ANALYSIS OF SURVIVABILITY OF CF IDEAS
AND SMES NEEDS AFTER CAMPAIGNS
Version 1 Deliverable D.T2.5.1 10 2018
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ...... 2 2. PROJECT PARTNERS ...... 2 3. METHODOLOGY ...... 5 4. RESULTS ...... 6 4.1. ANALYSIS OF SUCCESSFUL CF CAMPAIGNS – THE COMMON SUMMARY ...... 6 4.2. ANALYSIS OF SUCCESSFUL CF CAMPAIGNS – COUNTRY-SPECIFIC RESULTS ...... 8 4.2.1. AUSTRIA (ISN) ...... 8 4.2.2. AUSTRIA (CONDA) ...... 9 4.2.3. CROATIA ...... 10 4.2.4. CZECH REPUBLIC ...... 12 4.2.5. GERMANY ...... 13 4.2.6. HUNGARY ...... 14 4.2.7. ITALY ...... 14 4.2.8. POLAND ...... 16 4.2.9. SLOVAKIA ...... 17 4.2.10. SLOVENIA ...... 18 4.3. ANALYSIS OF PROJECTS AFTER THE END OF THE CF CAMPAIGN – THE COMMON SUMMARY ...... 20 4.4. ANALYSIS OF PROJECTS AFTER THE END OF THE CF CAMPAIGN – COUNTRY-SPECIFIC RESULTS ...... 21 4.4.1. AUSTRIA (ISN) ...... 21 4.4.2. AUSTRIA (CONDA) ...... 22 4.4.3. CROATIA ...... 23 4.4.4. CZECH REPUBLIC ...... 24 4.4.5. GERMANY ...... 25 4.4.6. HUNGARY ...... 25 4.4.7. ITALY ...... 26 4.4.8. POLAND ...... 27 4.4.9. SLOVAKIA ...... 28 4.4.10. SLOVENIA ...... 28 4.5. EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL AND UNSUCCESSFUL PROJECTS ...... 30 4.5.1. EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS ...... 30 4.5.2. EXAMPLES OF UNSUCCESSFUL PROJECTS ...... 33 5. CONCLUSIONS ...... 37 5.1. MAIN PROBLEMS FACED BY PROJECTS AFTER THE END OF THE CAMPAIGN ...... 37 5.2. EXTERNAL SUPPORT EXPECTED BY THE PROJECTS WHICH WILL ALLOW THEM TO DEVELOP THE PROJECT ...... 39 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 40
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1. Introduction
The project “Crowd-Fund-Port - Central European Crowdfunding Support” helps small and medium-sized companies to gain access to alternative financing through mechanisms such as Crowdfunding. The project partners are from Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia (see the full list of project partners below). There is lack of information about what happens with the ideas funded with the help of crowdfunding. This goal of this analysis is to answer the following questions: what is the survival rate of SMEs, what problems they face after the end of the crowdfunding campaign, what are their needs, and how to support them.
2. Project Partners
EZAVOD (Slovenia, Lead Partner)
E-zavod (E-institute) is a non-profit institute working in multidisciplinary fields including sustainable development, innovation and business support. The mission of the institute is to support integration of European policies and improve quality of citizens’ life through implementation of practical projects. The main focus is on supporting sustainable economy, innovation, sustainable energy, clean environment and rural development. Key fields of excellence are: open and social innovation, living labs, supporting low carbon society, smart cities and smart communities, sustainability and social impact assessment.
RERA (Czech Republic)
The Regional Development Agency began operating in 1999 with the objective to support economic, social and cultural development within the South Bohemian Region. RERA has four main shareholders: The Union of Towns and Municipalities of South Bohemia; The South Bohemian Region; The Chamber of Commerce of South Bohemia; The Regional Chamber of Agriculture of South Bohemian Region. The agency follows the EURADA (European Association of Development Agencies) policy, which aims to promote regional economic development through dialogue with the European Commission services; and the co-operation between EU members, sustainable development of the region, innovative systems and technologies, cooperation between private and public sectors. The main business of RERA is regional development of the South Bohemian region. With the respect to this target, RERA is able to provide strategic development documents for municipalities and towns, feasibility studies, grant application forms for schools, etc. Moreover, RERA provides counselling for entrepreneurs, municipalities, towns, non-profit organizations.
GEF - Gdansk Entrepreneurship Foundation (Poland)
Gdansk Entrepreneurship Foundation (GEF) is a non-governmental organization founded by the City of Gdansk in 2005. GEF was set up in response to the signals coming from the local market and it is one of the most important instruments supporting entrepreneurship in the City. Its main goals are implemented by educational activity within the range of entrepreneurship and creativity, different ways of supporting SMEs and start-ups, and promotion of entrepreneurship and creativity. In 2011, GEF opened Gdansk Business Incubator STARTER and its main goal is to shape regional start-up ecosystem. Starter offers space (both office and co-working space), knowledge (trainings, advisory, coaching, mentorship, pre-incubation and
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incubation projects) and networking (dedicated events). Starter presents itself on the Polish start-up scene as an inspiring place full of positive atmosphere and high-quality projects.
MCBO (Italy)
The Metropolitan City of Bologna, former Province of Bologna, is an intermediate public authority with important responsibilities regarding policies for economic development, infrastructures, transport and strategic planning at the local level. It is composed by 55 municipalities (one million inhabitants) and it is in one of the most economically relevant areas of Italy. Emilia-Romagna is the second region in Italy with the high presence of innovative start-ups. Bologna is also the regional capital and center of prestigious universities, research centers, fairs and a major hub. The Economic Development Area main competences are: stimulating local economic development; enforcing and creating networks and synergies between the main local actors, encouraging creation of new enterprises. Some working subjects: circular and green economy, energy efficiency, sustainable logistics, green and responsible procurement, corporate social responsibility, young talents, crowdfunding, tourism promotion.
ROCKETSIDE (Hungary)
Rocketside is the most advanced Hungarian crowdfunding initiative founded to operate crowdfunding platform designed to help Hungarians and other Central Europeans to turn innovative ideas into lifechanging products and services. www.rocketside.me is a multilingual reward-based platform. Rocketside develops and hosts an e-learning platform, crowdfunding marketing promotion, it gives support to new start-up ideas to succeed in crowdfunding, it raises awareness among stakeholders and financial organizations of understanding the crowdfunding policy. Key competences: software development and implementation, crowdfunding consultancy, legalization and regulatory advisory, preparation of analysis of national legislations and tax systems, organization of national trainings and seminars, preparation of guidebooks.
IKOSOM (Germany)
The Institute for Communication in Social Media (IKOSOM) investigates the use of social media in Germanyand in Europe. It is a privately owned research institute combining public sector organisations, such as NGOs, foundations and universities. The focus of research is on social media usage in Germany, in particular e-Participation, Community- Management and digital fundraising on the stationary and mobile web and new business models for digital companies. IKOSOM is performing business activities, mainly in the field of social media education, trainings and publishing. Ikosom has worked in the field of Crowdfunding for about 5 years and has published a vast number of ground-breaking studies, publications and books in the fields. IKOSOM have held workshops on crowdfunding both offline and online with thousands of participants. Institute has a big network of crowdfunding partners all over Europe and share information and projects updates with our partners.
ISN (Austria)
ISN – Innovation Service Network is a leading Innovation Service Provider which was founded in Austria in 2001. ISN professionally accompanies innovations right from the first idea up to a successful product or service, supports learning, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding processes, and develops new business models. ISN is both a service and a research company in the field of innovation and knowledge management. The ISN Team is highly interdisciplinary and consists of neuroscientists, innovation researchers, usability designers and web developers. ISN has the capability to perform trend and social forecast studies, support
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crowd-based aspects (community building, Open Innovation etc.). It provides training on crowd-based innovation and innovation management, moderates the service design, guides the user centered design process (i.e. developing market research, personas, user tests and come up with mock-ups for a usable and intuitive web interface), contributes with practical industry experience, etc. The crowdsourcing platform neurovation.net consists of more than 17,000 persons. Additionally, the 1000x1000.at crowd investing platform counts has more than 7,000 investors and interested people.
CONDA (Austria)
CONDA is more than a crowd-investing platform. CONDA is the link between entrepreneurs and investors, helping them accomplish something great together. We believe that the future lies in the hands of young and innovative entrepreneurs and SME. Therefore, we have made it our goal to support these entrepreneurs, to build together the foundations for realization of their dreams. At CONDA you have the possibility to invest abroad, in European businesses. We are constantly working to extend our network. Our main business is the operation of a cross-border crowd investing platform, financial and business consulting and a think-tank for start-up ecosystems.
UNIBO (Italy)
Almost 1000 years old, the University of Bologna (UNIBO) is known as the oldest University of the western world. Nowadays, UNIBO still remains one of the most important institutions of higher education across Europe and it is the second largest university in Italy with 11 Schools, 33 Departments and approx. 87,000 students. It is organized in a multi-campus structure with 5 operating sites (Bologna, Cesena, Forlì, Ravenna and Rimini), and, since 1998, it has a permanent headquarters in Buenos Aires as well. UNIBO is also affiliate partner of the EIT KIC “EIT ICT Labs”. At the national level UNIBO ranks second in area of competitive research funding from the Italian Government. UNIBO participates in proposal through the Department of Legal Studies (DSG). DSG is the second largest department at UNIBO with approx. 160 faculty professors and researchers, 40 research associates, three PhD programs (approx. 140 PhD students) and the Erasmus Mundus international doctorate program.
CREATIVE INDUSTRY FORUM (Slovakia)
Creative Industry Forum is primarily a national platform for creative industries. Its main focus is to advocate for the interests of the sector, to facilitate networking and cooperation between its members, to support and manage projects that help increase the visibility and awareness of creative industries and to conduct studies and projects for better understanding and enhancing of performance of creative industries in Slovakia. Since its foundation in 2008, it has been involved in various international activities and networking.
BRODOTO (Croatia)
Brodoto is a social enterprise specialized in campaigning, design and media for non-profits and socially responsible organizations. They create campaign strategies, promotional activities and materials, public relations and digital media strategies, as well as consulting and education on these topics. According to their activities, one of the main focuses of their work is crowdfunding. Brodoto is one of the cofounders of the Crowdfunding Academy, first educational program regarding crowdfunding campaigning in Croatia and it is the leading organizer of the only one annual regional crowdfunding conference – Zagreb Crowdfunding Convention. Brodoto is based in Croatia and Serbia.
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3. Methodology
The report was prepared based on research and analysis carried out in each partner country.
Research topics
1. What makes the CF campaign successful? How to implement a successful campaign? > what is important during the campaigning process? > what factors can contribute to the success of the campaign? > what conditions contribute to the success of the campaign? > what external support is useful for the success of the campaign? 2. What are the problems/risks during the CF campaign? 3. What happens to project after the end of the campaign? > was the project implemented? / what is the further development of the projects? > what are the problems at this stage of the project? 4. What is important at this stage to ensure that the objectives of the project are achieved? > what actions should project promotors take? > what kind of external support is useful? > which solutions/actions support the implementation of the project?
Methods of data collection
1. Questionnaire interviews regarding successful projects. 2. Questionnaire interviews regarding unsuccessful projects. 3. In-depth individual interviews with crowdfunding experts (independent experts, representatives of crowdfunding platforms, campaign managers, investors). 4. Desk research – examples of sources: crowdfunding platform blogs, crowdfunding campaign pages blogs, CF-Platform statistics, published information and press articles regarding crowdfunding campaigns and projects (online and offline) a list of data sources can be found in the REFERENCES section.
The study analysed, among other things, the campaigns described in the ‘Mapping of Successes of Crowdfunding’ report (source: https://www.crowdfundport.eu/mapping/).
No of in-depth individual interviews with crowdfunding experts 17
No of interviews with representatives of projects 52
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4. Results
4.1. Analysis of successful CF campaigns – the common summary
Factors determining the success of the crowdfunding campaign
The crowdfunding campaign is a part and at the same time one of the project stages. This should be borne in mind when analyzing the factors that affect the success of the campaign - some of them determine also the success of the entire project. Below are the most important areas that should be considered when creating and running a crowdfunding campaign. In the analyzes of individual partner countries a more detailed view and examples of solutions used can be found. Market analysis before the start of the project / campaign
research questions: are there similar projects or similar campaigns at the same time? How the campaigns of similar projects looked like? What are good practices? What are the trends in a given industry? Building the project / campaign strategy
creating a product / service of great importance to potential recipients – every product, service or idea for which funds are collected must bring measurable and non-measurable benefits primarily to recipients, but also to the wider community
offering a product or service that meets real needs defining the mission and clear objectives of the project / campaign (in the case of campaign goals - grading goals to be achieved) Planning:
budget - real, credible for recipients, considering all possible costs related to the campaign and project
schedule (including the start time of the campaign) resources (team, material) it is necessary to create alternative plans to apply in the event of a change in the situation A good knowledge of crowdfunding as a tool Defining target groups:
identifying persons who can be involved, to whom the solution applies in person, responds to their needs
good knowledge of the target group - needs, expectations, how to reach them, how to communicate Gathering and working with the community:
gathering a sufficiently large community (it is important even before the start of the project)
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getting to know the community - their needs, the communication channels used engaging the community, staying in touch with them, responding to emerging problems Team building:
creating a team of well cooperating people, selected in terms of different competences providing enough resources (internal and external) an appropriate level of commitment throughout the duration of the project designation of the person running the project / campaign Promotion, PR, communication:
creating a strongly engaging communication strategy planning the sufficient budget selection of communication channels (including the comprehensive use of social media) constant, regular contact (before, during and after the campaign) attractive message (graphics, video materials) additional engagement activities (competitions, accompanying events) gaining partners (substantive, investment), sponsors, advocacies Transparency, authenticity, integrity in all activities
External support useful for the success of the campaign
External support should cover areas that are beyond the competence of the project team and require specialist knowledge or skills. An external expert may be a support for the team or even become its member (e.g. for the duration of the campaign). Accounting, tax and legal support are very useful, especially for international activities. In the case of projects with a complex financing model, experts in the field of finance may also provide helpful advice to the project promoter. The project promoters may also seek help from experts in campaign or project strategy building or partnerships building. The cooperation in the field of promotion may also be used – with marketing, PR, advertising agencies, social media specialists, copywriters, graphic studios or specialists in this field. It increases the chances of conducting effective promotional and communication activities, good selection of communication channels and increasing the project awareness. It is advisable to use the experience of other people related to crowdfunding. These can be people who have already carried out crowdfunding campaigns, as well as experts in this field (e.g. consultants cooperating with crowdfunding websites). It is also worth considering participation of a person in the project who acts as a coordinator or campaign manager in case of larger campaigns or when there is lack of appropriate competences.
Problems/ risks during the crowdfunding campaign
The main problem of the campaigns is that they often have underdeveloped strategies (schedules, budgets, resource use). At the start of the project, the lack of a good plan will cause complications during its implementation. This mainly applies to the budget (all costs related to running the campaign are not
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provided for or they are underestimated, there is no risk assessment, the budget does not take into account alternative sources of financing) and schedule (problems with keeping up the schedule, timely performance of commitments). Project promoters often do not give a proper importance to determination and identification of the target group. Such group is often described too broadly, its real needs and potential for involvement in the project are not checked, and effective ways of reaching such group are not recognized either. The selection of wrong target group can be a very serious problem and it can influence the success of the campaign. Many campaigns have also problems related to promotion and communication. In this area, equally often there are no plans resulting from the strategy, the actions are short-term and chaotic, they do not consider all aspects related to them. The most common problems relate to the effective promotion of the campaign (defining the target group, communication channels, transmission, determining the appropriate budget related to this). Communication with the community is also a big challenge; it is often too little, does not respond to current needs and is not sufficiently involving, which may result in loss of support or lack of feedback. A significant problem can be generated by the team itself. First, there may be too low level of involvement in the project (resulting from lack of time, willingness or awareness of campaign requirements). The selection of the team may also be a problem – too small (too many responsibilities per one person), with wrong selection of competences. Sometimes teams also lack a leader or manager who would coordinate all activities. It should also be remembered that the composition of the team may change, which should be included in alternative plans and such change also requires the development of a knowledge transfer system (know-how). Problems may also arise from the fact that project providers do not have enough knowledge about the use of crowdfunding (this applies especially to people who are just starting to use this financing tool). In such situations, it is difficult to use all the possibilities of crowdfunding, considering its specificity or even checking the adequacy of the project to this tool. For many people, it is also a difficult task to develop a proper rewording system (which also directly translates into the success of the campaign). Lack of experience may also cause problems mentioned earlier - related to planning, strategy, communication, and the team.
4.2. Analysis of successful CF campaigns – country-specific results
4.2.1. Austria (ISN)
Factors determining the success of the crowdfunding campaign
Guidelines for a successful campaign: Good research (e.g. similar projects) and planning before the campaign Great project team Good and professional partners Know your crowd! Be transparent and authentic Have a great teamwork
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Involve the crowd! Many people think that the crowdfunding platform brings the crowd. They don't gather the community before the campaign starts and they hope that the platform will do all the work. Therefore, actions below are so important:
work with the targeted community before and during the campaign enough resources (internal and external) stay tuned till the end In order the campaign really succeed, it is important that the following conditions are met:
enough resources (time and manpower) to communicate with the supporters good local PR adequate budget for social media advertising the issue of a very high relevance target group affected personally Innovators should focus on the word “crowd”: who creates their crowd? What does their crowd want? And how they can reach their crowd?
External support that is useful for the success of the campaign
Advisory from experienced crowdfunding platforms Tax and legal services External communication services
Problems/ risks during the crowdfunding campaign
Dynamic is often a problem: without a good strategy, it is hard to keep up the dynamic of a campaign and keep it exciting until the end Building the campaign strategy Project promotion Community gathering around the project Communication with supporters Problems with scheduling
4.2.2. Austria (CONDA)
Factors determining the success of the crowdfunding campaign
From the experts’ point of view, planning (timeline, budget and resources) should be done before launch of any campaign. During the campaign nothing else should be planned, because it is a lot of work to communicate with the backers/supporters/investors. Please do not plan holidays during this time; experts
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often speak about good preparation before the campaign starts, but if the responsible person is missing during the campaign, no decision or communication can be made. It happened many times that project initiators were away or did not have enough much time during the campaign, they sometimes said “campaigns are self-perpetuating”- unfortunately they are not. Experiences regarding campaigns’ launching show that the campaign often ends after 3 days from its start. If you want your campaign to succeed: Define and find your interest groups and build your own network, it is great to have a bigger network before starting any campaign. Work on your online community – a diversity of social media activities could be helpful (Adwords, Re-Marketing, Banners, etc.). Show your engagement in whatever you do! Build your own website, even if you just have your own landing page where you link your campaign to the CF platform used by you. If your budget allows, use E-Mail/Newsletter, Print-Media , Webinars, Public Relations (invite agencies) and organize events. Organize an event, make sure your event concerns your product and your campaign. Probably you are ready to gain more attention with an interesting contest before and during the event. Find a good timing for your supporters. Experts often understand a difference between winter and summer time, a campaign is not successful if you run it during the summer holiday time, Christmas is not the best time to start with the campaign too. Also, during the daytime, there could be most frequented hours, like in the mornings before working hours and just after work hours.
External support useful for the success of the campaign
Experts explain that marketing agencies are useful in Crowd investing, because you are not able to make graphics or any pictures by yourself within the project management and if you are looking for quality. Make your campaign attractive to your investors/supporters. Also, most of the project promoters are not experienced enough to fix their financial situation. There is a difference between reward based and equity crowdfunding. Equity-based CF needs a finance consultant and the reward-based one at least a consultant to answer any tax questions that may occur.
Problems/ risks during the crowdfunding campaign
Most of the teams/projects do not show any engagement, they do not take a proper care about the campaign, unexpected situations can come up (private or professional), they can have bad press and probably they already fight with unsatisfied customers.
4.2.3. Croatia
Factors determining the success of the crowdfunding campaign
Research shows that “key ingredients” are most commonly defined as: setting a clear goal, identifying an adequate crowdfunding platform, assembling a working team, producing a feasible business plan, defining target group, having a communication strategy and good promotion of the project before the start of the campaign.
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A clear goal - every product, service or idea for which funds are collected must be of some benefit for the individuals they are intended for, or to the wider community. This goal should be presented to the backers in a way that will enable them to clearly recognize its importance to them or to society. Team structure - it takes at least two to three people, who will design and implement all the details of the project, starting with the financial construction, through the creation of attractive perks, to marketing and PR, or communication with potential backers and partners through social networks, media and crowdfunding platform. Adequate platform and feasible business plan - anyone who starts a campaign on a crowdfunding platform must take care of their credibility, that is, the real possibility that, if they collect the required amount, whey will realize the idea presented by the backers. Therefore, it is important to make an objective financial plan that enables the full realization of the initial idea, which implies precise identification of all potential costs, such as the fee charged by the platform, the costs of perks and postal fees of delivering them. Defining the accurate target group - each product, service, or idea is intended for a specific audience, and it is therefore important to invest time in reaching the right people. The experience of campaign promoters who have addressed too wide circle of potential backers show that in such case there is a risk of losing effort. Therefore, it is much more efficient to focus on the people who will benefit the most from the given project. Communication strategy - this includes ready-made material for publications, PR texts, as well as establishing contacts with the media and people who have a certain social impact, or many social networkers, who are open to promote the crowdfunded idea. “From my personal experience, key elements of success in crowdfunding are defined before the campaigning process. You need to have a clear strategy and timeline, and this is defined well before the launch. And it sets ground for the post-campaigning activities as well. First, you must answer the question whether crowdfunding is the right thing for you. If the answer is yes, then it is essential to know what you want to do with the money raised and how to complete your project. Then you plan the ‘key ingredients’, but they have to be tailored to your own needs.” crowdfunding expert, Croatia Desk research adds more conditions that contribute to the success of the campaign - success of the campaign is easier to reach if there is a wider/public concept of your cause. If nobody is aware of its importance, not even the potential backers, it is much harder to sustain or develop a new community which must be present for project’s success. In addition, the positive attitude of potential backers and wider society towards your cause creates a positive environment which can boost the campaign. The moment of the campaign start is also an important factor. Apart from timing, there is another one - to match your cause/service/product with the actual needs that exists. “Most often good timing is essential. Depending on your cause for launching the campaign, there are always better and worse periods to start the campaign. For example, data from Croatia show that campaigns during 2017 were most often launched in December. However, you always have to think to include special dates and events which might help to raise visibility of the project and enable better contact with your target group.” crowdfunding expert, Croatia
External support useful for the success of the campaign
“As I mentioned before, if you decide for crowdfunding, the flexibility required often causes troubles. People repeatedly call me with specific questions during the campaign on something they didn’t even think of. This is a kind of experience that you simply gather along the road, and it is
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always good to have a list of experts or people who have experience with actual campaigns. If you feel uncomfortable before starting a campaign, you might think about hiring external help in form of a team leader/coordinator.” crowdfunding expert, Croatia On the other hand, several campaigners from Croatia reported that they lacked a clear and concise timeline. On top of that, if they had one, they would still need support with gaining visibility and reaching out to potential backers. This includes defining a recognizable logo (crating a recognizable brand), filming a good video for the campaign, and setting the right channels and messages (communication strategy).
Problems/ risks during the crowdfunding campaign
When analyzing the campaigns, it turned out that very often poor time management causes serious delays or lack of ability to reach the campaign goal. Beside the poor time management, there is a serious risk that there is more work to do for human resources available than it was planned or that a member of the team cannot continue the work on the campaign. The risks identified are related to the team. On the other hand, the risk of loss of communication with the community can create the lack of feedback and can seriously impede or even stop the production process (creating production gaps or stopping the production entirely). Since majority of campaigns involve products or services that have a price, risk of missing the price or underestimating the price of making and delivering perks often plays an important role in the campaign. This is related to another identified risk - poor access to market or choosing the wrong target market. “Much of the work done during the campaign is defined well before its start, however, during a crowdfunding campaign you must be much more flexible when compared to more traditional ways to raise money, e.g. bank loans, EU funds etc. This actually means that you have to be ready to adapt during the campaign, which is the biggest challenge.” crowdfunding expert, Croatia
4.2.4. Czech Republic
Factors determining the success of the crowdfunding campaign
Having arranged an amount of money for start. Even though it is not a must, it always helps the campaign during the first days to have for example 30% of funds already collected. It attracts more people than a campaign with 1% of funds raised after ten days. Mobilization of the supporters, fans, and followers. Start pre-campaigning on social media or other channels the get the supporters ready for contribution within the given timeframe. Making the idea public in advance to attract potential supporters and when the campaign starts, sharing the campaign page on these already established channels. Regular communication with the supporters’ base, publishing news and updates, solving any arising issues in timely manner (usually problems with rewards). Setting gradual goals for overreaching target amount – this helps to reach as much funds as possible. If it’s not set, people stop sending money once the 100% is reached. Enough time to be dedicated to the campaign Think twice about who can be attracted by the campaign. It is advisable to focus on the certain group than targeting a general audience. Specific target groups can provide valuable feedback and can become passionate supporters because of their affiliation to the product or subculture it represents.
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Following the trends always helps. Some items or ideas are more fashionable at the given time than others and are more likely to attract attention. Observing the season is recommended, too. Also, it is advisable to look for similar campaigns not to overlap and “dilute” the potential supporter base.
External support useful for the success of the campaign
Advice from those who already have completed a successful campaign. Help with audio-visual and text materials to look suitable to the campaign. High tech products usually need professional video and photographs to be trustworthy while those enthusiasm-driven would need more casual and playful materials. In many cases, communication and marketing plans need redefinition because the initiators underestimated their significance to the campaign.
Problems/ risks during the crowdfunding campaign
Underestimation of the target amount – campaigners tend to ask for as much as they need for their project, neglecting promotional costs, platform fees or costs to produce and deliver rewards. It can sometimes result in a successful campaign which cannot make use of the money because it is simply not enough for realization and it needs additional financing. Running out of rewards – some rewards are so attractive that they are “sold out” very fast. The alternative reward should be prepared. Lack of communication – communication with supporters is the key activity to reach the finances and keep the fan base. Good communication can lift up even dull campaign, while bad (or even worse – the lack of) communication can easily sink even the fanciest campaign around.
4.2.5. Germany
Factors determining the success of the crowdfunding campaign
the project's potential engaged community motivation of the audience good communication constant advertising, design of partial campaigns direct marketing, direct approach regular personal engagement, hard work and patience honesty creativity message to the community: You can be a part of it!
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“For the two successful campaigns on Visionbakery our highly engaged community is the key. We were able to convince them, that our crowdfunding campaign would not also be successful, but would bring them a personal benefit. At Steady we are a growing community of members who are passionate about our ongoing fight for radio- and podcasts with a journalistic focus.” project owner, Germany
External support useful for the success of the campaign
knowledge of how to increase audience involvement knowledge about the development of one's own community
4.2.6. Hungary
Factors determining the success of the crowdfunding campaign
very hard pre-work in social media to initialize the first campaigners (the 30% rule) ongoing fresh news that raise awareness and generate sharing in social media continuous and fast communication with supporters widespread and credible media presence the credibility of the team and manufacturing international presence (because Hungarian based projects use international platforms only)
External support useful for the success of the campaign
law and financial experts for related tasks and regulations international CF experts with media connections manufacturing expert before launch of the campaign
Problems/ risks during the crowdfunding campaign
there is no continuous and fast communication with the supporters there is no wide-ranging and credible media support
4.2.7. Italy
Factors determining the success of the crowdfunding campaign
As for the phase during the campaigning process, conditions for a successful campaign are: the concreteness of the project; captivating contents;
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the ability to reach a community of support, moreover being able to ask them for the right support; strong engaging communication strategy on daily basis; effective relationship with supporters; online and offline networking; deep knowledge of crowdfunding as a tool.
External support useful for the success of the campaign
As for the external support needed by projects, the survey has shown that most of the project owners actually received it through advisor from the platform. Considering the areas that were the most difficult during the CF campaign, since that gathering the community around the project is perceived as complex, a possible external support must concentrate on this issue, as well as on other three topics: building the campaign strategy, campaign material development and communication with supporters. According to the opinion of platforms/experts, a further element that can contribute to the success of a CF campaign is the development of partnerships between platforms, companies and local authorities to co- finance particularly interesting projects. With regard to the last sentence, it is worth noticing the link with another deliverable of the Interreg Central Europe Crowd-Fund-Port project, namely D.T4.3.1 Analysis of the possibility of public funding match the crowdfunding: the fact that an expert explicitly pointed out the attention on public-private partnership means that the topic is widely recognized.
Problems/ risks during the crowdfunding campaign
The following elements may be identified as problems/risks before the CF campaign: with regard to the criteria for the platform to select projects , some elements, in accordance with platforms and experts’ opinions, are:
concreteness of the project; suitability/adaptability of the project to meet the crowdfunding tool; affinity with the platform; readiness/adaptability of the project for crowdfunding; regarding the reasons that can led to the rejection of a project, we may present the following list:
the projects are not ready for crowdfunding; the company/organization is too young; the company/organization is not in line with the requirements established by the platform; the applicant has a bad report/an inadequate reputation/has not creditworthiness/is recorded into the central credit registers (CCRs)/is a bad or late payer. Promoters can make various mistakes at different stages (before, during and after the campaign): problems with the concreteness of the project (a poorly developed project, an incorrect business plan, etc.);
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inappropriate formulation of contents (texts, videos and/or rewards are not suitable for the target) and within the communication strategy (wrong communication strategy/not addressed to the proper target/not very engaging). The main challenge seems to be the proper interface with (potential) supporters.
4.2.8. Poland
Factors determining the success of the crowdfunding campaign
Crowdfunding projects, like other projects, must have a strong foundation and clearly defined goals and assumptions. Therefore, one of the most important elements is to build a project strategy (and campaign) and plan it appropriately. "You need to read as much as possible about project management before project planning begins. Focus on planning the whole process before any action starts." project owner, Poland The campaign and project must have a well-defined target group and must respond to specific needs of this group, solve its problems. Experts also emphasize that it is worth it to show not only willingness to sell a product or service, but also carry an additional message (which will also strengthen engagement). It is important that the project is attractive, interesting and significant for the recipients, based on which the appropriate involvement will be built. The selection of prizes that will suit the given community and motivate to participate in the campaign is also important here. "Find a problem that your project solves. What people’s problems your project solves? If your project solves someone's problem, you'll get money in return." project owner, Poland "It is worth for project promotor to remember that although they implement their own idea, they have to reach people to collect the necessary finances, and consequently they have to respond to some specific needs, solve problems that supporters identify with." Agnieszka Płoska, creator of crowdfunding campaigns and project mentor, Poland "A good project assumes the implementation of the mission, changes the world for the better, and the funds raised are a consequence of a job well done, not a goal itself." Agnieszka Płoska, creator of crowdfunding campaigns and project mentor, Poland "The best projects are those in which you can see the idea and desire to change the world (even the local one around us), and not just the desire to collect money. Even share campaigns are better for companies with a mission that inspires people." Agnieszka Płoska, creator of crowdfunding campaigns and project mentor, Poland Another important element contributing to the success of the campaign is to gather the community around the project, which will support it during the campaign. Community building should last from the beginning of the project; having a committed and sufficiently strong community is a prerequisite to start the campaign. The necessity of constant contact with supporters should be emphasized as well, also after the end of the campaign. Promotional activities are of great importance too – especially those carried out by well-chosen channels, suitably intense. "Create and present a socially important mission, a clear idea of the project. It must be an expressive, even controversial mission that flows straight from your heart. Build a community around this." project owner, Poland
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The commitment must be also on the side of the project promoter and team, of course. Participants of the study paid attention to the appropriate level of determination, persistence, faith in the project, but also sincerity and authenticity in their activities and of course the time commitment and regularity. "The person behind the idea should be authentic and inspire with his or her passion." Agnieszka Płoska, creator of crowdfunding campaigns and project mentor, Poland "Book your time. If you decide to run a campaign and want to run it yourself, book a full-time job for it." project owner, Poland
Problems/ risks during the crowdfunding campaign
A big challenge for project promoters is to prepare the campaign strategy and to plan the individual activities in the campaign accordingly. Thinking at both the strategic and operational levels here is important, which is often a serious problem for people who do not have adequate preparation or support. Problems for project promoters may include the preparation and conduct of promotional activities and the preservation of appropriate activity in this area. Some project promotors pointed out that it was difficult to find support for the project (cooperation with partners, advocacies). "Many project promoters are sitting and waiting for a miracle or they are ashamed that they are making a campaign." Agnieszka Płoska, creator of crowdfunding campaigns and project mentor, Poland For many project promoters, it is a big problem to develop a proper system of rewarding in the campaign - their right selection and the right valuation ("for example, they offer too expensive rewards in relation to the value they propose" Agnieszka Płoska, creator of crowdfunding campaigns and project mentor, Poland). In addition, there is also a problem with the settlement of prizes - implementation, dispatch, punctuality. A very difficult element is also gathering the community around project and further work with it. Project promoters do not always have a large and committed community gathered around the project at the start of the campaign. The problem may also be the lack of enough knowledge about the fans - projectors do not know their actual commitment, overestimate their financial capabilities. They also cannot maintain the engagement of supporters- they devote too little time for contact (especially after the end of the campaign), they do not celebrate with fans the small steps of the campaign.
4.2.9. Slovakia
Factors determining the success of the crowdfunding campaign
Planning - it is important to understand that the goal is not only to raise money but also to get exposure, provide market validation, build community, attract talents and test messaging. Analyzing – find similar projects and analyze them – what platform did they use, how did they use social media and what was their media presence etc. Competitive edge – do your due diligence and find out if there are similar campaigns running at the same time as this can contribute to a failure of the otherwise good idea. Timing – for example when having products that come with rewards, it is useful to take advantage of seasons of giving, such as Christmas, summer holidays etc.
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During the campaign, it is essential to answer quickly to any comments or media questions and planning the resources well is important as well as counting on lack of sleep if you decided to target audience in multiple time zones. Conditions contributing to the success of the campaign: The attractiveness of the messaging – it really matters how your landing page looks (well planned and executed video and influencers as well as rewards) Good advertising – planning milestones, promotions etc. Community building (mailing list, FB and Twitter followers), it is super important to build the community before you launch the campaign.
External support useful for the success of the campaign
support from professional advertising agencies, tax and accounting counseling, especially for survivability of the campaign legal counseling especially with equity or lending crowdfunding campaigns
Problems/ risks during the crowdfunding campaign
What the campaigner can influence - not continuing clear and timely communication. What is beyond the campaigner’s control - competitive projects, society changes.
4.2.10. Slovenia
Factors determining the success of the crowdfunding campaign
business plan with description of the project and identified financial goals building the personalized good story to which the project is linked a well-defined target group - who they are, what their expectations are, how to communicate with them regular and consistent work on project promotion / selection of communication channels and type of communication testing phase of the project (well-tested product to be ready for production after campaign) selection of interesting, attractive prizes for supporters preparation of quality visual material considering legal protection in case of technologically innovative products thinking and acting globally “It is very important that entrepreneurs define what is the goal of the crowdfunding campaign. Is the main goal a successful campaign? Or launching/promotion of the company using the crowdfunding campaign? Planned activities, set-up and work of the team and costs level depend on the decision, what the main goal is.” (source: Entrepreneurial web portal ‘Mladi podjetnik’, https://mladipodjetnik.si/)
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“During campaigning process, it is very important that project has an interest story and that it includes a personal side/mission, the reason why the team is implementing the project. Project also needs to raise enough attention of wider public, since a lot of projects are seeking for support every day.” Matej Rauh, owner of Slovenian Adrifund crowdfunding platform (source: www.facebook.com/adrifund) “During the campaigning process knowing your target audience is key. To motivate people to support the project, you need to know who you are addressing and how to reach this audience.” Žiga Berce and Niko Klanjšek, Slovenia Crowdfunding Meetups “Statistical numbers show that 66% of funds are collected in first and last week of crowdfunding campaign, therefore the length of the campaign is important success factor. It is necessary that campaign is long enough that supporters can catch ‘second support wave’. First week of campaign always shows the efforts invested of pre-campaigning and last week shows the results of campaigning.” Žiga Berce and Niko Klanjšek, Slovenia Crowdfunding Meetups
External support useful for the success of the campaign
The external support is useful for the preparation of promotional material, communication with target groups and media. However, there are several promotional and communication supports you can use, so you need to know your audience very well, otherwise, the external support does not bring the expected results.
Problems/ risks during the crowdfunding campaign
Almost all campaigns face with some degree of challenges: search for new media channels, lack of preparation work, lack of foreign languages, searching for appropriate team member. Most often, the problems are related to inexperienced project team. Most of the wrong decision was taken in connection with communication activities, networking with influencer, not enough financial funds available for advertising, poor preparation of campaign, wrong choice related to the crowdfunding platform. “Collecting funds using crowdfunding can be split in six phases: design of prototype, evaluation of the product, marketing, launching of CF campaign, first production and set-up of permanent production line. Each phase is specific and brings challenges – problems and risks. Which problems/risks present the higher hurdle, really depends on team and team knowledge and experience.” Žiga Berce and Niko Klanjšek, Slovenia Crowdfunding Meetups “Entrepreneurs at the beginning of their business career face different problems/risks mostly due to lack of experience. These problems are even more explicit in crowdfunding, because the funds from the campaign are collected relatively quickly and then the start-up skips a few development phases, which usually happen in longer period.” (source: Entrepreneurial web portal ‘Mladi podjetnik’, https://mladipodjetnik.si/)
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4.3. Analysis of projects after the end of the CF campaign – the common summary
The survival of projects
The crowdfunding platforms have campaign statistics. However, very often they do not observe what happens to projects after the end of the campaign. It is therefore difficult to find statistical data on this subject. Our analysis shows that a large proportion of the projects that have had successful campaigns are usually continued as planned. Projects may have been modified (scope, objectives, schedule, budget), but are usually completed and often even continued or further developed. In the case of projects that do not achieve their objectives, this is most often due to incorrect financial assumptions (project implementation is much more expensive than budgeted) or the loss of an important source of funding. For the purpose of the analysis, we checked what happened to projects whose crowdfunding campaigns were described in the ‘Mapping of Successes of Crowdfunding’ report. Of the 69 projects described, 50 were successfully completed.
Problems and risks in the project after the end of the crowdfunding campaign
A very frequent problem of projects is fulfilling the obligations towards the supporters. The awarding of prizes can be delayed for a variety of reasons - lack of funds, stopping or slowing the implementation of the project at the next stage, problems with subcontractors or suppliers. This may result from earlier planning mistakes (schedule, budget), but also from changes that have not been foreseen. Underestimates, overly optimistic assumptions or badly-established partnerships result in problems in project implementation, but they also adversely affect the image of project promoters. Many projects also have problems with complying with previously adopted financial plans. Funds collected in a crowdfunding campaign are not always spent in accordance with the goal, which, however, is a violation of obligations towards supporters. Appearing delays and other difficulties may have a negative impact on communication with the community involved in the project. The project promoter, instead of transparent and open communication, avoid direct contact. Similarly, it happens in the case of changes in schedules and strategies - the project promoter often does not inform the community about the activities undertaken, does not explain the reasons. Such a lack of good information flow is a very serious mistake and a big threat to the project - it should be remembered that the community gathered around the project is its essential part and it often determines its further fate. The maintenance of financial liquidity is a big challenge for the implemented projects. Erroneously adopted budget assumptions and changes in conditions that appear after the end of the campaign (changes on the market, lower than expected interest on the part of the target group, problems with distribution, reaching the end customer, competition) may have a negative impact on the financial situation of the project. And this can translate into problems with its completion. After the crowdfunding campaign ends, some teams undergo a certain burnout crisis. This results in too weak involvement in the further development of the project, reduction of activities undertaken or even leaving the project team. Appropriate motivating the team and seeking support for it is an important challenge for the leader.
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Actions to support the success of the project
After completing the crowdfunding campaign, it is important to carry out evaluation activities and to draw conclusions about the further work on the project. For some projects, it will be advisable to modify previously adopted plans (e.g. in the scope of the schedule but also sources of financing or required resources). It may be wise to even redefine the goals. However, such monitoring and proper response are necessary for the effective implementation of the project. An approach based on learning from own experiences is truly recommended. After completing crowdfunding campaigns, some projects need re-budgeting, related requirements and potential sources of financing. In such a situation where the previously planned sources of financing of the project did not meet the assumptions (financing is too low or not available at all), it is necessary to secure additional sources, and search for investors or partners. It should be emphasized that this area is so important for the effective implementation of the project that it should be appropriately planned already at the stage of defining the project (identifying the sources of financing, their appropriate diversification and indicating alternative sources possible to obtain). Verification of the project team is also very important. Entering the project in the next phase may require employing more people or finding employees with specific competences. Here, an important role may be played by experts / external specialists, acting in the form of advisers for the project team (e.g. in accounting, taxation, law). It is also important to skillfully introduce the existing team into the next stage and further motivate the team to effective work. Some teams require experts in the field of HR at this stage or help in establishing contact with specialists in specific fields. One should not forget about further work with the community gathered around the project. It is necessary to maintain constant contact and ongoing response. Thanks to such community there is a further exchange of experiences, feedback receiving from the market, it is possible to test subsequent versions of the product, and the image of the project or product is also created.
4.4. Analysis of projects after the end of the CF campaign – country-specific results
4.4.1. Austria (ISN)
Problems and risks in the project after the end of the crowdfunding campaign
After the end of the campaign, the following areas are critical for the project:
relevant updates regarding the project good communication with the supporters after the campaign is over the delivering values to supporters on time Serious faults must be reacted to as best as possible. Communication with the crowd must be kept clear and open (e.g. the crowd must be granted a right of withdrawal if they do not agree with the changes). The promised services (goodies) should be delivered very reliably and punctually.
Actions to support the success of the project
Actions that project promoters should take:
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follow your further communication plan keep on involving your crowd deliver the promised services on time analyze the result/success rate of the campaign 'lessons learned' approach
External support that can be useful:
support in logistics and shipping (logistical challenges - dispatch, administration of customer data, etc.)
communication support – updates about the project; communications and advertising services to get the campaign rolling (many project owners forget this or underestimate the effort and relevance)
if no B2C direct business has taken place to date, it is important that the project promoter receives professional support in preparation of this journey
professional, reliable support for the crowd (a telephone number and an e-mail address where one can contact you and where one receives reliable, prompt, competent and friendly help) In order to further develop the project, it is important that the following actions are taken:
promotion/ raising awareness of the project building the image of the project / brand / company / organization involve permanent Customer feedback creating a database of committed customers
4.4.2. Austria (CONDA)
Problems and risks in the project after the end of the crowdfunding campaign
If any agreement was made with the supporters or investors and you cannot deliver rewards for example or there is no transparency, you should find a way to communicate with them. The bad publicity would not affect just your company, but also the platform which you used will be linked to your further actions. Less money than wanted after campaign does not mean you cannot do anything with the funded money. Change financial plans and if you invest in a different area of your company, explain to the supporters why you are doing so.
Actions to support the success of the project
Experts see teams being less active after the campaign, but it is important to keep moving on your business. No one else knows your company better than you and your team. Make sure your business is running also after the campaign. What you should plan after the campaign: send out rewards to your supporters as soon as possible, except you have a different agreement
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start using money for your project, so supporters can see that something is happening keep them updated and transparent with milestones/roadmaps if you need support in running the project, make sure you find a good partner if you are still looking for a marketing agency or any other resources, go and find them
4.4.3. Croatia
Problems and risks in the project after the end of the crowdfunding campaign
The projects analyzed have progressed to a various extent - while some of them have finished with their campaigns recently, some of them are already in progress for up to three years. In projects that have finished their campaigns recently, the problem that often occurs is related to changing financial plan – the money raised gets spent on things not planned initially, and then further alterations in the plan are needed. Another problem is related to perks - their delivery is often late, and not enough effort is put into continuous communication with the community. The projects which are past this stage (which have finished their products/services and are already on the market) often suffer from lack of financial sustainability, because of not being able to generate the expected income from the product/service. This is sometimes related to not being able to create and sustain a desirable brand on the targeted market and not achieving commercial sustainability. “After the campaign ends, very often teams have the need to “take a break”, because the work was so all-consuming. This can result in delays in delivering perks, or even not delivering them at all, which is a serious mistake. Another issue is that this can cause losing the contact with the community, which can cause mismatch in the product/service delivered, because the community feedback is essential even after the campaign ends. Several projects have another problem, the one related to money raised and actual fulfillment of the project. However, as it turns out, most of the teams manage to implement the project after a successful campaign, however not without problems.” crowdfunding expert, Croatia
Actions to support the success of the project
This depends on the actual project - some of them still need to keep a very strict schedule of communication activities, especially those which just finished their campaigns. Another important activity at this stage must be to always check your business plan and the defined goals. If there is a conclusion that the goal will not be reached in the given time, urgent alterations are needed. On the other side, it is found that project promoters often have to invest much more energy into additional marketing and community building after the campaign. On the other hand, projects which are well pass the campaign and are in the process of launching the product (or are already on the market) often need to make ever further alterations on the product and test it multiple times against potential users. Most of the projects analyzed had to recruit new members, and this proved to be a challenge at times. In analyzed Croatia campaigns, external support needed includes advising on business plan development and modifications (as Indiegogo emphasizes, sometimes there is a need for completely new delivery plan), securing additional sources of funding for start-up projects during the pre-production and early production phase, market plan development (further promotion on targeted markets), communication activities in the post-campaigning period (developing relations with the community and making access to investors), advice on a new crowdfunding campaign.
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Initial support with sustaining the community built during the campaign is often raised as a concern among Croatian campaigners. Very often the solution to this problem is to set up a backers’ portal where they could easily exchange experiences and get the latest updates about the project. However, even such approach is sometimes too little, too late. On top of this, after the campaign the case is that the project needs additional funding, and you need to find a way to clearly communicate the value of your project to potential investors and promoters on targeted markets, not only backers from the campaign. Lastly, the key action in this regard is taken by all successful projects analyzed - they constantly kept testing their product/service with customers on targeted markets and getting honest feedback, and then improving it, making it recognizable and desirable.
4.4.4. Czech Republic
Problems and risks in the project after the end of the crowdfunding campaign
Money (most often). The campaigners did not calculate funds needed correctly and when the campaign is over, they find out insufficient money to carry out all planned activities. However, the projects are usually able to get additional financing to somehow finish the project. It seems that the pressure from the crowd, the trust and possible loss of it is quite strong incentive to do the project as promised. Sometimes, the staff involved in the campaign do not proceed to the realization of the project, thus the know-how, the knowledge of how the campaign was going, is lost. Some projects struggle with rewards and their delivery. Sometimes they choose rewards that are nearly impossible to send by post. They do not expect delivery around the globe, rendering the delivery a loss-making process with delivery fees exceeding the value of the reward.
Actions to support the success of the project
In general, platforms do not observe what happens after the campaign is over. However, in case of successful campaign, the project is usually carried out as stated. Albeit, the scope, quality or overall effect might differ from what was promised but, as a rule, the projects are realized more-or-less to the extend anticipated before the campaign. One of the main actions that should be taken by project promoters is sending of rewards. The failure to send rewards on time and in perfect condition is by far the most frequent failure among campaigns. The type of useful support (including external support) depends on the campaign initiator, there is no universal solution. Each project needs different solutions to the problems they encounter. It all revolves around the project team, their experience, drive and ability to successfully finish the project (or given stage of the project). Some people have adequate experience with financing that they are able to use the money for this purpose without mistake, while others may have problems with financial management, tax liabilities or other aspects. This is very individual.
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4.4.5. Germany
Problems and risks in the project after the end of the crowdfunding campaign
further financing of the project financial matters, e.g. legal rights, taxes, license fees legal matters, e.g. transfer the investments into the new company without having legal costs team involvement, working together until the end of the project logistics “The crowdfunding campaign raised 2% of the overall budget. Half of that money was spent on fees and the campaign. We still needed to find 98% of the budget. It took us 2 more years to raise the funds needed for production.” project owner, Germany “From todays perspective I would say that the logistics and the finance stuff (legal rights, taxes etc.) where the most challenging topics after the positive end of the campaign. You could be surprised, which kind of institutions would knock on your door and want their part of the crowdfunding success. If you are dealing with music for example think about the different entities who are collecting license fees for their members (labels, artists etc.).” project owner, Germany
Actions to support the success of the project
Further developing the concept of crowdfunding and other funding options can help to grow business and strengthen position in the market and within community. One of the project owners chose to switch from reward-based crowdfunding to a platform for content-funding on a subscription basis. “We are convinced that different goals need different strategies and that leads sometimes to different platforms as well.” project owner, Germany
4.4.6. Hungary
Actions to support the success of the project
It is very important for the project that the supporters are constantly and precisely informed about the progress of the project and particularly about possible delays in the project schedule. Relevant experts need to be involved in the execution when there is a blockage. Areas where external support would be useful are:
professional project management outsourcing the manufacturing professional financing control legal advice promotional and communication activities
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4.4.7. Italy
Problems and risks in the project after the end of the crowdfunding campaign
If a project is not successful, one must understand the mistakes that were made and, in some cases, try to find alternative funds. In many instances, it may happen that an unsuccessful project is abandoned. Main mistakes in this phase may be recognized as: delay in the delivery of the rewards; not maintaining the communication with the supporters; not carrying out the project. It is therefore fundamental to respect deadlines and to keep the supporters informed, cultivating the relationship and creating links with them. In addition, at this stage, the most useful support is advice on how to develop communication and exploit the positive effect of the campaign, moreover focusing on project management. According to the survey, data shows that among the areas perceived as more problematic after the end of the campaign, delivering values to supporters on time is recognized as the most difficult. Other areas range from communicating with supporters after the campaign is over to settlements after the end of the campaign – portal and payment system fees, that is perceived as complex by one respondent only. Project’s promotors may face different problems: little concreteness of the project, little ability to explicitly ask for financial support; little promotion and communication abilities. In addition, problems can be related to the project itself (as, for instance, a project that is vague and cannot be achieved even after obtaining the funds), to the participation of the community target (the initiator is not able to clearly define the target before launching the campaign/is not able to reach it during the campaigning process/does not communicate with the community after the campaign), to rewards (some initiators are not able to find interesting rewards/do not deliver rewards on time).
Actions to support the success of the project
As for the phase of project implementation after the end of the campaign, the typical follow-up of a project must include: delivering the rewards; cultivating the community; realizing the project (it is interesting to notice that we cannot always assume that the project will be realized).
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4.4.8. Poland
Problems and risks in the project after the end of the crowdfunding campaign
The problems appearing during the implementation of projects most often were associated with incorrectly adopted assumptions (project budget, material and technical resources needed to implement the project, risk assessment). They are often the result of the lack of good preparation of the project before its start and a real assessment of its feasibility. However, the consequence of incorrectly adopted assumptions may be the problems with meeting these assumptions and keeping up with the schedule which are risky for the implementation of the project. The success of the project is determined by the team to a very large extent. Many project promoters do not appreciate the importance of this element - they run projects without teams or they are not enough involved in creating teams and later managing them. As a result, the teams work ineffectively and often do not stand the test of time. The important issue pointed out by Polish project promoters was also unfavorable external conditions: insufficient level of support from municipal or state institutions and political conditions not conducive to the development of entrepreneurship.
Actions to support the success of the project
During the implementation of the project, it is necessary to define in advance the action plan. The better it is prepared (project budget, work schedule, team, cooperation), the greater the chance of successful implementation of the project. It is important to constantly analyze the progress and make the necessary updates. At the same time, each project promoter should have alternative plans that will be ready for implementation in the event of a change in circumstances. This should especially apply to project financing. It is also very important to have a good team of people working on the project (both permanent workers and those cooperating), the team diverse in terms of competence, properly involved and well cooperating with each other. As part of the team, it is advisable to have a person acting as a project manager. In addition to the project team, it is important to establish cooperation with proven subcontractors. "Here are the elements of project management. A good plan is needed and more importantly, someone who will keep deadlines checks the connections of particular points / stages, i.e. the project manager. Anyway, such a person is needed during the entire course of the campaign, each campaign should have a Campaign Manager, who is someone having a vision of the whole and at the same time monitors the individual stages (but do not have to do everything on his or her own) " Agnieszka Płoska, creator of crowdfunding campaigns and project mentor, Poland At this stage, project promoters primarily expect support in areas related to project financing. Direct financial support is very important (access to cheap loans, investors, subsidies), but also knowledge about the possibility of obtaining such support. The assistance in accounting and legal activities is also important for project promoters. Distribution activities are another important area – acquisition of distribution channels, expansion of the existing distribution network and access to cheap warehouse and office space. Project promoters also look for support in acquiring new customers. Further development of the project depends in part on the assumptions in the strategy. It helps for sure in the adoption of long-term plans and goals, which will indicate the directions of development. In this period, it is very important for project promoters to achieve financial stability thanks to a good market position, cooperation with distributors, but also investment support. The development of project also helps the development of project teams.
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4.4.9. Slovakia
Problems and risks in the project after the end of the crowdfunding campaign
The most difficult areas that may require external support are taxes, accounting, and counseling regarding the distribution channels to support your sales.
Actions to support the success of the project
With a successful campaign it is essential to use the finances raised and provide timely fulfillment of rewards (produce and fulfill what you promised). If you use less money than projected, you need to change the budget and inform your backers. If things don’t go as projected, keep also the supporters updated and be transparent. Analyze the result/success rate of the campaign and either continue the business as it is or adjust it – learn from your mistakes and apply lessons learned. Stay committed and involved in daily operations.
4.4.10. Slovenia
Problems and risks in the project after the end of the crowdfunding campaign
The main problems are poor scheduling, underestimation of costs and lack of good risk analysis. “One of the main identified risks is that entrepreneurs do not invest a lot of time, work and reflection, what will happen after the campaign. Typically, deadlines, costs and potential implementation risks are underestimated.” (source: Entrepreneurial web portal ‘Mladi podjetnik’, https://mladipodjetnik.si/) Significant problems are related to the start of production - production costs are often underestimated, there are no alternative plans prepared, which can be used for changing the situation. “The biggest problem teams encounter after the major success when they have to establish the production. Financial projections usually do not account for all the expenses and almost certainly something will go wrong and will delay the shipping. With that in mind before the beginning of the campaign the assessment costs should be made precisely, including unexpected costs and some reserve. Because of unpredictable nature of events the teams should have prepared plans for several situations (success, extreme success, etc.) or difficulties (change of supplier, problem in the production process). The production can come with some bureaucracy and depending on the product, the inventors should think about patenting the item.” Žiga Berce and Niko Klanjšek, Slovenia Crowdfunding Meetups Also, a lot of Slovenian campaigns that launch their campaign on the Kickstarter face following problems after campaign, because in the planning phase of the campaign, the postal service costs/costs of shifting products all over the world are misevaluated.
Actions to support the success of the project
After each successful campaign, the analysis and evaluation of the achieved goal would have to follow, but in practice this is often neglected. Before starting with the next activities, team should ask themselves the following questions:
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Have we met the program objectives? Have we reached the target community and what is their attitude to the project now? Did the campaign have any other effects? What did we learn from the campaign? The following activities are helpful in the development of the project: checking and analyzing an initial business plan to see if it needs adaption setting up and communication with potential investors, business partners, distributors and communication with supporters having already agreed contracts with suppliers of material and production line, that you discussed before the start of the campaign having a tax expert support, related to paying taxes in other countries opening pre-order subpage on the landing website page: “One of the first necessary actions is to open pre-order subpage on the landing website page because that enables to collect up to twice more funds comparing to the funds collected during campaign.” Žiga Berce and Niko Klanjšek, Slovenia Crowdfunding Meetups “Only 25% of all successful projects deliver their products on time, therefore in case of late delivery, permanent public relations and perfect transparency are needed. Supporters should be kept informed of what is happening, the reasons of the crisis and the resolution problems. Correct communication in times of crisis can decisively reduce future harmful consequences.” Jan Gerič, owner of the ‘Copywritter’
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4.5. Examples of successful and unsuccessful projects
4.5.1. Examples of successful projects
Below the examples of projects that benefited from crowdfunding are presented and where both the campaign and the whole project have been successful.
Baggizmo https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/757598393/baggizmo-the-only-everyday-carry-bag-you-will-ever The largest reward-based campaign from Croatia in 2015 on the Kickstarter platform. It gathered USD 44,120 with the support of 443 backers. The project was initiated and led by Ladislav Juric, an IT manager and Founder Institute graduate. He needed a bag that he could put all the stuff into and keep it safe and organized. He didn’t find any of the regular backpack or bulky EDC bags suitable. After an accident in which his tablet was crushed – he decided to start this adventure and create the only EDC bag he will ever need – Baggizmo. Baggizmo campaign is a good practice example not just because of its financial success at the crowdfunding platform, but also because of the commercial success of the product that took place after campaign was finished. Due to high-quality branding and marketing, the campaign has gained wide publicity and caught attention of target audiences on an international level. Part of this success can be contributed to the campaign’s communication with its backers, which can be seen through many updates and the diverse perks the campaign offered – from T-shirts, early bird specials to the final product for its most devoted backers. Moreover, the team succeeded in launching two following crowdfunding campaigns on Indiegogo in 2015 and 2017, securing funds and visibility for targeted foreign markets.
Machina Arcana https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magecompany/machina-arcana This is a product of a micro enterprise from creative industries. Machina Arcana is a cooperative steampunk horror board game for 1-4 players. It was successfully launched through a Kickstarter campaign from Croatia, raising USD 142,790 with 1,710 backers. The campaign significantly outperformed expectations in collecting money. It also had 4 out of 10 female team members (mixed team). A key to success of the Machina Arcana campaign lays in successful development of a strong community with over 5,000 comments and 1,710 backers. The campaign engaged successfully with their backers through regular updates and interesting perks. This resulted in a massive over-performance of the campaign. The campaign planned to obtain USD 20,000 and in the end it received USD 142,790. This makes it one of the best over-performers among Croatian crowdfunding campaigns. In addition, it is also a good example of how a campaign uses the updates to keep in touch with the supporters after the campaign has ended. As it can be seen on the crowdfunding campaign webpage, the community is still vibrant with the last comment is not older than couple of hours. This proved to be crucial for commercial success of the game, because of strong initial online community and the digital nature of the product.
Sacred Fire
A psychological video game about survival, power and hope, where players lead a band of resistance fighters in Caledonia (ancient Scotland) against the invading Roman Empire. The players’ success depends on conflict
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resolutions and understanding the psychology of the characters rather than on reliance on weapons and attacks. The game blends storytelling and tactics while testing player’s ingenuity and integrity at the same time. Factors determining the success of projects: ability to set a realistic and achievable goal, intensive preparation – 6 months, building a large and active community and developing personal relationships with the members, being transparent and communicating actively. Also, after they finished the AON campaign on Kickstarter, they had an ongoing interest from new backers and went to Indiegogo(KIA campaign) with a goal to grow the community and improve the game, add polish, voiceover, and other improvements to the core gameplay.
Red Pitaya https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/652945597/red-pitaya-open-instruments-for-everyone Red Pitaya is an open source measurement and control tool that is plugged into the smart phone/computer and eliminates many expensive measuring instruments. Supplementary there is also the Bazaar with free open source applications and Backyard with repository of open source code. The project was backed by 826 supporters and surpassed the goal amount of USD 50,000 by 512 % with raised USD 256,125. The product is a result of a long-term process. At the end of 2012 the director and founder of the company Instrumentation Technologies (invented Libera – electron beam positioning), Rok Uršič, started a company project aimed at searching other great ideas for products. The project expanded also to Faculties and Incubators. Many people were involved in the creation of the campaign. They connected with experienced people and creators of LUMU (another successfully funded campaign on Kickstarter). The professors from faculty gave the video additional credibility, they used a broad network of connections and acquaintances of director Rok Uršič and others, including support from the accelerator Diamond Light Source from UK, connections from Silicon Valley and one of the Ivy League Universities from USA. Overall, the team superbly executed the project, with a lot of media coverage and with the right attitude. Not a lot of projects get so many comments about the great tool and professionality (regular updates, product quality and communication) after the delivery of products to supporters. Today company is a spin off from Instrumentation Technologies.
SipaBoards https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1529801280/worlds-first-self-inflating-electric-powered-sup- b/description Self-inflating electric powered sup (standup paddleboard). The founder gathered an experienced team of nine members, for Kickstarter campaign, there was 16 people actively involved. The project was successful and backed by 284 people with USD 344,638. The sups are not affordable, so every supporter has to be convinced that this is the real deal. They well presented the construction point of view, and with that gave additional assurance about the product’s quality. The Campaign's success can be also linked to team's presentations of prototype and product all over the world. They also sent sups for promotional tests and gained support from professional suppers.
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They established a production in Swiss purposefully because they aimed at the quality of the product, and it was also easier to plan production costs and time because some members had experience with mass production.
Zortrax M200 - professional desktop 3D printer https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zortrax/zortrax-m200-professional-desktop-3d- printer?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=Zortrax In 2011, the works on the Zortrax M200 3D printer began and ended in 2013. To support production, the creators of the device conducted a campaign on the Kickstarter site, during which they collected almost USD 180,000. Thanks to the crowdfunding campaign, financing of the first batch of machines production was obtained, but also the first relations with customers were established and the market was recognized. After the campaign, printers were sent to all the funders, and the money obtained was invested in the further development of the project. In January and March 2014, Zortrax issued two tranches of bonds, which in total brought the company PLN 7.2 million. In 2014, the company also started acquiring printer distributors around the world. On June 15, 2015, the shareholders' meeting adopted a resolution regarding the transformation of a limited liability company into a joint-stock company.
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4.5.2. Examples of unsuccessful projects
Below are presented examples of projects in which the crowdfunding campaign was successfully completed, but the further implementation of the project failed.
Nephill’s Fall https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1033400636/nephils-fall Developed by the Croatian indie game studio Exordium, is a fantasy video game about a fallen guardian in a corrupted world. It was the fourth most successful Croatian crowdfunding campaign in 2015, raising total of USD 32,656 with 268 backers on Kickstarter. As the campaign leaders claimed at the time, “if we finish the Kickstarter campaign successfully, we expect that the Nephill’s fall will see the light of day by the end of 2015”. Despite the success, in the time of creation of this report the Nephill’s Fall project still wasn’t successfully brought to life due to a production gap. The downfall also occurred in the aspect of communication with the backers - the campaigners haven’t updated them regularly about the production issues, so a lot of negative feedback has been gathered on the campaign profile on Kickstarter. This confirms the importance of gaining and maintaining credibility through regular communication and relationship development with the backers. Although they tried to test the product against potential users in 2017, they failed in amending the downfall in communication with the backers - current webpage is not active.
Goldee
Goldee is a smart light controlling system that caters to users rather than the other way around. A ‘sunrise alarm’ provides gentle rays in the morning, whilst ‘smart on’ and ‘smart off’ turn the lights off when someone leaves the house and back on again when they return. The lights fade out as they fall asleep and if someone wakes up in the middle of the night a dim glow helps them find their way around. There is even a security setting that simulates a presence when the homeowner is out. In an effort to deliver the product on time, the company invested all of the raised funds into production – without having the final investment in hand. The cost of manufacturing proved to be multiple times larger than planned and the company did not have resources to produce Goldee in large quantity without scarifying the quality and thus was not able to deliver and did not receive the final investment. Another issue was the internal team conflict that resulted in not enough trust among investors. While this was a successful campaign that raised between EUR 200,000 – 500,000 on their own webpage, it failed due to management issues, specifically an internal conflict among the team members as they were not able to use the raised money effectively.
REHARA https://1000x1000.at/rehara The project served to finance the further development of the existing bathing landscape, which was originally built in 1971, as an attractive and contemporary offer for tourism. Ramsau am Dachstein is one of the leading tourist communities in Styria/Austria. The annual overnight potential is around 700,000, a special feature of which is being a year-round destination. Priority was given to reducing energy consumption by a considerable amount in the future. For this reason, a revitalization project was initiated under Ernst Fischbacher in cooperation with the Ramsauer Verkehrsbetriebe and the Tourist Association in order to
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adapt the Ramsauer indoor swimming pool to the current state of the art in an ecologically, economically and above all energy-efficient way. However, despite the successful campaign the planned and designed proposal for the implementation of the new swimming pool could not be implemented, because it was too expensive. The architects' plans were probably too optimistic. Those responsible for the project may not have had enough competence to recognize the problem. In this case, an expert assessment of the plans (e.g. from other architects) should have been obtained. However, the mayor of the municipality and the responsible managing director of Verkehrsbetriebe Ramsau reacted to this serious mistake in the best possible way and kept the communication open and granted the crowd a right of withdrawal if they did not agree to the changes. Not many made use of this possibility and have stuck to it since construction is only delayed and not completely postponed.
Shoka Bell https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dnlfls/shoka-bell-the-ultimate-city-cycling-tool The project concerned bike bells that increase safety and efficiency. The Shoka Bell and app provide different ringtones to alert cars and pedestrians. They keep the bike safe with a theft alarm, help you navigate the streets and keep track of your cycling habits and rides. The campaign was successful because of the amazing product design details and the great international media efforts. The project team was able to reach a serious international media appearance from Hungary. However, the further implementation of the project failed because the project team was unable to implement the required manufacturing process. It can be assumed that there was no proper preparation and modelling of mass production.
Nyugat Zombik https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nyugat-zombik/#/ This is a crowdfunded comic project. The project was successful because of the amazing product design and the great and adequate local media presence. The further implementation of the project failed because the project owner acted alone and was unable to implement the required quality. He could not make it in time...even to this day.
SKULLY AR-1 The World's Smartest Motorcycle Helmet https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/skully-ar-1-the-world-s-smartest-motorcycle-helmet#/ Skully is a brand of motorcycle helmet with a heads-up display and a rear-facing camera. The campaign was aired on Indiegogo and had an impressive success, with 1,940 backers and $2.5 million raised. Despite the more than satisfactory outcome, Skully Helmets Inc. shut down in July 2016: the company was unable to secure additional funding, it filed bankruptcy and is no longer in business. “[...] about 3,300 helmets were sold but only about 200 shipped”; “The suit accuses Marcus Weller (the inventor of the helmet) of charging personal expenses to the company, including a USD 2,000 visit to a Florida strip club, a Lamborghini he rented during a vacation in southern California and two Dodge Vipers. The suit says both the Weller brothers used their corporate accounts to pay rent on their San Francisco apartments as well as moving expenses, grocery bills and restaurant tabs” (source: money.cnn.com).
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In the case of Skully the further implementation of the project seems to be linked to the incapability of the founders to properly manage funds. The problem of the late delivery of the prizes is just a consequence of financial failure. Additionally, the communication with backers was interrupted.
Smart luxury watch revolution: Filippo Loreti https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2050848594/join-the-luxury-watch-revolution-filippo-loreti The campaign, aired on Kickstarter, collected more than EUR 3.5 million in one month only. The brand Filippo Loreti offers luxury watches at affordable prices: “[...] we were able to produce watches that cost less than USD 250 but are of the quality that you’d normally have to pay USD 1000+ for”, said Matas Jakutis, Lithuanian, one of the co-founder of the company (source: Forbes). The campaign had a disruptive success; offline and online magazines were enthusiast to spread news on such a great triumph. In the case of Filippo Loreti, at least two factors were crucial in conducting a (more than) successful campaign: marketing and the appeal of a luxury Italian product. Regretfully, it seems that Filippo Loreti has not yet delivered all of its watches to its customers. Backers are upset and outraged, as in the comments on the campaign’s website (about 4,100 on August 2018). The main problem why the further implementation of the project is not succeeding is that Filippo Loreti is failing to fulfil its promises: the company keep on delaying the delivery from older campaigns yet come up with newer campaigns. In addition, some backers affirm “poor manufacturing and assembling for a ‘luxury watch’”; “Don’t expect luxury from these watches. All ‘luxury’, ‘Italy’, ‘Swiss quality’ is just marketing” (source: technofaq.org).
AirEnergy 3D https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/43717383/airenergy-3d-a-3d-printed-opensource-mobile-wind-t Omni3D's - Poznań factory, has collected 24,000 pounds on Kickstarter to create the AirEnergy 3D turbine – the home device that would generate 300 watts of energy. The idea of the project was great (a pro- ecological solution that could solve the problem of power outages in the Third World), but the quality of the prototype was not good enough. The problem the project promoters have encountered was a financial one which they couldn't overcome. The costs of the parts alone were far bigger than they initially calculated, and it was impossible to deliver the turbines to donators for the price they have paid. The project was not implemented and Omni3D has decided to give back all the money.
Cmoar Virtual Reality Headset https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/706938033/cmoar-virtual-reality-headset-with-integrated-elec The Polish Cmoar VR goggles project, under which a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign was led in 2015. The project received support from 539 people, thanks to whom it was possible to collect USD 120,000. Unfortunately, the work on the project was discontinued and the product was not put into production. Thus, the crowdfunding campaign was canceled. The reason for work discontinuation was the lack of funds for further financing of the project - all the money collected as part of the crowdfunding campaign was used, then the project was financed from private funds; the talks started with Polish venture capital funds, but they have not been successful. The mistakes made by the team are: commencement of the funds collection before the completion of research and development works
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bad estimation of the amount needed to complete the project - the collected funds proved to be inadequate to the costs of producing such an advanced device (because a very large part of the costs was related to research and development works) attempts to create two different products at the same time (the team's work and funds raised were scattered, the team was not experienced enough in running such projects) additional financial resources were searched too late (they should be searched right after the end of the campaign)
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5. Conclusions
5.1. Main problems faced by projects after the end of the campaign
Thanks to the analysis, we have diagnosed 7 areas which pose the greatest challenge after the end of the campaign at the stage of project implementation. 1. Project financing: a. Badly adopted budget assumptions - underestimation of costs of both the campaign itself and project implementation b. Absence of a financial reserve for the financing of unforeseen expenditure c. Lack of other sources of financing / failure to secure such sources at an early stage of the project d. Need to amend the financial plan e. Problems with preserving financial stability 2. Strategy and planning: a. No strategy / vision of the project (where the crowdfunding campaign is only one of the stages) b. Lack of long-term plans focus on short-term plans c. General problems with project planning activities d. Lack of alternative plans that can be used depending on the development of the project e. Lack of evaluation activities after the completion of each stage of the project (whether we achieved the objectives, what effect we achieved, what we have learned, what should be changed) and possible modification of the business plan / redefinition of objectives. 3. Project management: a. Lack of a person acting as a project manager (aware of the project strategy, dealing with the control of individual stages of the project, delegating tasks). 4. The team: a. Problems with the creation or expansion of a project team (presence of people with different competences, required experience, responsible for different areas of the project). b. Recruitment of specialists to the team c. Problems with motivating and building commitment of the team throughout the project implementation period. d. Too small team that is not able to cope with the challenges of the project (too many responsibilities, lack of appropriate competences). e. Transfer of project know-how (especially if there are personnel changes in the team) 5. Distribution: a. Problems with reaching / acquiring appropriate distribution channels b. Problems with the expansion of the distribution network
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6. Production: a. Lack of appropriate contacts with subcontractors b. Finding subcontractors too late c. Costs higher than budgeted (contractors, materials) d. Failure to adapt the schedule to realistic production deadlines 7. Communication and promotion: a. Lack or limited promotional activities and actions building the image of the project / brand / company / organization b. Lack / limited communication with the community built around the project during the campaign. c. Lack of activities related to further expansion of the potential customer base
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5.2. External support expected by the projects which will allow them to develop the project
Respondents of the study indicated four areas in which they would expect support. 1. Project financing a. Assistance in finding additional / alternative sources of financing - indication of institutions / forms, establishing contacts b. Information on possible sources of financing c. Financial management support 2. Expert advice a. Accountants b. Taxes (including taxes in the EU / other countries) c. Legal d. Consultations - analysis of the initial business plan (although it is rather at the initial stage of the project), business plan development, analysis of the project at its subsequent stages (assessment, recommended modifications) e. Counseling in the scope of conducting subsequent crowdfunding campaigns 3. Knowledge a. Strategy f. Project management g. Distribution h. Communication and promotion in target markets 4. Networking – contacts with representatives of the groups: a. Investors b. Business partners c. Distributors d. Subcontractors / manufacturers e. Specialists cooperating with the project team
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6. Bibliography
Platforms
Beesfund - equity crowdfunding platform (https://beesfund.com/) BorsadelCredito.it – equity crowdfunding platform (https://www.borsadelcredito.it/) Conda – crowdinvesting platform (https://www.conda.eu/en/homepage-eu/) Ginger - reward-based crowdfunding platform (https://www.ideaginger.it/) Housers – real estate crowdfunding platform (https://www.housers.com/it) Indiegogo – crowdfunding platform (https://www.indiegogo.com/) Kickstarter – crowdfunding platform (https://www.kickstarter.com/) PolakPotrafi – crowdfunding platform (https://polakpotrafi.pl/) StarsUp- equity crowdfunding platform (http://www.starsup.it/) Wspieram.to – crowdfunding platform, blog (https://wspieram.to/)
Experts/ informative blog
AgaPloska.com – crowdfunding expert’s web site and blog (PL) (http://www.agaploska.com/blog/) Beesfund - blog about crowdfunding (PL) (https://beesfund.com/blog/) Brodoto blog (CRO/ENG) (https://www.brodoto.com/hr/blog) Crowd-Fund-Port (ENG) (https://www.crowdfundport.eu/) Crowdfunding Cloud – Informative blog (IT) (https://www.crowd-funding.cloud/) Crowdfunding.hr – blog about crowdfunding in Croatia (CRO) (www.crowdfunding.hr) Crowdfunding.pl – consulting agency and blog (PL) (http://crowdfunding.pl/) Crowdfunding.rs – the initiative for the development of crowdfunding in Serbia (https://www.crowdfunding.rs/) Indiegogo blog (ENG) (https://go.indiegogo.com/blog) Kickstarter blog (ENG) (https://www.kickstarter.com/blog) MamStartup - informative blog about startups, including financing and crowdfunding (PL) (https://mamstartup.pl/crowdfunding) Mladi podjetnik (eng.: Young Entrepreneur) – entrepreneurial web portal (SI) (https://mladipodjetnik.si/) WeTheCrowd – consulting agency and blog (PL) (https://wethecrowd.pl/)
Publications
Cerovšek Beltram Anuška, master’s thesis: Množično financiranje kot alternativni vir Crowdfunding - Grupno finansiranje (Eng: Crowdfunding - group financing, research) - https://uploads-
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ssl.webflow.com/5a5a19d59629620001cd714d/5a92f5658a8346000119b021_Crowdfunding%20%20- %20Grupno%20finansiranje%20u%20Srbiji.pdf Crowdfunding u Srbiji za početnike - brošura (Eng: Crowdfunding for beginners, brochure) - https://uploads- ssl.webflow.com/5a5a19d59629620001cd714d/5a92f575a44ab70001e96517_Crowdfunding%20u%20Srbiji%2 0za%20poc%CC%8Cetnike%20-%20bros%CC%8Cura.pdf financiranja podjetniških priložnosti (Eng: Crowdfunding as an Alternative Source of Financing Entrepreneurial Opportunities), Ljubljana, 2016, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of economics Hafner Hrvoje, Vodič za crowdfunding (Eng: Guide for Crowdfunding), Rijeka, Ožujak 2017 (http://www.crowdfunding.hr/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Vodi%C4%8D-za-crowdfunding-Hrvoje- Hafner.pdf) Malinowski Bartosz Filip, Crowdfunding udziałowy dla startupów (eng: Equity crowdfunding for startups) – https://wethecrowd.pl/ecf Žibert Anja, master’s thesis: Ključni dejavniki, ki vplivajo na (ne)uspeh crowdfunding kampanje v Sloveniji (Eng: Key Factors Affecting Success of Crowdfunding Campaign in Slovenia), DOBA Business School
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