Totul despre Crowdfunding

Ce este o Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding este o modalitate de a strânge bani, pentru companii, organizații sau persoane fizice. Mai exact? Crowdfundingul funcționează cu ajutorul unor persoane sau organizații care investesc în proiecte de crowdfunding, în schimbul unui potențial profit sau recompensă. Investițiile în acest mod pot fi riscante, așa că asigurați-vă că știți ce faceți. La fel de riscant este și sa pornești o astfel de campanie dacă nu ai un produs bun, bine promovat și un proiect atractiv. 

1. Există mai multe tipuri de Crowdfunding. Și le vom face o scurtă prezentare, ca să știți exact ce targhetati, atunci când incepeti o campanie de Crowdfunding.
2. Finanțare participativă bazată pe investiții.  Investiți într-o afacere și primiți o participație în schimb (în mod normal acțiuni).
3. Finanțare participativă bazată pe împrumuturi. Împrumutați bani persoanelor fizice sau companiilor în schimbul unei rate de dobândă stabilite. Se mai numește și împrumuturi peer-to-peer sau peer-to-business (P2P sau P2B). 
4. Finanțare participativă bazată pe donații. Donați unei persoane sau unei organizații caritabile (vi se poate promite ceva în schimb).
5. Finanțare participativă bazată pe recompense. Oferiți bani în schimbul unei recompense, legate de proiect sau pentru o cauza pe care o susțineți.  

Care sunt riscurile unui investiții în Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a relatively new concept. Investing in small businesses or newly launching businesses can be risky. The main risks of crowdfunding are:

1. The business you invest in might give you a headache. Many new companies fail in the first few years, so you could lose all your money. Returns are not guaranteed. Your shares may not increase in value and you may not get paid dividends.
2. It can be hard to sell your shares. Shares are normally unquoted.
3. The crowdfunding platform itself might collapse. This could mean that you lose the money if you have paid the crowdfunding website.

So, ideally, you should only invest money you can afford to lose – specifically, no more than 10% of the entire investment amount for one year. The money you invest should be kept in a separate account, or into the crowdfunding site’s bank accounts before being handed over to the company. However, crowdfunding sites have limited protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. So, you may be able to claim compensation from them if the site becomes defective.

So much for investing in crowdfunding campaigns. Now, let’s talk about what a crowdfunding campaign is and how to do it. Although risky, crowdfunding investments are on the rise. More and more investors are eyeing crowdfunding platforms, looking for an innovative product that will bring them future gains. In other words, they are looking for businesses to invest in.

What is a crowdfunding campaign?

Apparently, the principle is simple, if you get to know the concept. There are two major international crowdfunding platforms: Kickstarter and Indiegogo.  Here, entrepreneurs from all over the world put ideas “up for auction”. They come up with a project and ask for funding. Basically, the “buyers” who access these platforms sponsor the idea. If the product is an attractive one and the project reaches the proposed funding, a few months later, the investors also get the products they bought.

How to run a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.

Let’s take an example: suppose you want to sell smart pens. It’s just an idea. You choose to pitch your idea on Kickstarter. You have your prototype, you have made your business plan and you know exactly how much money you need to start your business. Make a pitch video showing what your product does. Write a project that should be informative and convince people of the benefits of your product and upload everything on Kickstarter. Set the amount you want to raise and…done.

The hard part is promoting the product. For promotion, you need other international platforms. Platforms accessed by Kickstarter users who know your product and who you can convince. If you use the agency specialized in such projects, both the project development and implementation part will be their responsibility. You should know that the basis of a successful Crowdfunding campaign is the promotion and presentation of the product.

For further information and advice, do not hesitate to write to us. We are happy to share our experience, because we like Crowdfunding campaigns a lot, even if the concept is little known in Romania.