Eight Golden Rules of Equity Crowdfunding by Evan Maindonald

Ensure you are FCA compliant

•       Use an FCA regulated platform if you are raising money from retail investors

•       Know what a Collective Investment Scheme is and be familiar with definitions of High Net Worth and Sophisticated Investors.

Structure your investment offer to make it understandable and attractive to investors.

•       Address investors three basic questions. What return they will get, How long you need their money for and what security they will have

•       People often need a conversation and have questions before they are ready to invest – particularly where larger amounts are involved.

Understand your investors Zero Moment of Truth and work out how to bring them to it.

·         7 hours, 11 touchpoints, 4 locations to achieve Know/Like/Trust

·         Crowdfunding investors rely predominantly on online sources for research

Build and bring your own Crowd

·         Raise your profile in order to build locations and touchpoints

•       Social Media, Professional Website, Blogs, Videos, Speak at events, Start a Facebook Group

•       Create Content that allows people to get to know you and what you are about

Find your ‘Big Why’

•       What is the passion or strongly held belief that drove you to start your company in the first place ?

•       What experience, expertise or insights do you have that people are interested in hearing about ?

Market by provoking thought – feed investors need to research before purchasing

•       Be the place investors land when searching for information relevant to your investment campaign

•       Give investors the lightbulb moment that starts their research process

Build demand and don’t release the campaign until you know you have it at least 70% funded.

•       If you start slowly, you will end up taking a long time – if you finish at all

•       Ask pre-committed investors to deposit money with the platform before launching.

And finally – Delight your investors and exceed their expectations.

•       Go above and beyond and deliver more than they expect.

•       Do such a good job that they will recommend your projects to their friends

Evan Maindonald is the founder of MeltHomes and will be both presenting at the National Development Summit on Saturday 19th January- Delivering Profitable Property Projects, plus Evan will be on the panel- Overcoming Challenges as a Developer