Our Manchester crowdfunding - with £60k of match pledges available
Our Manchester on Spacehive Manchester City Council is launching the new “OurManchester” Hive on crowdfunding platform Spacehive with a pledge pot of £60,000 for your local projects. Anyone can make great ideas happen through crowdfunding! What could you or your organisation do to make Manchester an even better place to live and work? Come to … Continue reading
When is it the best time to launch a crowdfunding campaign?
What time of year, week, day is best? This is a question I am often asked at workshops. There is of course no one answer but here are some questions you should ask yourself. When do you need the money? Work backwards from your deadline and leave at least a month from successful end of campaign … Continue reading
Crowdfunding - keeping momentum during your campaign
Crowdfunding campaign - tips for effective action You’ve got a brilliant idea; uploaded a video; done your action plan; drafted press releases; built up your twitter and Facebook following; got your initial donors to pledge immediately and then you’ve launched. If you’ve done the work above you’re on track for a successful result. You should … Continue reading
thINK- a book of incendiary cartoon skepticism - the crowdfunding story so far
Think – the book 56 pages of satire-coated ammunition, waiting to be loaded and aimed at superstition, irrationality and anti-science delusions. A crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter by Polyp (Paul Fitzgerald), a friend of mine from Manchester. I’ve always though the Polyp books are perfect for crowdfunding – visual, funny, radical and he has an engaged … Continue reading
A-Z of crowdfunding
A-Z of crowdfunding - tips for success Ask This is the essence of crowdfunding – you are asking people for money or support. You need to look them in the eye, smile and bring them with you. Look at it from their point of view – why should they give any money away to any … Continue reading
The State of crowdfunding in the UK
The crowdfunding market “Crowdfunding has the potential to be the biggest revolution in finance of the 21st Century”. Jimmy McLoughlin, Deputy Director of Policy, Institute of Directors Crowdfunding is a growing part of the business funding landscape. In 2012 £350m was raised which grew to £2,337m in 2014 - an average growth of 410%. Average amounts raised in … Continue reading
Turning to the crowd for a business loan
Turning to the crowd The Glen Rothay Hotel Ambleside Lending directly to businesses involves risk including risk to your capital (see full risk warning at the end of this post) Peer-to-peer lending in Britain was worth £1.7bn pounds in 2014 – with nearly half of it business lending. The peer-to-peer market contributed about 1% of total … Continue reading
Secret Diaries - crowdfunding tips from Art with Heart
Crowdfunding tips from the Heart Once in awhile a workshop facilitator gets a fantastic participant - one who gets the topic (warts and all), is enthusiastic, asks loads of questions and more importantly has loads of creative ideas to share. Sarah Evans, from Art with Heart, was one such at one of my crowdfunding workshops … Continue reading
Oculus Rift - sell out or success story or both?
The story of Occulus Rift and how it raised its money Oculus Rift as everyone knows sold to Facebook for a huge $2bn deal in March 2014. They’d already raised $2,437,429 from 9,522 on Kickstarter and $16m from a venture capitalist firm. Some of those original backers were not at all happy and were soon demanding … Continue reading
The impact of crowdfunding on jobs, revenue and further investment
How does crowdfunding impact job creation, company revenue and professional investor interest? A new research report from Capital Crowdfund Advisors (CCA) shows what has happened to businesses who have successfully crowdfunded. The report can be downloaded for free here. CCA contacted several hundred companies who had used rewards, debt or equity platforms across USA, UK and Europe. 44-48% … Continue reading