We successfully completed a crowdfunding campaign to scale our UK and European venture by funding our 3-year roadmap to focus on growing our wholesale & foodservice channel. Our ventures overall mission remains to fix the tea industry by transforming it bottom up through sustainable partnership and transparent sourcing.
What was it like to fundraise? What were some of the challenges? Did you know that only about 34% of all crowdfunding campaigns achieve the state of being fully funded? In this short blog we summarize our top three insights & personal learnings from this journey.
Crowdfunding takes months
We had been told to plan in lots of time but we were still in for a huge surprise. Basically, if you think it takes X months to prepare for and run a campaign you might safely make this 3X instead. Timing is also key – we happened to run our campaign in the middle of the start-up banking crisis which added another whole new dynamic.
Success relies to a large degree on your network
You need to be comfortable to share your vision & plans with your extended personal and business network – be prepared for this feeling uncomfortable at times! Your lead investors and your wider personal & business network are key to get the momentum in your private phase & re-share further.
Manage the funding gap
Where platforms come in and experts need to be involved this comes at a price. You might also decide that you need campaign management support or an advertising budget to ensure the success. This means that before you actually see the funds from the campaign you need to be able to spend money on the campaign. This means that there are additional funds required to actually get the campaign live and execute on it. There will also likely be a time period after which the campaign is over which includes legal and investment requirements before you will actually be able to access the funds. Budgeting for this interim period is key.
Thank you all for your support & good luck with your campaigns of the future.