Why is it important?
Getting your crowdfunding campaign off to a good start is vital to its success; so if you haven’t already found some investors to commit to the raise, it’s important to research and engage potential lead investors (within or outside of your own network) early on to ensure you build momentum right from the start of your campaign.
As well as building momentum, gaining lead investment will help raise the profile of your campaign and provide validation, making your proposition more attractive to other potential investors. These investors will literally lead the way for everyday investors to follow in their footsteps.
How does it impact my campaign?
Your pitch will first launch in private mode, giving you the chance to secure this lead investment before going fully live to the public. During this private mode, you will be able to view your pitch page, as will anyone you share the URL with. Your pitch will not be discoverable on our website without the private URL. Your pitch will remain private until your lead investment is committed and you have some further momentum from engaging your wider network. Once your campaign has generated sufficient activity and momentum, which your Campaign Manager will advise you on, your pitch will be made public and therefore visible to anyone visiting the Crowdcube site. That’s when Crowdcube’s marketing activity kicks in.
How to secure lead investment
The best place to start is by thinking about your own network and who within your reach might have the funds to be your lead investor. In the next section, we’ll walk you through how to do this by mapping out your network. You will need to have your pitch deck ready. This may also require some research into institutional investors, angel investor networks and pitching events.
Our top tips on finding lead investment:
- Attend pitching and networking events; search for them on Eventbrite as a first step
- Research industry enthusiasts and angel investors on LinkedIn. Read this helpful guide on how to approach potential investors through LinkedIn.
- Research investor networks (see our list below)
We recommend you take a look at our other resources on this subject, like this webinar on unlocking investment, created in partnership with GrantThornton and IdeaSquares.