RiderSite.com - Motorcycle Forums

Hi all, thought I'd mosey on over and see what the collective wisdom reckons to this.

As you may or may not remember, I've been running Shiny Bike Syndrome (my own company) for five or six years now and after a slow start I am now doing alright, averaging about 8 bikes a week with the valeting, plus the odd VentureShield job and a few sales in my webshop.

There are a few things I'd like to do with the company in the near future, but they all involve seeking external investment. I'm currently investigating crowd funding to get them off the ground. How do you all feel about this method of business investment?

Do any of you know anything about crowd funding? Are you, or have you been, actively involved in any? I've been reading up on it and know the basics, but want to know what a random selection of people think about it (to reflect the mixed bag of people who would be potential investors if I go ahead).

I want to hear all of your ideas and thoughts on this subject, even if you have no actual experience I still want to know how you feel about this funding method as I need to know what doesn't appeal about the idea as well as what does, so all feedback will be useful!

Thanks

From what I understand, the investors all pay into a pot which is then shared out. They each get a dividend paid to them when the investment matures. Personally, I don't like the idea of it. I'd much rather speak to a bank and their business manager. We use Natwest at work and have never had an issue. Even when the shit hit the fan 5/6 years ago, they stuck it out with us. All plain sailing now.

agreed

bank first - write a business plan and include future growths and targets etc - keep it SMART

It completely depends on what you want to do and what products you want. Without more info, its impossible to say anything else.

Its an interesting question. The basics are straight forward enough but the question I would have in my mind is "what sort of business proposition can you put to them?" The investors want a return - how do they get it? Are you borrowing money which ultimately implies paying it back or are you sharing ownership of the company in which case how do they then get their money back.

My uneducated guess is that you are too small at the moment to interest crowd funders anyway. They would want to see growth and long term potential. Can you show them either?

Looking at it another way people like p and I used to have offers for shareholders such as free ferry crossings maybe you could set an option of a free something in return for a minimum investment that would beat the interest rate?