on how to run it successfully. At Nova, we made some deliberate choices that went against conventional wisdom, so in order to add extra value we will cover those and disregard others who you can learn about somewhere else. Here’s what worked for us and what you might consider if you’re planning your own campaign.

2.1. Exclusivity can be a strength

Crowdfunding campaigns typically aim to maximize reach. Obviously the bigger your target audience the better.

Instead, we restricted ours to Nova members, which meant fewer potential investors. But this exclusivity also strengthened our campaign, as our genuine claim to only open doors for members was legitimate and true. At the same time, knowing exactly our target investor persona we have saved a lot on marketing material and all the PR that usual campaigns require. Since our members already knew well what Nova stood for we could be much more agile on marketing material and skip all the fancy videos more typical of massive campaigns.

Our members’ knowledge made them more likely to invest and actively contribute to our growth post-campaign. They also felt privileged to have this opportunity, creating a sense of ownership and pride in being part of Nova’s next chapter.

2.2. Setting a higher minimum investment

While traditional crowdfunding favors low-entry tickets to maximize accessibility, we set our minimum investment at €500. This decision wasn’t about excluding anyone, it was about ensuring that our investors had meaningful skin in the game.

The result? A committed investor base that took their role seriously and contributed far beyond financial capital. Still today we are so happy and grateful for all those members and partners who take the time to write to us ideas on how we can improve Nova. Much of that feedback is usually implemented in our product roadmap as it is spot-on. We doubt that someone with a 50€ investment would take the time and effort to give those detailed feedback and ideas. In hindsight, we believe it was the right choice.

2.3. Trust over (inflated) FOMO

Crowdfunding often relies on FOMO (fear of missing out) to drive urgency. Campaigns are designed to hit their funding goals quickly, creating excitement and overfunding buzz. Usually, if your target is €500K, campaign managers would suggest you set €300K. This allows you to get an extra visibility boost (and also to ensure campaign success and the platform to charge the applicable fee).

We took a different route. Instead of artificially lowering our funding target, we set a realistic goal that reflected the resources we needed to achieve our objectives. To make up for the lack of FOMO, we focused on transparency and education, building a pre-launch waiting list and warming up potential investors well before the campaign went live.

We don’t think it’s necessarily bad to lower your initial target and reduce the risk of not getting funded, we think it’s important to align your strategy to your ultimate goals. In our case, we didn’t need the extra marketing coming from being an over-funded project that most platforms provide, we had a different goal and audience.

The trust building, and the right FOMO, followed a few simple steps which we shared here shortly, so it might serve as a checklist for you in the future, if you want further details hit us up via email.

1. Announce to your community/customers that you will soon launch an equity crowdfunding and invite them to show interest by signing up and disclosing the ideal ticket. This gives you the first appetite test and helps you understand the starting point and also the effort you need to put in.
2. Set a maximum target amount and make sure you communicate it clearly. It will drive a genuine sense of urgency and scarcity and the right level of FOMO. In our case, we made clear that not all members might be satisfied with their ticket and that they might reduce it given the strong interest.
3. Make a detailed communication plan. Inform clearly your audience about the condition of the investment, the business plan, and associated risks. In the weeks before the launch day, we sent warmup messages, informing people about the time left before the campaign went live and adding confidential information (pitch deck, key business figures, etc.). All those emails had a live countdown, everything has to build momentum and reinforce the narrative, so spend a good amount of time on copywriting and designing the entire experience via each touch point.
4. Host an online event where you dive deeper into the company’s story and vision. We still remember our event, where together with Elias, we shared Nova’s background and the detailed roadmap that the round would enable.
5. Plan for individual meetings with people who can put high tickets. We did that with those members who in the sign-up process had shared significant ticket sizes in the sign-up form. This is key to strengthening the trust and making sure they are fully committed before the launch. Our recommendation is that at the launch date, if not 100% you should feel secure on at least 50% of the funding target. Launching without that security can be very painful because smaller investors might be observing to see how fast or how strong the interest is.

All the other details around the campaign such as the marketing material, the storyline, and branding are minor details, the key as usual is that you choose an angle that can tap not only into the potential financial upside but most importantly into a significant emotional element of your target audience. Financial return is a part of the decision but at this early stage with such a high associated risk, most members joined to support the core team’s vision and play a role in the global journey of Nova.

3. Mistakes and Takeaways

Every journey has its challenges and mistakes, and our crowdfunding campaign was no exception. Here are some lessons we learned along the way.

3.1. The unnecessary burden of high valuation

Since the campaign managers are not investment professionals, you don’t discuss the right company valuation with anybody. You make up your mind based on benchmarks and calculations that for such an early stage companies are often more art than science. In hindsight, we overestimated the importance of valuation as a success metric. At €750K in revenue, we set a €10M valuation during a time when the tech bubble inflated expectations.

This valuation felt like a win initially but later complicated negotiations with VCs. When the bubble burst, we realized how arbitrary valuations can be for early-stage companies. Instead of chasing high numbers, focus on building a sustainable foundation for growth. The valuation in the early phase is irrelevant as long as you don’t dilute yourself too much. What matters over time is your ability to build a profitable business that can attract funds easily and that will have an easy exit plan for your investors. When setting a valuation, don’t be too greedy, and don’t take it as the ultimate success factor.

3.2. Balancing ambition with focus

Crowdfunding enabled us to scale faster, but it also highlighted the importance of maintaining focus. Expanding into Italy was a calculated risk that paid off, but it reinforced the need to align growth with product development and operational readiness. We have been very eager to move fast and with the newly raised capital, we quickly move into expansion mode before having clarified a few important aspects of our value proposition. We’ve written many articles on this, and how we adapted our operating model and product as we moved along, maybe we would not have learned so many things so fast, but looking backward the successful crowdfunding ignited both the good and the bad of the company we were running at the moment. How we would have mitigated this? Most probably by including earlier strategic angels who can guide you with deep domain knowledge in some important decisions. So if you launch a campaign, ask some key experts to join and keep them close. We did that 1 year after the crowdfunding and that has helped us significantly.

3.3. Underestimate legal and compliance processes

When dealing with investment platforms you are stepping into a very regulated territory. Especially when you are targeting retail investors the warranties and guarantees can be demanding. To give you an example, claiming that you have worked at a certain company requires proof of employment, your LinkedIn or CV is not sufficient. That applied to all statements. While we think this is important to protect investors we underestimated the time required and the strict and sometimes very slow procedures. So as a fun fact (not so fun at the time), the day before our announced launch date, we were still waiting for final clearance from the legal department. So the lesson here, is that is better to assign a person that enjoys dealing with the law and heavy documentation from the very beginning and be as fast as possible to provide all pieces of evidence because you never know how long will it take before you are ready to go live.

4. The Outcome

After all this, a process that lasted about 4 months from start to finish, the crowdfunding campaign exceeded our expectations. We set out to raise €500K and ended up surpassing our target by 10%, securing €550K.

This funding allowed us to hire additional tech engineers to advance our platform and bring on our first Italian employee. These steps were pivotal in accelerating Nova’s product development and expanding our presence in Italy. Even more so, the energy at the office when all our employees realized how strong our community was and how willing they were to support us on the journey was memorable and a moment we will keep with us forever. We want to thank you once again for all our 200+ members who enabled us to grow and move into the future, we would not be here without your support.

As you have seen, the 2021 crowdfunding campaign wasn’t just about raising money, it was about building community, trust, and momentum for the team and the company. It empowered our members to take an active role in Nova’s journey and provided the resources to drive meaningful growth.

For anyone considering crowdfunding, remember: the true value lies not just in the capital you raise but in the relationships you build and the trust you foster along the way. If you'd like to dive deeper into this topic you know where to find us.

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