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How to pitch an app for fund raising?

by Joe Ray
9 replies
I am developing my first web application. I have a demo prototype and I am working on a pitch video for the purpose of fund raising. I am thinking about Kickstarter or Fundable or maybe some investors.

I have never done this before so if anyone has experience in this area, I would appreciate some advise.
#app #fund #pitch #raising
  • Profile picture of the author attackdome
    Kickstarter has their own guidelines about what you can spend your funds on and what you can't, but if you MUST have a SOLID business plan, very good perks, and a KILLER video. However, sometimes that doesn't work. You want to give them something they've never seen before. Think of it as upsells on a sales page. That's pretty much all you need to do to create a successful campaign.

    Originally Posted by Joe Ray View Post

    I am developing my first web application. I have a demo
    prototype and I am working on a pitch video for the purpose of fund raising. I am thinking about Kickstarter or Fundable or maybe some investors.

    I have never done this before so if anyone has experience in this area, I would appreciate some advise.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joe Ray
      Originally Posted by attackdome View Post

      Kickstarter has their own guidelines about what you can spend your funds on and what you can't, but if you MUST have a SOLID business plan, very good perks, and a KILLER video. However, sometimes that doesn't work. You want to give them something they've never seen before. Think of it as upsells on a sales page. That's pretty much all you need to do to create a successful campaign.
      Thanks. That's good advise. I appreciate it.
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      • Profile picture of the author attackdome
        Originally Posted by Joe Ray View Post

        Thanks. That's good advise. I appreciate it.
        You're most certainly welcome

        Another, thing you can do is, if KickStarter doesn't work. You may be able to crowd fund your campaign using various different sources. I'm not sure what the rules are, but it's just an idea. All you have to do to find a bunch of crowd funders is do a simple google search for a list of them.

        Maybe if you send me a PM, I'll be interested in investing into the app like Ashley Clark there
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        • Profile picture of the author Joe Ray
          Originally Posted by attackdome View Post

          You're most certainly welcome

          Another, thing you can do is, if KickStarter doesn't work. You may be able to crowd fund your campaign using various different sources. I'm not sure what the rules are, but it's just an idea. All you have to do to find a bunch of crowd funders is do a simple google search for a list of them.

          Maybe if you send me a PM, I'll be interested in investing into the app like Ashley Clark there
          Thanks, I will be happy to talk to you about my app. I sent you a PM.
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    • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer1
      Originally Posted by attackdome View Post

      Kickstarter has their own guidelines about what you can spend your funds on and what you can't, but if you MUST have a SOLID business plan, very good perks, and a KILLER video. However, sometimes that doesn't work. You want to give them something they've never seen before. Think of it as upsells on a sales page. That's pretty much all you need to do to create a successful campaign.
      Exactly. It can be scary sometimes to have such a great idea and it not becoming a success simply because it didn't catch people's eyes. It doesn't even have to be that your idea is new, but if it's inventive, innovative, and something that would be considered a "game-changer" in the industry or niche of the field of the app, it could be a success. Just continue adding stuff. Everything from potential improvements to EVERY single feature that can be attained by using the app.
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      Tired of Google?! Exhausted from all the rehashed trash?!
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  • Profile picture of the author Ashley Clarke
    Hi mate, how much do you need for your app? It might be something I would consider investing in.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joe Ray
      Originally Posted by Ashley Clarke View Post

      Hi mate, how much do you need for your app? It might be something I would consider investing in.
      Hi Ashley, to develop this app to a MVP level I need $5K. I haven't calculated the cost after the MVP stage.
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  • Profile picture of the author luku
    Originally Posted by Joe Ray View Post

    I am developing my first web application. I have a demo prototype and I am working on a pitch video for the purpose of fund raising. I am thinking about Kickstarter or Fundable or maybe some investors.

    I have never done this before so if anyone has experience in this area, I would appreciate some advise.
    Hi, i have some good experience in launching a Kickstarter project. I don't know what kind of money are you trying to raise but from my own experience, what i can tell you is this:

    a) it requires a LOT of work beforehand to prepare the crowdfunding campaign, come up with rewards, calculate costs of making those rewards and ship them globally when you're campaign gets successful. I know people who succeded on KS but they didn't plan things well and they spent up to 120% of their funds to get rewards sorted (so they've lost money!)

    b) the brutal truth: unless you have a killer product that all the news magazines will write about, Kickstarter alone won't bring many backers to your campaign. You DO need an active community of your product fans established BEFORE you go to Kickstarter.

    That's a mistake we did: we thought that if we have a great product then we'll get backers simply because we're on Kickstarter and they have traffic on their website, and it is targeted, so people will visit our campaign and % of them will convert. That didn't turn to be true, unfortunately. Campaigns which are successful tend to reach their goal in the first 24 - 48hrs and usually most of those backers are people who've been following your product for some time now.

    So if i can suggest you something that would be: build a community, do PR, gauge people's response to your product and think about crowdfunding only when you have all of these things in place. Meanwhile, reach to angel investors and try to secure a seed investment in exchange for the % of equity. You may succeed this way and eventually it may even cost you less than doing a crowdfunding.

    Hope it helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joe Ray
      Originally Posted by luku View Post

      Kickstarter alone won't bring many backers to your campaign. You DO need an active community of your product fans established BEFORE you go to Kickstarter.
      Hope it helps.
      Hi Luku, thanks very much for your reply, it was very helpful.

      I don't have any active fans for my product but I wonder if someone does have an active community of fans, why they have to post their project on Kickstarter when they can approach their established community directly.

      In any case, I had the same idea, that if I post my project on Kickstarter I will get backers from their traffic. Sounds like that might not happen.

      I might still try it but no high hopes.

      I'd rather approach some angel investors but I don't know any.
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