The KingsCrowd team is now just over 4 weeks into our Netcapital raise. To date, we have raised $87.8K from 60+ investors. The top line success we have had has gone according to plan, and we continue to make strides towards closing out the round.
I’ve been overwhelmed with how well we have been received by investors that spread the gamut from young and old, lawyers and technologist, family offices and recent grads and more. We have a terrific representation of the crowd in our investor portfolio and we look forward to continuing to grow our investor family.
To be going through this experience while providing coverage on other companies trying to raise capital has been eye opening. I could not be happier that we are practicing what we preach because I have gained a real sense of what it takes to have a successful equity crowdfunding round.
The money doesn’t just flow in from the crowd. It’s all about plan and execution, just like building a startup. In fact, I was calculating this week that over $30K in capital that I thought would come into the deal ultimately fell through, while $25K+ that I didn’t have my eye on initially came into focus unexpectedly.
Below I dive more into how things have been going according to plan on the top line (amount raised), without the bottom line necessarily following the path I thought it would.
What I have learned as we progress through the raise…
Take The Raise In Chunks:
Though we have lost expected dollars along the way, the good things has been I have constantly set goals of where we need to be by X point in time. By doing this, it pressured me to make changes to my raising approach when the dollars I needed to hit were not flowing in on time.
By taking the mentality that I don’t have the money until it is in the bank account, I was able to redirect my energy towards new potential sources of capital, rather than holding on to what might be a dead lead.
This is how I identified and ultimately closed $25K in capital that I wasn’t necessarily focused on as short as 2 to 3 weeks ago.
The New Angel Is Real:
I’ve been fortunate enough to attend an amazing school like Boston College and work at a top tier consulting firm like LEK Consulting. The amazing individuals I got to build relationships with at these organizations are the next mass affluent generation.
Most of these individuals are now working in premier roles at consulting firms, hedge funds, startups, pharma companies and so on. The outreach from this community has been even more fervent than I had ever expected. So many of the amazing people I called my friends at work and school, are now also investors in my company.
It has hit me how much sense this makes, because these are young, smart sophisticated investors with capital to deploy and should absolutely be able to place investments into startups. And now they can, and I am so happy we were able to tap into that by utilizing equity crowdfunding.
Investors Move At Different Paces:
Just as I have mentioned the individuals above who are young professionals tend to do everything fast. If I chat with them for an hour or two on a Monday, the investment is made by Tuesday. Whereas, there are other investors I have been communicating with and staying in touch with for weeks and even months.
The key is to remain patient and diligent not to lose touch. Oftentimes, this slower pace is not for lack of interest but rather just a different type of investor approach. Keeping the lines of communication open in a respectful and informative way can in fact end up paying off in a major way when done right.
One myth that I can definitely put to bed from my experience raising capital from the crowd is that people from the crowd won’t make informed investment decisions. The reality is, I have spoken with almost every one of my investors for an hour or more. People want to ask questions, they want to engage you, they want to dig in before they take any action. It’s been refreshing (though challenging) to see that this is the reality.
A new generation of startup investors are now beckoning to invest in this market. When you engage them in the right way the results are awesome. Onward and upward, and here is to making the final push to try and sell out this round!
If you are interested in joining the journey, be sure to check out our offering page, and reach out with any questions you might have.
Cheers to the future,
Chris Lustrino
Founder & CEO
