IF YOU NEED TO ASK - CROWDFUNDING RESOURCES
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
NOTICE: As an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver, I will be leading a class of students in travel to the country of Belize from March 24th to March 30th in the course FIN 4700 – International Financial Transactions. As a result, I will have limited and delayed ability to respond to phone calls, emails, and comments.
In addition to this Instant Funding newsletter, I host the Successful Funding show, appear as a guest on various podcasts and television shows, speak at various events, and present my own educational programs. Presented here is a quick listing of upcoming opportunities to share information, learn, or meet in person or via videoconferencing. More info below.
NO SUCCESSFUL FUNDING SHOW ON MARCH 26.
Successful Funding – Business Acquisitions – Tuesday, April 2, MDT – LinkedIn Live
SuperCrowd 2024 – Impact Crowdfunding – Wednesday/Thursday – April 17/18 - Online
Successful Funding – Community Building – Tuesday, April 23, 8 am MDT – LinkedIn Live
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IF YOU NEED TO ASK - CROWDFUNDING RESOURCES
I had the pleasure of having Tom Bassford as my guest earlier today on my Successful Funding show on LinkedIn Live. Tom is the CEO of EquityVest, a Regulation CF crowdfunding platform. We had a great discussion on the need for capital by small businesses, the particularly greater need by people in poverty and marginalized communities, and the challenges of building a crowd and conducting a crowdfunding campaign successfully.
?Small businesses that are your meat and potatoes, Main Street, and average businesses make up most of all small businesses. While they generate the most new jobs, statistically, they do not generate sufficient profits to be attractive to investors who are seeking high rates of return on their investments. Crowdfunding provides an opportunity for these small businesses to obtain the needed capital to start and grow.
?Raising capital from crowdfunding is not easy. It takes some money and significant time.
?To be successful in crowdfunding, a small business has to raise small dollar investments from a large number of people.
?Most small businesses do not have a well-organized crowd of people who may act to invest. These businesses may not have established a strong enough relationship with their customers and their community that they will all come running with their checkbooks when a capital campaign begins. These businesses may not have set up their operations to work with a large number of relationships outside of selling them a product or service.
?So, where may a small business go to get information on raising funding through investment crowdfunding?
?First, of course, is please see my prior editions of this Instant Funding newsletter on investment crowdfunding.
Two, check out the information for small businesses seeking funding from the different crowdfunding platforms. FINRA, the regulatory body of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, has a list of all authorized platforms:
?Keep in mind that all crowdfunding platforms, like investor candidates, have their preferences, ways of doing business, target investor audiences as well as fee structures. They will have information on crowdfunding in general and additional information that may or may not match the needs of a particular small business.
?Also, keep in mind that the vast majority of crowdfunding platforms are focused on investors with the premise that an investor can earn a high rate of return by investment. This ‘high net worth,’ ‘angel investor’ focus will not work for most small businesses. This means that their target investor candidates and those of most small businesses will not match. Also, keep in mind that small businesses, to be successful, cannot depend on crowdfunding platforms to find investors and will need to bring 75% to 95% of investor candidates to the platform.
?There are a large number of books out there on crowdfunding that may prove helpful. These include books on charitable crowdfunding and rewards crowdfunding because they all have in common the need for a ‘crowd’ in order to get funded.
?It is recommended that a small business look for a successful crowdfunding campaign conducted by another business that is as similar as possible. This may be found by a keyword search on the Internet as well as by visiting individual crowdfunding platform sites. The small business may download all of the documents disclosed within the crowdfunding campaign and use them as templates. In addition, small businesses should study how their offerings are packaged and presented on crowdfunding platforms.
?There are experts out there who have worked with many small businesses conducting crowdfunding campaigns of all types. One example is Kathleen Minogue with Crowdfund Better, who will be a guest on my Successful Funding show on April 23.
?There are different conferences, webinars, and programs available for free or for a fee on the topic of crowdfunding. One example is SuperCrowd, which is happening today in Baltimore, or SuperCrowd 2024, which will be held on April 17th and 18th, where I will make a presentation on Customer-Focused Crowdfunding.
?Another source of information is the Crowdfunding Professional Association, which can be found at https://cfpa.org/.
领英推荐
?Every small business should consider raising funding as an alternative to all other options.
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SUCCESSFUL FUNDING
Today, my guest was Tom Bassford, CEO of EquityVest – a Regulation CF equity crowdfunding platform. This new platform enables access to capital by “Faith-Driven Entrepreneurs, Businesses, And Causes They Believe In.”
There will be no Successful Funding show next week on March 26 as I will be engaged in teaching a course on International Transactions for the University of Denver in the country of Belize where students will be immersed in how business is conducted in a different country.
?The Successful Funding show on my LinkedIn profile will repeat weekly at 8 am MST on Tuesdays. You may register to attend by going on LinkedIn, searching for Events, clicking on the Events button, searching for Successful Funding, and then clicking on the Attend button. You should receive an email with a link to save to your calendar. You can also click the Share button and obtain the URL link to the show to put it in your calendar.
You may view all of the Successful Funding shows in my Posts on my LinkedIn profile at: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/karldakin/
??DON COHEN
I was a guest on Don Cohen’s show last Friday, Monday, and Wednesday. Don is an expert on LinkedIn, particularly using LinkedIn Live streaming to build brands and communities.
All shows where I have been a guest can be viewed on Don Cohen's LinkedIn page under Posts.
??SUPERCROWD 2024
?I will co-host SuperCrowd 2024 , "The Impact Crowdfunding Event of the Year,” held online on April 17th and 18th.
I will make a presentation at SuperCrowd 2024 on April 18th at Noon MDT on Customer-Focused Crowdfunding. I will share my thinking and designs of investment crowdfunding offers that include products, discounts, charitable gifts and equity ownership.
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Karl Dakin, the Capital Coach
Dakin Capital LLC
Crowdfunding Educator | Community Capital Ecosystem Builder | Keynote Speaker | Curriculum Designer | Virtual Trainer
11 个月Karl, thanks for the shout-out! Looking forward to our conversation on building community on April 23rd.
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
11 个月Do you need information on investment crowdfunding?