This startup CEO crowdfunded £2 million after targeting just £750,000 - here's his top 3 tips for raising money
Pavegen
Over 1,500 investors gave money to the 6-year-old company during its campaign on Crowdcube, including the CEO of global property giant Jones Lang LaSalle and Lord Howard Leigh, the co-founder of Cavendish Corporate Finance.
Pavegen has already installed its energy-generating flooring in London Mayor Boris Johnson's office in City Hall; the favelas of Brazil; the Champs Elysees; and Federation Square in Melbourne. It will soon install its tiles outside the White House.
29-year-old founder Laurence Kemball-Cook told Business Insider: "Each tile generate up to 7 watts of power. If you have 20 tiles around a street light, that light will be powered all night long. It needs to be in a high footfall area, it has to have a footstep on average every 10 seconds."
Given that Pavegen smashed its funding target, we asked Kemball-Cook what his top tips are for crowdfunding. Here's what he said:
Set up a 'mission control'
Pavegen
"You've got to have a really professional view on it. People are really judging you, it's a beauty parade. We had to create a really high-quality business plan and video."
Keep up your profile
"We also had to launch a lot of PR initiatives. It started with installation in Canary Wharf and it ended with us appointing Steve Jobs' number 2 as one of our board advisers."
Former Apple executive Jeff Martin joined Pavegen's board of advisers earlier this month.
"We've made sure we drip fed the right news at the right time and had a whole comms plan around it. I did an event every single night for a month - I was completely broken at the end of it. I was a shadow of a man. We even did a TED talk on the final day."
Pavegen.
'Seed' the round
"You need to seed the round," says Kemball-Cook. This means getting people to commit to invest before the crowdfund starts and to get them to put their money on the platform straight away.
Most people don't want to be alone in backing a risky idea and getting above £100,000 can be key to reaching critical mass.
Kemball-Cook says: "We seeded the round with £350,000 from our investors already. That allowed us to hit momentum straight away. That's really important for people to actually pre-seed the round, it's not just about putting it on there and the cash coming in. You've actually got to work hard with a group of investors."
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- India Inc marks slowest quarterly revenue growth in January-March 2024: Crisil
- Nothing Phone (2a) India-exclusive Blue Edition launched starting at ₹19,999
- SC refuses to plea seeking postponement of CA exams scheduled in May
- 10 exciting weekend getaways from Delhi within 300 km in 2024
- Foreign tourist arrivals in India will cross pre-pandemic level in 2024
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market