Discussion
Please leave a comment and tell us what you think.
- Is crowdfunding a good way to finance a technology venture?
- Have you been involved in a crowdfunding project? What worked? What went wrong?
- Should regulators make it easier for businesses to raise finance through crowdfunding?
On Twitter
All tweets with tagged #crowdtramp will be featured on this page. Join the conversation!
Follow Trampoline on @tramp0.
It seems a natural fit for a social software start-up to open itself up to a funding network like this. The approach could open up opportunities for earlier stage companies too, to crowdsource angel funding in much smaller amounts to really make the most of friends and family networks. It will be interesting to see how investors and companies funded by crowdsourcing develop communication channels that satisfy both their needs.
Yes, good idea, we were also thinking about approaching some of our 30,000+ active members (on http://www.viewmy.tv) for funding opp. Less than 1m funding is difficult to get and I’m sure if there was a good vehicle to coordinate this many companies could benefit. Viewmy.tv create social media tech and are interested in this space.
@peter how far along are you planning the idea for viewmy.tv? media ventures seem to be particularly well suited for crowdfunding where the audience provides an pre-aligned investor base.
Who do I talk to to apply for CrowdFunding for my company?
Hi Charles,
Congraluations on getting this model off the ground and making it a huge sucess. In light of restricted capital for early stage ventures at present, there is a real need for a funding mechanism like this. It makes perfect sense when you have a viable business (strong potential, a clear plan and have demonstrated a number of achievements already) and there are many small time investors who have an interest in backing a business like yours.
I always suspected that this mechanism, however sensible, would be very difficult to pass via the regulatory authorities. Was it difficult to create a structure to pass by the FSA’s IPO rules? In other words, did it take a lot of legal time and therefore expense? Would you be willing to share the lessons you learned with other entrepreneurs?
Many thanks.
@rachel thanks for your comment. the biggest hurdles were the fsa restrictions concerning how private companies can promote investments, which are designed to protect consumers from fraudulent schemes. it did take a lot of legal time and expense. we’ll be publishing a “how to” guide in the coming weeks which covers everything we learned about operating a crowdfunding process within the fsa regulations. hopefully this will be useful to other entrepreneurs wanting to take a similar route.