#enviu

The Enviu campaign

Enviu develops innovative solutions to environmental and social issues, and introduces these to the market through start-ups. In cooperation with Symbid, Enviu started an online crowdfunding platform where everyone who was interested could invest in new business start-ups. The campaign to promote the crowdfunding project started in September 2011. Enviu created an online campaign asking the Enviu community if they wanted to invest. They also created special communication packages for Enviu members to help explain their crowdfunding plans. Every investment helped. Enviu started ´the club of 1000´ to increase the size of donations from single donors. If you invested a hundred euros or more you were entered in a contest to win a Sustainable Dance Floor party at your house or a Hybrid TukTuk ride, two products of Enviu startups.

The number of investments was staggering. Several large investors pushed Enviu through the halfway point and new investments, both big and small, kept coming in. A lot of team effort and creative marketing made the Crowdfunding project an overwhelming success.

Tips & Tricks for a successful crowdfunding campaigns

According to Enviu, the key to crowdfunding is personal contact, interactive communication with potential investors, and repetition of the message. It is very important to keep in mind that most people like the idea of crowdfunding when they hear about it for the first time, but actually investing money in an opportunity is a big step. Asking people personally if they want to make an investment can make all the difference here. Personal contact is a huge trigger in crowdfunding. Enviu had the advantage of a large network via the Enviu community, who they could ask to make an investment. Clear and interactive communication was a very important part of the project too. Only promoting your idea and waiting for the money to come in is not going to work. Presenting your business idea as clear and transparent in an early stage is very important. Entrepreneurs need to promote their idea from day one and really think about how to place their product or service in the market. Besides that, listen to your potential investors and provide them with answers to their questions. This is one of the main tenets of crowdfunding. Enviu really listened to the feedback of investors and changed their concept of investing to a new one in which investors can chose one a business start-up they want to invest in.

The way forward: ImpactCrowd

Impact-driven businesses and projects are difficult to finance through traditional financing channels. This limitation and the complexity of the market are the main reasons that people want to know how and where they can invest and the long term impact of the project

With experience and ideas to improve crowdfunding, Enviu and its partner Planet B are launching a pilot crowdfunding platform called ImpactCrowd. ImpactCrowd is a crowdfunding platform that focuses on ventures that create positive environmental, social, and economic impact. ImpactCrowd shows the potential investor the impact of the project. Investors become co-owners of the startup and can expect a return on investment. ImpactCrowd will guide the entrepreneur to make sure the opportunity becomes investable and will facilitates the match between impact investors and projects. ImpactCrowd provides an interactive platform where entrepreneurs and investors meet and do business together.

http://www.impactcrowd.com

Lessons learned

Involve your potential investor in setting up a strong proposition

Come up with a strong crowdfunding campaign concept so people take notice and repeat your message 

Make clear what’s in it for the investor

Present a clear and transparent business proposition