Welcome to Crowd Funding Planning and the Official 7 part Crowd Funding Framework.

The earliest form of the CrowdFunding model recorded was used in the 17thcentury to finance book prints.  The basic model was similar to what we have now.  An entrepreneur, who wanted to raise money in order to develop an idea, looked for backers so he could ultimately afford to bring that idea to market.

In the 21st century, CrowdFunding has become more and is being used for more - much more.  Besides publications, CrowdFunding is being use for projects such as: video games, technology, music, film & video, art, fashion and even social causes.

Also, besides providing an avenue to access needed money for a project, CrowdFunding can also be used for market research, data gathering, and expert sourcing.

In this introduction video, we will provide an overview of the proven 7 part framework of CrowdFunding that you need to follow.  These 7 steps will develop the best environment for success of your CrowdFunding goal.

We will discuss Assessment of your project.  “Where are you know?” and “What have you done?” are crucial questions that need to be answered before any meaningful discussion of CrowdFunding can be started.

Next, How creating a proper project infrastructure through Google Cloud will allow you to efficiently manage all your campaign: development, pre-launch, launch and post launch tasks.

We follow that up with Step 3 and a discussion of the Crowd.  From the Cloud comes the Crowd.

Step 4 focuses in on CrowdFunding Business Intelligence and the relevance of having the knowledge you need to know.

Step 5 is a discussion on creating a CrowdFunding Blueprint.  Planning helps you create a path to success,  while avoiding the pitfalls and stalls that any new venture will undoubtedly encounter.

Step 6 covers CrowdFunding Best Practices.  Besides following the CrowdFunding Framework, Successful campaigns have common do’s and don’ts that when practiced, can mean the difference between success and failure.

Step 7 covers the Legal and regulatory aspects to consider when you decide to CrowdFund.

Steve Brennan once said, “ Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe and upon which we must vigorously act.  There is no other route to success”.

You have a good idea  -  “Now What?”

What separates a good idea from being one that is available to consumers is often proper planning and sufficient capitalization. It’s been said, but it is worth stating again – lasting positive results don’t happen by accident.

At CrowdFunding Planning, our focus is your CrowdFunding success.  You bring the idea and we will be your mentor, campaign creator and manager to bring in the optimal Crowd that could monetize your project.

Why choose CrowdFunding Planning?

Simple.  We have a CrowdFunding framework that can be tailor fit for your project.  Our team consist of experts in CrowdFunding projects, business planning , product development, legal and IP, social media & marketing and cloud computing.  The whole of our experiences can be at your service.

When you work with CrowdFunding planning you can be assured your campaign will be managed by professionals with proven experience.  From pitch development during pre-launch, campaign development, campaign launch and post launch - we are your premier Crowd Funding consultants and planners.  Our goal is simple; to help you reach your CrowdFunding goals and help you go from Good Idea to Funding.  We help you navigate the creator economy.

Other companies have tried to capitalize on CrowdFunding’s wave of popularity. Most give you a definition of CrowdFunding and throw in words like Social Capital and Micro-patronage or Hyperfunding.  They often refer to President Obama and the Jobs Act and some will close with a catchy sales pitch like “You can have your very own CrowdFunding campaign up and running in minutes.  No fees, no applications, no middlemen, no work necessary!”

Their plan is to sell you on having them make you a webpage while allowing you to believe the crowd will just come to fund your project after they are done. Some have even gone as far as asking you to give up a portion of equity or even your project if you are successful in gaining your funding.  They make it seem so simple to do.  But yet  - 75% of projects never reach CrowdFunding capitalization.  What other companies lack is a plan based on a proven 7 part CrowdFunding framework.

So exactly how does CrowdFunding Planning do this for you?

We start with THE ASSESSMENT of your project during your 1 hour free evaluation.  This is where we find out your project and about you.  We use a three-step process in the assessment phase.

We first focus on your Project Objectives.  Second, we gather data from you and any material relating to your project.   Third, we analyze the data with you to make sure we are on the same.  Our goal during this phase is to set an agenda to move into Part 2 of the CrowdFunding framework.

Part 1 The CLOUD – Google Virtualized Resources.

(VIDEO)

You may ask yourself, “What does this have to do with CrowdFunding?”.  Simply put - infrastructure.  Google Cloud provides your business with the necessary infrastructure to properly plant and grow your project during its pre-launch phase to attract the crowd, during your campaign launch to track the crowd and during post launch to manage your crowd.

Many companies are now turning to the Cloud because it is a cost effective, agile and scalable  IT Model, that can service a full spectrum of business needs. By significantly reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) with the cloud, companies can focus its newly available resources, which are TIME and MONEY, on INNOVATION, RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT.

Entrepreneurs looking to get a project off the ground are in short supply of time and money.  There are thousands of things to think about and decide.  Wouldn’t it be good to have an affordable infrastructure that will help you manage it all?

With the Cloud, you gain

Wherever, Whenever Mobility.  You can manage every detail of your schedule; have all your information readily available - anytime, anywhere.  You can always be connected to your project and tasks with a 99.9% guarantee of reliability and up-time.  Never again will you have to worry about losing information, missing deadlines or not being able to communicate.

In Google Cloud, you have the storage capacity you need now and the option to expand based on your project growth needs.  As for security – It’s a Lock. Google provides you with multi-layers of security – far more than what is cost effective by most start-up ventures.   

The Cloud can offer your project flexibility and control in every sense of the word.  You can have a reliable infrastructure with no physical limitations or finite number of users that can be added.

As you grow, the Cloud efficiently grows with you. (Economies of Scale slide)

Google Cloud will allow you to concentrate on your project’s core Vision, Mission & Values.

How is that for a competitive advantage?

Within the Cloud you have Google Apps for Business.  You have access

 Silent but visual.

Google Apps Marketplace offers thousands more apps to fill and satisfy whatever business and operational needs you will encounter on the road to CrowdFunding.

PART 2 of the Framework deal with Crowd  FROM THE CLOUD –

COMES THE CROWD. After establishing the infrastructure to manage the phases of your CrowdFunding campaign, you will then be able to focus on the Crowd.

The internet and social media has evolved the way relationships and audiences are built and retained.

Knowing how to properly utilize social media can mean the difference between having a good idea remain an idea, and having it monetized.

Social Media promotes CONNECTIONS, INTERACTION, and COMMUNICATION, which allows you to grow your networks.

But in regards to CrowdFunding, the first and most valuable commodity is building a “RELEVANT CROWD” that can be turned into meaningful social Capital.

Having thousands of connections is great!  The more links and the more people you can virtually touch, means more opportunities for your project to be seen.

But CrowdFunding is all about reaching your goal and doing so in a limited amount of time.   You want to focus on reaching those people who are interested in your project category, who can monetize your campaign and who can serve as cheerleaders to give you momentum as you prepare to launch your campaign.

Even though the online world is continuously evolving, the most common use of the internet remains the search for information.

The main goal of Social media, as it relates to CrowdFunding, is to help your target audience become aware of your project and to help the imagine having a relationship with it.  

CrowdFunding isn’t a Field of Dreams.  CrowdFunding is like putting together a party.    You can hire a DJ and musicians, book a venue, hire caterers, and get all dressed up.  But without telling people, what the party is about, why they should come, who is going to be there, where it is, and when it’s going start – how will people know to come?

CrowdFunding is a byproduct of building your Crowd and Social Media is at the core of the building process.

An important task we help you do is to manage and grow your Crowd of Influence.

CrowdFunding starts with you.  We help you map who your top contacts are that would be willing to monetize your project.  This includes family, friends and associates who you know will financially support you.  We then focus on your Active Network.  These are the people you know and have an ongoing relationship with.  They don’t need to have previous knowledge about your project but may be willing to listen.  Next we look at your Lost Network.  These are the people you have known and know you who you have not kept contact with.  Last we look to you Future Network.  If the people you already know were sufficient to fund your project, you wouldn’t need to CrowdFund.  By utilizing social media, we will help you attract your target crowd.

Social Media channels can offer powerful uses.  But it takes more than just Social media to build a meaningful Crowd.  Know that you will have to put yourself in front of the right people and groups.  You will also have to inspire others to do the same on your behalf.   CrowdFunding doesn’t start at the day of launch, it starts when you decide funding is the goal and submit to following a plan.

Part 3 - Business Intelligence

A significant part of creating the framework for and effective and successful CrowdFunding requires Business Intelligence (Part 4).

Business Intelligence is a research and analysis system that provides information for improved decision making.

The old adage is “Information is Power”.  Well, when it comes to CrowdFunding information without relevance is a bird without wings.

Having an idea is the beginning.  Business Intelligence will help you “know”.

Know what you should know.  Know what you need to know.  Know it early and Know it Often.

As far research goes, you have probably searched for…

• Domain and business names

• Possible Competitors

• Like ideas to your idea.

• Cost of getting started.

• Marketing Opportunities

• And your idea strengths.

Maybe you got the information you needed and maybe you were left wanting because what you found wasn’t quite what you were looking for.

• But how about actually finding what you need.

• How about doing other searches for things like:

• :rules, laws and codes affecting your idea.

• Your competitor’s strategy

• Possible partners and promoters.

• Key words and phrases for your content, blogs and distributable.

• Who’s buying and Who is selling

OR Researching

• Your online reputation

• Market trends

• Causes of spikes and dips.

• Barriers to entry

• Who is talking about you

• News about you

• News about your target audience

• Demographic and Geographic  appeal

• How you go to market

• If your idea have been hijacked or copied.

Having the ability to search, gather and compile relevant information is the key to gaining maximum exposure to attract your Crowd and to make sound decision.

You must strive to be an expert in your product / idea, to provide your audience with trust in you.

PART4 – BLUE PRINT

Business Intelligence will provide you with a framework to create a Blueprint for your project and to grow your Crowd.  Lasting positive results don’t happen by accident.  Planning and Strategy are needed.  You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint, and you absolutely shouldn’t try to create a CrowdFunding campaign without one either.  Creating a CrowdFunding Blueprint is about Strategic, Technical and Tactical planning.

Strategic Planning deals with high level consulting.  We discuss the information you will need to manage your campaign and the information we will need to design your campaign.  You give us the answers to “why” and “what”.  We help you with creating “how”.

Technical planning deals with your online and campaign content development, site design, SEO management, analytics and feedback, social media management and video creation.

Tactical planning provides the road map during your campaign launch and preparing you for your post launch tasks.  CrowdFunding planning provides full marketing support.

Part 5 covers BEST PRACTICES.  

CrowdFunding can be a dream come true, as a means of giving your project a shot to make it big.  By going deep into the elements of successful and unsuccessful campaigns CrowdFunding planning has built best practices to give your project the best chance for success.

$1.5Billion raised and 1 million campaigns were funded in 2011.  Those numbers doubled in 2012 and are set to double again in 2013 to approximately $6Billion. Forbes has stated CrowdFunding will make 2013 “The Year of the Gold Rush”.   

But not every campaign gets funded.  As mentioned, 75% of projects do not reach funding goals.

20% of projects receive no funding whatsoever.  61% manage to collect only 20% of their funding goal.  Overall, 94% of unsuccessful projects receive less than half of their funding goal.

Why does this happen?

The answer is that the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make with CrowdFunding is failing to property plan their campaign.

Your project may be “one of a kind”, but success does have patterns that can be followed.

Step 7 covers the Legal and regulatory aspects to consider when you decide to CrowdFund.

The last PART is  DUE DILLIGENCE.  This is an open question and answer forum with  CrowdFunding Mentors who’s expertise you may need.

One fundamental truth about any successful venture is that none of the entrepreneurs operated alone.   

Success will favor you if you:  Leverage your strengths, Use your weaknesses, pursue your passions and assert your differences.  In each of those four areas, you can use the expertise and advise of those who can mentor you to the best results.

CROWDFUNDING Planning believes that 80% of CrowdFunding success is determined by all the things you do to gain the crowd’s attention before you launch your campaign.  We have created the official 7 part CrowdFunding framework to make your CrowdFunding goal attainable.

Are you ready to have your project take flight?

Contact us now for your free evaluation or visit us atwww.crowdfundingplanning.com