Month: March 2016

crowdfunding best practices

Crowdfunding best practices to indulge in

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Entrepreneurs and start-up owners are going all gaga over the crowdfunding phenomena. Almost everyone is into practising crowdfunding whether naïve or experienced. However, a very few of them try to pay attention to crowdfunding best practices. Crowdfunding best practices are the ones which could raise the chances of collection of funds through the crowd. With evolving crowdfunding websites, setting up of a crowdfunding campaign is not much of a problem but not following crowdfunding best practices could definitely raise the bar for it. This article brings to forth the crowdfunding industry’s crowdfunding best practices as advised by top experts of the field.

Some of crowdfunding best practices

  1. The preparation work: Ample preparation time before the launch of any crowdfunding campaign is too much important for its success. This is one of the crowdfunding best practices which leads to collection of leads and planning a proper track to follow it. The preparation is a vital part.The fact is that banking on the marketing departing is more fruitful before launching the crowdfunding campaign than afterwards. Other crowdfunding best practices follow this very first step. The time of crowdfunding preparation must at least two months prior to its launch. This gives an initial boost to the crowdfunding campaign.
  2. Videos/Photos work better: This is one of the crowdfunding best practices which could make the crowdfunding campaign stand aloof the crowd. This also comes within the preparation of the crowdfunding campaign. Videos and photos are what help fundraisers raise more than an average.
  3. Perks get it going: One of the crowdfunding best practices which never fails to impress the investors’ is offering freebies and products with perks. This could be anything like a free sample or a product offered below the marked price. It is quite a possibility that your crowdfunding page might have traction, but it is the conversion that matters. Offering extras for your crowdfunding campaign will surely increase the conversion rate of your crowdfunding campaign.
  4. Product description: A convincing yet short description of the product is one of the favourite crowdfunding best practices. Such a description could easily grab public attention when displayed on social networking sites like twitter and Facebook.
  5. Grabbing media attention: Every crowdfunding planner involves getting published. Giving time to choose the publication wisely is yet again one of the crowdfunding best practices. Doing so brings media attention for the crowdfunding campaign.
  6. Find those few supporters: Get some of those enthusiastic project supporters from the crowd and bring them on stage. Inviting them in your base camp and giving them an opportunity to work for their support is not only one of the crowdfunding best practices but also gives the sense of satisfaction to the supporter.
  7. Attaching Emotions: Attaching the originator’s emotion of the project to the promotions could be one of the crowdfunding best practices. These emotions could be well displayed in videos, tweets, pictures etc., and actually get the audiences to attach to the project

Project initiators following crowdfunding best practices are surely one step ahead of others.

crowdfunding business model

Crowdfunding Business Model: The Scenario

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Funding from the crowd is the talk of the town these days. Crowdfunding in itself is a blooming business which is helping other start-ups get popular and raise funds from every nook and corner of the globe. A crowdfunding business model is such that it is not effected by geographical borders and political turbulences. This article brings forth the crowdfunding business model in all its beauty and serves as an opportunity for readers to reap the benefits of a crowdfunding business model. Apart from looking into the crowd funding business model this article gives an insight into the business models which have been emerging through crowdfunding.

Emerging crowdfunding markets

The downfall of the credit market in the year 2008 was a major breakthrough in bringing crowdfunding into the scene. The first of its kind Kickstarter, a crowdfunding platform emerged amidst this and so did a crowdfunding business model. The inception of Kickstarter worked well, three of its initially successful projects were the Belo Monte-Announcement of War, Pebble and #CowdfundPaRato. The concept of crowdfunding has already marked its legal footsteps in the UK and the US and slowly it is being legally accepted in the other parts of the world.

Emerging Crowdfunding business model

A crowdfunding business model was born with the birth of Kickstarter back in the year 2009. With more and more crowdfunding platforms coming in the picture the sector has undergone transformation to reach what it is today. First thing to know here is that crowdfunding is a commission based business therefore the commission has an important part in forming the crowdfunding business model. The commission part varies from platform to platform and project type to type. The range is somewhere in between 4% to 8%.

Crowdfunding platforms have to be alluring to drive projects to let them showcase on their platform as the crowdfunding business model tells that the more projects end up being on the platform more is the income of the platforms. A crowdfunding business model also has a customer relationships arm which sorts out of the grievances of the projects if there are any. However, the CRM is also responsible to make the crowdfunding process easy for the start-up owners. Other things involved in crowdfunding business model are blogs and tutorials which are knowledge resources on which the start-ups could grow and flourish. The crowdfunding business model offers much more than what is seen. As the crowdfunding industry is thriving, its magnetism keeps on augmenting.

The recent crowd funding business model also show that crowdfunding platforms have evolved from being a fundraising platform to a platform for lending and borrowing funds. Now a days it also gives space for other investors to get close to the crowd. These investors include angel investors and venture capitalists. Other essential parts of the crowdfunding business model include media production, legal services and advisory groups.

The crowd funding business model is growing with more and more people and services finding it useful. The augmentation will surely impact the world in a more positive way.

crowdfunding a restaurant

Crowdfunding a Restaurant

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Restaurant business is one which could be easily banked upon. Food is the basic necessity of human life. This fact raises the survivability index of the restaurant business. However, starting a restaurant includes huge capital investments. Crowdfunding a restaurant is one way to gather funds for establishing a restaurant business. However, there are other sources of investments which work, but the procedures involved in those are quite tangling and tedious.

So more and more people are banking on the concept of crowdfunding a restaurant. Crowdfunding is a way of funding in from the crowd and these days it is widely promoted and facilitated by online platforms like MyEfunder and Indiegogo. Crowdfunding a restaurant is a concept which has been originated lately out of the crowdfunding kitty.

Points to consider while crowdfunding a restaurant

  1. The basics: Preparation is what holds journey of crowdfunding a restaurant from its inception to its closure. Crowdfunding a restaurant is not an individual’s work, rather it requires a bunch of skilled people to look into all aspects of the crowdfunding campaign. A proper preparation time is nearly of two to three months and giving that time to crowd funding a restaurant is worth it.
  2. The aim must be fixed: A proper goal has to be establish and for crowdfunding a restaurant it must be a step by step process. No doubt building a restaurant requires a lot of money but keeping the goal to that sum is not good. It has to be done in phases. Setting up goals also comes from the survey if the area in which the crowdfunding campaign has to be run. The total sum of required should be calculated precisely while keeping all costs in mind.
  3. Giving Momentum: Crowdfunding a restaurant needs boost up of all kinds. A wide popularity is foremost required for crowdfunding a restaurant. Hence, a Launch party seems to be a lucrative way to lure foodie people from all around. An online crowdfunding platform is the right place to announce your launch party.
  4. The promotions: A promotional strategy is the utmost requirement of achieving success when crowdfunding a restaurant. Grabbing the attention of the masses lies in the art of making the promotions sense grabbing rather than begging funds of the project. A promotion on regular basis should be the strategy to be followed here. The crowd must be able to perceive the sense of taste that the restaurant would bring upon its inception.
  5. Work on the data metrics: A proper planned campaign for crowd funding a restaurant must be well analysed. The easiest way to achieve it is Goggle Analytics. It helps to get you know that the campaign is on the right track and it also helps to anticipate the success rate of the crowdfunding a restaurant.

As evident from above,crowdfunding a restaurant requires a lot of perseverance and time and if the conversion rates are to be believed, it really works. If crowdfunding a restaurant brings one person to the restaurant, then mouth publicity by a satisfied customer brings in more foodies.

Crowdfunding and crowdsourcing

Crowdfunding and Crowdsourcing: Understanding them right

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Crowdfunding and crowdsourcing are two different words often confused and misused. Crowdfunding and crowdsourcing both are powerful tools used to strike the right chord of the public so that they lend out financial support. This financial support can be used to nurture talents, bring innovation, growth and prosperity of an individual, a group or society as a whole. Recent years have been flooding with innovators, entrepreneurs, people with artistic capabilities and even charities.

No doubt all require funds. Most of the people involved in these endeavours find the act of gathering funds from the crowd alluring and they try for it. However, they fail to devise the difference between the terms crowdfunding and crowdsourcing. They do fall in a similar category of funding but actually are two poles apart when it comes to their real meaning. This blog utilises itself in explaining the key differences between crowdfunding and crowdsourcing.

Difference between crowdfunding and crowdsourcing

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is the right tool to raise capital for the endeavour of your choice. It is nourished by the strength of crowd, tapping into the potential of micro-financing from a number of people. This fundamental is known by most of the people but they fail to draw the line between crowdfunding and crowdsourcing. Crowdfunding gets help in financing from people who are interested in the project. This taps into the philanthropic attitude of people worldwide.

Crowdfunding project has the following advantages apart from raising capital:

  1. Project is automatically marketed while it gets advertised for crowdfunding
  2. A much easy process of gathering funds as compared to other sources like banks etc.
  3. Pre-launch admirers and followers which get attached to the project.

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing deals with fact of getting resources from the crowd. These resources can be of any type, skilled labour, infrastructure, etc. crowdfunding and crowdsourcing both bank on the fact that many sources are far better than one. However, the latter gets skilled workforce for the project. A budding project requires attention of the masses. For which its skin has to be presentable. Crowdsourcing means getting help from people who have the talent to copy write SEO content for your project, design brochures, help getting connections and a lot more.

Benefits of crowdsourcing a project:

  1. Building the project within a reasonable cost.
  2. Better connections for better business opportunities.
  3. Less extra efforts required for marketing and advertising.

Crowdfunding and crowdsourcing together make a great pair which help in evolution of a business. There is nothing like choosing between crowdfunding and crowdsourcing. The process of implementing crowdfunding and crowdsourcing often go through similar bridges called crowdfunding platforms. Crowdfunding and crowdsourcing could also be achieved with the same crowdfunding campaign. Both crowdfunding and crowdsourcing could be implemented for a project or the project creator could choose any one from crowdfunding and crowdsourcing. A wise thought would be to make both of them feasible through the same crowdfunding project. However, it all depends upon the requirement of the project.

crowdfunding a book

Crowdfunding a Book: Getting in its Skin

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Crowdfunding, as a matter of fact is a widely accepted phenomena. However, crowdfunding a book is a rare one. One of the famous instances of crowdfunding a book was by Seth Godwin in the year 2012 for his book ‘The Icarus Deception.’ The crowdfunding proceeded through KickStarter.com, and attained wide popularity resulting to a pre-release loyal fan base and a collection of nearly 200 thousand USD in a duration of 30 days. This was a glimpse of perks arising out of the field of crowdfunding a book. This glimpse also reveals the power of crowdfunding a book.

Crowdfunding: Basic ingredients

Crowdfunding including crowdfunding a book is a puzzle which is incomplete in lack of any of the following piece

  1. The initiator: Crowdfunding needs a creator. In case of crowdfunding books, it has to be author of the book or any person he choose on his behalf. The incoming funds are directed to this person.
  2. The money bank: Money bank in case of crowdfunding is not one source, but a mass of people interested in the project. For crowdfunding books, they like the concept of the book and are interested in funding it.
  3. The mediator: The mediator is something that bridges the above two and facilitates smooth communication in between them. While crowdfunding a book, online crowdfunding platforms like MyEfunder and KickStarter could be the mediator.

Why go for crowdfunding a book?

Crowdfunding a book is not all about money, it might be called a success if it is able to generate rows of supporters who are looking forward to get a copy of the book when it is published. The concept of crowdfunding a book can impact hard into the minds of audiences and reach as far and wide as we can think. Let us explore the reasons to opt for crowdfunding a book.

  1. Gather Public support: Crowdfunding books can help you find biggest followers of your work, which gives the author satisfaction. There is support and sharing which encourages the author and gives a mental satisfaction for acceptance of their work. And as it is well known that any encouragement is good encouragement, therefore this stuff could morally boosts the author like never before.
  2. Passing the first level: Crowdfunding a book has the power to validate your writing. It gives you a sense of the popularity which you could gain in the field of writing and finally helps you decide whether going for it is worth your time and hard work or not.
  3. Instils enthusiasm in the masses: While the process of crowd funding a book is in progress, eager masses which support the book wait with zeal for the book to get released. This is one reason, everyone must go for crowdfunding a book even if they do not require financial back-up.
  4. Authenticates the self-published work: A major back-up from the audience not only gives acceptance to your work but also shows you the way to self-publish your book. Crowdfunding books successfully leads you in a favourable situation where for publishing your book you does not need to go door to door. You could do it very much by yourself.

Crowdfunding a book is what every author must give some space.

crowdfunding a wedding

Crowdfunding a Wedding: Think Again

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The crowdfunding phenomena has taken the masses heads over heels, and it has spread to a variety of fields ranging from schools to businesses. Meanwhile, a lesser but heard whisper is of crowdfunding a wedding. A wedding has also seen a lot of transformation in recent years. Traditional gifts have been replaced by honeymoon packages even revolutionary gift idea is a coupon for in-vitro fertilization.

A few more revolutionaries are backing up the idea of crowdfunding a wedding. Crowdfunding a wedding might sound lucrative, but is definitely not the crowdfunding which one would go for. Crowdfunding a wedding might make you heavy on lavishness of your wedding but it could blatantly destroy the meaning of good manners and etiquettes when the guest turns out to be the funder. Let us have a closer look to why crowdfunding a wedding can never be a digestible idea?

Why not to go for crowdfunding a wedding?

  1. Crowdfunding a wedding is unpredictable: Crowdfunding process is full of probabilities. To make a crowdfunding campaign successful it requires proper planning and follow-up. And funds come in after regular days of hard work in making the campaign viral. However, when dealing with wedding it is well known that a portion of money has to be spent in advance for booking the facilities. At the end of the day if crowdfunding a wedding is not able to generate traction and accordingly funds then the result is a lot of loan from friends and family.
  2. A guest never spends: While crowdfunding a wedding there might be a possibility that a few out of your guest list turn out to be funders of your wedding. This might lead you in an awkward situation as guests are never supposed to pay for a party.
  3. Time is in your own hands: It is better to delay and gather funds for the auspicious day rather than to be in hurry and go for crowdfunding a wedding. Delaying the occasion for a while may be a year can get you a greater saving so that you could spend well on your wedding and make it more than a memorable affair.
  4. There are other doors to saving: Crowdfunding a wedding is not the only way to save funds for your special day, there are more. You can avoid extras of the wedding to save money. Also you can do some overtime and part-time work to get sufficient amount of saving for the occasion.
  5. Crowdfunding origin: The advent of crowdfunding was seen as a way to fund charities. This could lead to anything relation to a cause for non-profit organisation or even personal. In front of this origin of crowdfunding , the idea of crowdfunding a wedding seems lame as wedding does not belong to any of the charity category

Wedding is a personal affair, and wedding guest are invited to be a part of the couple’s happiness, not to share their expenses. Hence, it is always better to have a low key wedding than having a lavish one by crowdfunding a wedding.

Crowdfunding business

Crowdfunding business: Where does it stand?

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Crowdfunding business has emerged as one of the most promised one’s in the recent times. The modern world is not only the era of digitisation but also the era of entrepreneurship. There is no dearth of ideas these days and innovation is on the rise with more and more people finding raising start-ups profitable. Laterally, crowdfunding business has also emerged as a favourite of start-up founders.

A lot of crowdfunding business has emerged in recent years, some names include MyEfunder, Indiegogo and KickStarter. These crowdfunding business are also blooming profoundly by taking help of the Internet through which the crowdfunding business could reach the length and breadth of the world.

The advent of crowdfunding business

Going by the definition of crowdfunding, we know that it is method of funding when no other option feels viable. It is receiving funds from small investors by giving them benefits and rewards which would help them grow their fortune and lifestyle. A bunch of people saw opportunity in this concept and they laid down a start-up confiding into crowdfunding business.

The concept of crowdfunding has been breeding in for than half a century but it is in the recent years when crowd funding business has given entrepreneurs potential more than ever before. For their presence online, the crowdfunding business is known as online crowdfunding platform. Talking about the US, there is the JOBS act which renders crowdfunding and crowd funding business to a legal term.

It not only gives lawful opportunity to crowdfund start-ups but also saves the investors from any fraud. In the middle of these crowdfunding business has got a green signal for legality. The crowd funding business has evolved enough to be at par with other forms of funding like Virtual Capitalist and Angel Investors.

The advantage of crowdfunding over other forms funding

A crowdfunding business offers start-ups an extra edge over others who do not use their service. The following points could explain them a bit clearly:

  1. It helps to grow market: A crowdfunding business help start-ups to garner popularity like never before. Their connection to the start-up makes the start-up more trustworthy and gets them a brand of loyalty. This comes from the fact they for publishing a project over crowdfunding platform it has go through rigorous criteria.
  2. The public back: With crowdfunding platforms taking the campaign of start-up to every nook and corner of the society, the start-up is able to gather acceptance from varied range of communities. This public support also gives moral backup and positive vibes to the start-up owners.

In the world of start-ups today, crowdfunding business is yet another kind of start-up which helps others to get on board of success, meanwhile, steering themselves towards growth. A crowdfunding business can be of a particular kind like crowdfunding for projects or crowdfunding for charity or simply a borrow-lend platform or it might be an all in one type.

However, for any start-up to initiate on a crowdfunding platform is important to know all aspect of it. For this reason, it is recommended that the process should start with a crowdfunding consulting firm.

Crowdfunding apps

Crowdfunding Apps – Raise money through Smartphone

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Crowdfunding apps is a term often dealt by developers of apps who want to see their apps as the first step towards their start-ups. The truth is every budding software company try their hands on crowdfunding apps, but most of them do not succeed. The main gesture of this article is to educate about the basics of crowdfunding apps, so that start-ups don’t get doomed while crowdfunding apps.

Crowdfunding industry is in all its bloom today and start-ups and charities in every field are trying to get the most of it. Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and MyEFunder see new projects everyday including crowdfunding apps and are literally flooded with them. Also there are investors which find it profitable to invest in these start-ups. While crowdfunding apps one should be more exact and precise in certain things of a crowdfunding campaign.

Crowdfunding apps start with crowdfunding definition

The simplest approach to crowdfunding goes with the words that it is getting small investors in huge quantity to get big finance for the project. The project could be business, charity, art or even music. It goes in two ways, rewards crowdfunding and equity crowdfunding. When dealing with crowdfunding apps the most of the project owners find equity crowdfunding more lucid to follow. Crowdfunding which began as a way to give budding artists and small movie projects is now used for almost every field.

The success of crowdfunding

Crowdfunding has come a long way and offered many a projects and investors fortune like never before. The crowdfunding platforms have brought this fortune right at the click of one button of your computer. Also they have a huge basket to choose from. Entrepreneurs find this option as best the way to reach small investors in huge amount than by trying any other kind of investors.

Why is crowdfunding apps a big deal?

A consultant for crowdfunding can be approached while dealing with crowdfunding apps and other software product. Here we try to get in to the skin of process of crowd funding apps and how to make it easy going. It is true that Information technology, has taken over the world with its revolution and gathering finances. Be it any stock exchange, software companies have set their foot hold strong.

Apps are supposed to be a part of software category but amidst the successful software industry but crowd funding apps are a rare phenomenon and more rare for them is to be successful. The reason for this goes back to the origin of crowdfunding which was for initially built for funding creative abilities which are opposite to apps as apps require experts who acquire the expertise within a sufficient duration of time while creative abilities are inborn and only polished through time.

Crowdfunding apps channels

Crowdfunding apps should start with choosing the right crowdfunding platform. The nature of crowdfunding platform should be thoroughly scanned to meet for the intended purpose. Next there are three ways to go ahead with it, the two already mentioned and the last one being donation in which the funder does not need anything in return.

Choosing the right option from the available ones is the only thing which could break the jinx and make crowdfunding apps a success.

Crowdfunding agency

Crowdfunding Agency: Their Usefulness

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Crowdfunding is the talk of the start-up town these days. They are thought to be an easy way to garner funds for a budding business. Crowdfunding agency is a consulting service which offer help to people who indulge is crowdfunding. The concept of crowdfunding involves exhibiting your project to people and then expecting financial help from them in return. The funds are rendered in if the crowd finds the project worthy of their money.

The investors are also adamant on the fact that they also want to utilise the opportunity to invest in a start-up resulting in either rewards or profitable shares of the company. For a start-up the process goes on until the requisite funds have been accumulated so that they could establish themselves well in the market. In this process, going for the help of a crowdfunding agency is a wise decision to make and here we are going to tell you why it is so?

Crowdfunding websites in the picture

Before reaching out for the help of crowdfunding agency, most of the people are well known to the concept of crowdfunding website. A crowdfunding website is an online crowdfunding platform which helps to showcase the project to people all around the globe and raise necessary funds for it whereas a crowdfunding agency can be referred to as a teacher and guide in the process.

The definition of crowdfunding websites might sound simple to read and understand but is much hard to implement. Prominent names among crowdfunding websites are MyEfunder and KickStarter. There is a huge amount of different kinds of processing involved in crowdfunding a project through a crowdfunding websites. These should be done with expertise and tactics and here is when the crowdfunding agency come in to picture.

A Crowdfunding agency can be of great help

Crowdfunding platforms are overcrowded with campaigns these days. The crowdfunding websites cater the crowdfunding campaign but a crowdfunding agency knows how to make a crowdfunding campaign stand tall in the crowd. A crowdfunding agency also provides consulting services to anyone interested in crowdfunding their project.

A successful crowdfunding campaign takes it all from first look to appropriate usage of words. A crowdfunding agency helps you in ways to make your crowdfunding page attractive from the first look. A crowdfunding agency also helps out in writing such description of your page which appeals to the crowd. The writing department also includes giving appropriate answers to their queries, for which the FAQ section is built and a crowdfunding agency does this job with dedication.

When to hire a crowdfunding agency?

The crowdfunding websites have certain rules and regulations to post a project on their platform. An example of this could be the rule that project which wants to showcase on Kickstarter must have a ready prototype which actually works. A lot many rules and different for different crowdfunding sites exists. These really make as mess for first timers and crowd funding agency comes to the rescue.

A crowdfunding agency is the first place one should visit when one has crowdfunding for their project on one’s mind. It is always nicer to get things done by a professional when you are naïve and otherwise also.

Crowdfunding a business

Crowdfunding a Business – A step closer to Success

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Crowdfunding a business is definitely one of those off the league money gathering techniques which involves small contribution from many rather than huge contributions from some. Crowdfunding a business has let medium and small scale industries in developing countries flourish lie never before. Crowdfunding a business gives opportunities to all including the investors who get an optimal chance to build their fortune. So, a few bucks in the pocket might also give you a chance crowdfunding a business and there by gearing up for exponential increase in returns.

Crowdfunding a Business and Rules of JOBS Act

JOBS act stands for Jumpstart Our Business Start-up Act. It was enforced in the year 2012. It gives opportunity for crowdfunding a business which are in their budding stage and mainstream funders like angel investors and venture capitalist do not find them lucrative to put in their funds. Such a business is more likely to get backing from petty investors. Crowdfunding a business gives opportunity to invest to people who once thought investment was not their cup of tea and it belonged to the higher class.

The SEC of US laid down rules related to equity crowdfunding while crowdfunding a business. The rules apply to start-ups as well as investors. It caps the start-up’s collection of crowdfunding to 1 million USD. It also caps the investments by investors interested in crowdfunding a business to 5% of total income for less than 100 thousand dollars annual earners and 10% for greater annual earners, both in a duration of 12 months. Also there is a cap on total investment in a 12 month duration which is 100 thousand USD.

Things to consider while crowdfunding a business

Investments in crowdfunding are hot, it doesn’t mean there is a necessity to invest in it by every individual. All kinds of interest and risks must be kept under consideration while investing in crowdfunding a business. Here are few points to consider

  1. Hidden liabilities associated with the start-ups: We know that getting a bank loan requires proper scrutiny and check of all the financials of the start-up. It means if a start-up is choosing crowd funding a business in place going to the bank for loan, it is quite a possibility that it might have some potential risks. Getting to know all aspects of the start-ups before investing is a wise thought.
  2. Hit and miss ratio: Talking about the success ration of start-ups, it is less than 2%. Any investor associating themselves to crowd funding a business must know this fact and get in to this along with the added risks of loss of capital.
  3. Fault in estimated evaluations: There is no genuine means by which the companies indulging crowdfunding are going to verify their evaluations as they had already cut off from the traditional means of funding from the bank. So while crowdfunding a business, the fact that facts and figures presented by them could be misleading should always be kept in mind.

Deciding to invest in crowd funding a business must never be a decision of haste. It should be properly thought and well planned.