Crowdfunding forecast for 2016

NEW YORK–Last January 21, Gotham Media gathered experts in the crowdfunding space to  give us the lowdown on the best option for you at the Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz offices.

http://www.meetup.com/GothamEntrepreneurs/events/227298466/

Gordon Platt, founder and president of Gotham Media, moderated the panelists Christian Busch, senior VP of marketing at Indiegogo;  Peter Einstein, co-founder of The Crowdfunding Network & LaunchIPO.com; Ariel Hyatt, founder of Cyber PR/Cyber PR Music; Julia Maltby, director of business development at Plum Alley and Nicolas Leeper, analyst at Seed Invest.

Following are the insights from the panelists:

• The act of crowdfunding campaign is an advertising campaign; the lower end of it, it’s a sales campaign
• You need to have specific targets when email blasting
• Crowdfunding is a form of marketing; you need to have a plan, even paid media efforts, very good marketing efforts  
• People look for those already with a platform
• Growth hacking is actually direct marketing times 10
• You need a soft launch campaign or private funding a week before or 48 hours at least to raise initial funds (for show)
• Get 30 percent funding ahead so when you launch in a crowdfunding site, you’re more legit
• Getting some initial funds (and people seeing it at a crowdfunding site) is all about psychology; people like to see a winner
• A business model that is easier to understand can make it work in a crowdfunding site
• (A good) consumer-facing product (works most of the time)  
• Make sure you have engaged users
• Largest crowdfunding countries are US and China
• Only a dozen among thousands of fund-seekers have reached the million-dollar level in funds — and they are the ones who get in the news
• How crowdfunding seekers are featured in Indiegogo are based on site’s algorithm and editorial (choice). A certain velocity on a campaign is needed
• Be careful when using videos in your crowdfunding efforts or you could face a lawsuit with the wrong message
• Crowdfunding platform’s share of 5 percent in most crowdfunding sites may not go down or up (anymore)
• 5 percent share in equity crowdfunding is (obviously) not going to work
• Equity crowdfunding success is about diversification; investing in 10 or so companies