Time to be honest, says crowdfunding platform

Let’s be honest, times are tough for businesses right now, but don’t give up until you’ve talked about it with your people, says Kiwi crowdfunding platform PledgeMe.

The platform’s co-founder Anna Guenther (pictured) says more and more founders of well-established Kiwi businesses are coming to their platform to seek crowdfunding support, and she’s glad they are.

“We’ve been able to support some amazing Kiwi businesses to stay afloat lately, from a community music venue who was struggling to pay back lease from the lockdown, to a rum producer who felt financially backed into a corner, and an ethical underwear company that was taken over by its staff.”

Anna says she knows it’s hard for people to be honest with their customers and their communities, but it can be worth it. She knows this from personal experience.

“Business is tough, especially right now, with the cost of living increasing and the election. What I find, when things in business are tough for me, which they really were at the start of this year, is the best thing to do is to talk to people.

“Talk to your community. Ask for support in different ways. That’s exactly what I did. I went out to old team members, board members and shareholders, to talk about where we were at and got their advice and support in different ways. And so far in this financial year, we’ve doubled the amount of money pledged through our platform to project campaigns.”

PledgeMe offers multiple types of crowdfunding for businesses – project crowdfunding where people pledge in exchange for rewards, and equity crowdfunding where people pledge to invest and receive shares in the company.

Anna says the team have seen a lot of success lately, with businesses inviting their ‘crowds’ to pre-buy products, services and experiences as ‘rewards’.

“For example, Bayside Rum pre-sold entire barrels of rum, and Nisa pre-sold a lot of underwear to their incredibly supportive community.

“Nisa was on the brink of closing, after trying to sell their company. But after their crowd bought half a million dollars’ worth of underwear from them when they said they were going to close down, team members decided it was worth stepping up and taking over the company. Nisa more than doubled their project crowdfund with us.”

To book a one-on-one talk about project crowdfunding email PledgeMe projects lead Charlotte Squire: [email protected]