How to raise money for starting your business

Irina Lisenko, business coach, writer, organizer of Russia's first forum kradennogo Crowdall "Crowdfunding is a science"

A year ago I wrote my first book and accidentally found out about crowdfunding. I was advised to try, I spoke with "Planet", and as a result everything was simple and clear: you have an audience, you are able to communicate with her, clearly understand the goal and the real figure. All. I thought, "I Have 300 friends on Facebook, who are dreaming, as if to give me money for the book, I'm all of them and write". Life is very quickly corrected me. First, it became clear that even 300 and 300 thousand of friends is not the audience, and it is desirable that there were 3 million. Second, everyone at all the purple people who will help, census and so forth, going bit by bit. As a result, I realized that crowdfunding is a science.

Sometimes I wonder how I managed to raise money for the first project. I thought: "I'm a man with two higher educations, or what will not understand?" Climbed in Google, and there is nothing: only darkness duplicate articles, often translated, where figures showing how everything works. Fortunately, some knowledge of the language led me to the English part of the Internet: there is certainly more interesting, but also not everything is in the public domain. So I decided to get in touch with different international platforms, experts, and many with whom he met: with the co-founder of Indiegogo, Kickstarter, where more closed leadership, made friends with a girl from tech support. In the end of correspondence, I realized that most likely with the same problems faced by many authors crowdfunding projects. So the idea to hold a workshop: call the Russian site, someone from America, and they will tell us everything. Unfortunately, I have not found much support from our sites, but as had already lit a storm of activity, this small workshop has grown into a much larger event. It turned out that there are Russian authors of successful projects on Kickstarter "e: for example, the publisher Hobby World, which is engaged in Board games, it entered the international market. There are examples at local venues. Very, very little, but they are.

The result was that in October of this year I accidentally held a forum kradennogo, the only such event in Russia. Most importantly, on this forum I managed to get a very famous American expert Devin Thorpe, who is one of the twenty industry leaders. He is the author of the first U.S. book about crowdfunding for social entrepreneurship. Devin gave me this book and at first I had the idea to just translate it and publish. But it describes only the American experience, and yet there's another audience, a communication technology, different media, finally. So I suggested Devin's book to rewrite and took over the Russian-speaking part. He then joked: "yeah, and go to the crowdfunding". And I found it interesting to zamiksovat: the book, the next forum in may, her presentation. Eventually gathered such a project, which I'm actively working on it.

"People don't understand why they need to support the business"

The idea of crowdfunding as a way of implementing creative and charitable projects in the States has always been secondary. Many believe that the first made The Beatles, but nothing like this. The first time we did it in the early nineteenth century. Nobody remembers that the monument to Minin and Pozharsky was placed on people's money. "Every little helps" is our phrase in the Soviet time our parents were mutual aid society, and indeed we used to chip in for gifts, funerals, and so on. According to statistics, the best build projects for sick children, the elderly, dogs and cats. We quickly learned to chip in with a tear, this is our side of the coin.



But historically, crowdfunding in America, created a business, and not under song and dance. Is to support those who have difficulties with access to capital. That is the basic idea of crowdfunding we have does not work. In America, too, nobody just gives loans to young companies, investors are more interested in large projects, not manufacture some socks from the Buffalo with a company of five people, where there are persons with disabilities. Social entrepreneurship addresses social issues, and not necessarily someone with disabilities. This, for example, the problem of migration from small towns to large: if young people have the opportunity to be realized in the place, man remains in his city and is doing its job.

Social entrepreneurs in Russia there are not very many: few projects, experts, the state poorly supports them. So here it is important to explain to people why projects to help small and medium businesses. When I support a favorite star, I follow him to a concert, to a restaurant and give money on the album. But the fan audience does not know what crowdfunding is. People don't understand why they need to support a workshop for making batik or home shop.

"To tell you that you are scum, people can do much better"

This is the same game in long, which always suffers: we used to live in one day. But entrepreneurs create something now, and then will support you, when you're sitting in a nursing home. They make the future. On the one hand, potential shareholders projects must understand why they give money. On the other, the authors must also believe that they will meet, because more often than not hear in his address insults that you do sell and the like.

To the masses you need to convey that the author crowdfunding project is always the person who wants to do business. In addition, the project is immediately obvious, if it's about "stupid collect attendants." To tell that you are scum, people can do much better than what you good. In crowdfunding projects minimum degree of fraud, it's all very publicly: the person enters into a contract with the site that creates a video message available to its profiles in social networks. This is a high reputational risk.

Crowdfunding is a very important thing not only from the point of view of support of social entrepreneurship, but also a kind of litmus test. If the author is active and has collected sufficient funds, it may be, for example, the indicator for government funds, it makes sense to support its grant. I say this because clearly know that from year to year, the grants give the same companies which they live, and then come for the next, never creating. 80% of small business need to be buried as radioactive waste. But how to check the effectiveness? Need the accelerator which will evaluate their business plans and so forth, but this additional cost. Why? For this is crowdfunding.

Thus, the correlation when the person collecting the money not for themselves but for a start in the business, we do not have. This is due to a huge problem with a media that when they see the money immediately you send the authors in the advertising Department. In the States already understand all of this, on this subject, writes Forbes, published active links. Guzel Sangafowa gathered up the remaining money on your project Cocco Bello Honey a week before the deadline just because of the quality of the publication. This suggests that people who want to maintain there. But how will they know about it? Very strange, when a person collects 200 thousand for equipment sewing shop, and at the same time, broadcasting on FM radio stations costs 95 thousand. As a result, our crowdfunding can lead to the fact that the projects will be asiatica money on an advertising campaign. What's the point? No.

"Crowdfunding is real patriotism"

Our platform Boomstarter or Planeta — do not hide what they are — financial aggregators who provide a place where you can find support for their ideas. That is, the author of the project deals with them himself. He is a one man band: a marketer, and sales, and copywriter, he's looking for an audience, talks, and so on.

In this case, there are plenty of pitfalls, and they must be carefully prepared. Therefore, my main task is to do a tutorial so people know how to do it: step by step instructions with recommendations, that is actually a training manual, written in human language with the parsed cases. I also hope to do a road show to go at least ten Russian cities to meet with three audiences: students, business incubators and charitable organizations.

I'm always for that business with a human face. It is much faster and more efficient than the system "I the chief — you the fool". Business with a human face, in turn, is much more effective if the society is: then confidence is returning, and people understand that to live one day is fraught with current events and the fact that we have cheese worth 900 rubles per kilogram. But those who are willing to engage in the production of cheese, just don't have the necessary resources: knowledge, skills, chemical and food industries. No imported equipment which automatically depends on the exchange rate. The circle is closed. In today's terms, crowdfunding is real patriotism, that is, support domestic projects, but not blah-blah-blah on Facebook about what we are all patriots. The government physically cannot support everyone. But crowdfunding is also a great opportunity to bring to the surface their kulibinyh that produce new equipment, materials and technologies."Our ability to unite"

Not very important what a person is busy: nails, pots or cafe, it is important that he is doing, and not getting paid to do nothing, shifting pieces of paper from place to place. I know a decent amount of people who want to create something, and not only in Moscow. We have a very good chance to sober up: to support producers of goods and services, they provide jobs themselves, going through all the circles of crowdfunding will be to support other projects. This is our opportunity to unite. I think it may even stop the flow of emigration to the West, because many people are leaving not because there is little money and there are many of them. They all have to earn it. The only question that people want to do a favorite thing. Very sad that people or children get sick, but someone has to do healthy.

Taya Zubova, Director of the short film "my Fish" when he turned to his friends with a request to support the project, instead of the long paintings wrote: "Hey, can you make me tea?" And when she answered, "Yes, of course", she said: "No tea, please support the project". The price of a Cup of tea can solve a huge problem. Talent need help, mediocrity will break yourself, it's well-known phrase. But the authors of the crowdfunding projects often do not believe in yourself, afraid to take the credit, especially in such a volatile situation.

About let's count: we have 150 million people, 30% of them, i.e. 50 million — are working. Throw those who work for very low wages. Let it be half, were 25. Then leave those to whom it could be interesting. Let it be 10%. It turns out 2.5 million people. If they throw a hundred rubles, what huge problems can be solved! A couple of years — and we have a completely different picture.

Source: theoryandpractice.ru