Could crowd funding help you & your business?

Yesterday I attended one of the funding for growth workshops of Paul Grant of The Funding Game. Like myself Paul is one of the partners of the British Library Business & IP Centre delivering workshops each month to help new and established entrepreneurs. I was there to learn more about Angel, Venture Capital and Crowd Funding in order to help those business clients of mine who need or seek to raise finance. I’ve always been a fan of Paul and his work as I was impressed, from the word go, with the fact the genuinely cares about helping emerging entrepreneurs.

Given the rise in Crowd Funding – where essentially the public and /or the ‘crowd’ of people that you know – fund your business I suggested that we record a short interview chat to talk about Crowd Funding including a quick overview, tips, potential pitfalls and other pointers. You can see that video above. It’s well worth a watch if you’re starting or growing a business and are looking at options on how to fund it.

The workshop that Paul delivered after gave a rich overview of the main funding options and some of the pros and cons attached to each. Of all these types of funding Crowd Funding is the new entrant to the market. It has emerged partly because of the extreme difficulty that may people have faced with getting funding from a bank – which used to be the first place that people would think about going to. It has arisen at a time where social media has been on the rise and at a time where people have become increasing interested in business, social enterprise, the nature and purpose of the businesses that we run and the contribution (if any) that they make to society. It seems that it is putting the power to start and grow a business in the hands of the many rather than the few.

Paul pointed out three main types of Crowd Funding:

1. Equity  – where funders get a share in your business
2. Reward / gift – where funders gift you the money (for no stake or return) and or where they may get a gift/reward/ product for their contribution
3. Loan – as it sounds where you are given the money as a loan – a bank / traditional business loan alternative if you like.

For more check out the video above and if you’re keen to understand more about how to make your way through the funding maze I highly recommend Paul’s workshop and his one to one coaching via The Funding Game.