Founder of Angel Food, Alice Shopland, described her most recent successful equity crowdfund as “tough,” though from the outside looking in, you would never have known she and her team were working so hard.
We noticed five elements of the Angel Food team’s campaign that worked well:
- They put together a great video with strong branding, plus some engaging images
- They took the time to warm up their crowd before they launched their campaign
- Alice communicated consistently with her crowd
- They were super clear about what they needed the funds for – entry into Australia
- They had planned out the time needed for the equity crowdfund, around their day-to-day business management
Before this recent equity crowdfunding campaign, Alice and Angel Food had project crowdfunded with us, plus more recently ran two equity crowdfunding campaigns. All that experience was a huge help, said Alice. It helped them navigate through the harder moments of this crowdfund.
She wasn’t surprised the crowdfund was tough.
“It’s never easy to raise money, and it’s a particularly difficult environment for raising money at the moment. I was grateful that I had done it before and knew what to do.”
Her advice for people thinking about equity crowdfunding is to be prepared to feel like you are nagging and boring people.
“You have to repeat your message so many times, you’ll bore yourself! Remember that not everybody hears your message every time you utter it, which is why repetition is vital.
“Also, most people will not act the first time they hear about your campaign, no matter how much it resonates with them, so they need multiple reminders.”
Pre-launch Alice and her team warmed up their crowd by telling them there was an equity crowdfund coming, and they focused on gathering email contacts of vegan cheese lovers at food shows.
They worked with the team at One Day Video to film a great campaign video.
Thanks to a clear marketing plan, they communicated consistently with their crowd before and during their campaign via email, social media and some Facebook live events. Alice also spoke on the Business is Boring podcast, promoted her crowdfund at the Auckland Food Show and was featured in the NZ Herald.
They knew crowdfunds always take lots of focus, so the team set aside time, around the day-to-day running of Angel Food, to work on activating their crowd.
Although it was a tough crowdfund, Alice’s superpower is appearing calm while feeling inwardly like a nervous wreck. It helped that she felt confident they’d at least make their minimum funding target of $199,000.
They’d set that goal because it was the minimum amount needed for them to achieve the next steps in their plan to start retailing in Australia. It was also the amount of shares they were willing to part with.
Alice said she worked her personal networks relentlessly, and said that made a real difference.
On the final day of her crowdfunding campaign, Angel Food still had 15% to go, and the deadline magic kicked in that afternoon. By her deadline, they’d raised $217,633.
For those thinking of equity crowdfunding, Alice said it’s important to:
- Allow plenty of preparation time before the campaign
- Have your marketing planned out in as much detail as possible before you launch, and set aside plenty of time for managing it during the campaign.
- Allow lots of preparation time before the campaign, and
- Make full use of the lovely helpful supportive smart well-connected PledgeMe team!
What’s next for Alice and the Angel Food team?
“Our PledgeMe equity campaign was focused on preparing for launching into Australia, and that’s what we are diligently working towards.”
You can find the most recent Angel Food equity crowdfund here.
