Raising capital for a crypto project can be a complex and time-consuming process, but it is an essential and crucial step for many projects looking to bring their ideas to life. It can also be a challenge for a team without the necessary experience to independently navigate all the different options and considerations.

In this article, we will explore the fundraising process, including the options available, the key considerations, the steps involved, and why engaging a fundraising consultant can be extremely helpful.

What are the different fundraising methods?

There are several options for fundraising for a crypto project, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Some of the most common options include:

• Initial Coin Offering (ICO): An ICO is a crowdfunding campaign where a new cryptocurrency is issued in exchange for funding. Investors can purchase the new coin with an existing cryptocurrency or stablecoin The funds raised through an ICO are used to develop and launch the project.

• Initial Exchange Offering (IEO): An IEO is similar to an ICO but is conducted through a cryptocurrency exchange rather than directly through the project. This means that the exchange acts as a middleman and takes a cut of the funds raised. The advantage of an IEO is that the exchange provides credibility and security, as they typically have strict listing requirements.

• Venture Capital (VC): Another option for fundraising is to seek funding from venture capital firms or individual investors. This can be a more traditional route and typically involves pitching the project to potential investors and negotiating terms.

The fundraising process

Regardless of the fundraising method chosen, there are several key considerations that projects should keep in mind when seeking funding.

Also Read: What is the future regulation of crypto?

• Develop a solid business plan: It is essential to have a clear and well-thought-out plan for how the funds will be used and how the project will generate revenue. This includes identifying the target market, outlining the product or service, and outlining a financial plan.

• Build a strong team: Investors want to see that the project has a talented and experienced team to execute the plan. It is important to highlight team members’ relevant skills and experience and demonstrate how they are uniquely qualified to bring the project to fruition.

• Have a working prototype: It is helpful to have a working prototype of the product or service to show to potential investors. This can help demonstrate the project’s feasibility and give investors a better understanding of how it will work.

• Consider legal and regulatory requirements: Depending on the type of fundraising campaign and the jurisdiction, legal and regulatory requirements may need to be met. It is important to understand these requirements and ensure that the campaign is compliant.

• Community Following: Build a community that supports the project and ensures that the project has a strong following. This helps to smoothen the project launch when there is a demand backing it. Investors will also be incentivised to give a higher valuation for the project.

Once these considerations have been addressed, the next step is to start the fundraising process. This typically involves:

• Identifying potential investors: This can be done through networking, attending industry events, and using online platforms to connect with potential investors.

• Pitching the project: This involves presenting the project to potential investors and explaining why it is a good opportunity. Communicating the value proposition, the market opportunity, and the team’s qualifications is important.

• Negotiating terms: If an investor is interested in the project, the next step is to negotiate the terms of the investment. This can include the amount of funding, the percentage of ownership, and any other conditions or restrictions.

• Closing the deal: Once the terms have been agreed upon, the final step is to close the deal and secure the funding. This typically involves signing a contract.

Why engage a consultant?

A fundraising consultant is a professional with experience and expertise in raising funds for a project.

Also Read: ‘Tis the season to be giving! 4 ways Web3 is transforming the fundraising sector

There are several benefits to engaging a fundraising consultant for a crypto project:

• Expertise and experience: A fundraising consultant has a deep understanding of the different options available for raising funds and the pros and cons of each option. They can provide guidance on which option is the most suitable for the project and help to navigate the process.

• Access to a network of investors: Fundraising consultants often have a network of investors and contacts that they can tap into to help secure funding. This can be especially useful for projects that are just starting out and don’t have a strong network.

• Time-saving: The fundraising process can be time-consuming, especially for projects just starting out. A fundraising consultant can take on many of the tasks involved, such as identifying potential investors, pitching the project, and negotiating terms, freeing up the team to focus on other aspects of the project.

• Increased chances of success: A fundraising consultant can help to increase the chances of success by ensuring that the project is well-prepared and has a strong value proposition. They can also provide guidance on effectively communicating the project to potential investors.

Engaging a fundraising consultant can be a valuable resource for a crypto project looking to raise funds. Their expertise and experience can help streamline and expedite the process, potentially increase the chances of realising the project, and advise the next steps after a successful fundraising, such as the need for treasury management to grow the project.

Fintonia Group is a licensed financial services company specialising in financial services, technology and supporting entrepreneurial companies. The company has focused on fintech since 2014/15 and has seen the rapid development of the crypto ecosystem through its involvement in fintech.

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With over a decade of experience in marketing and technology, Baradhwaj R (aka Brad) is the Director of Marketing at MoEngage, a global leader in martech for Consumer Brands.

At MoEngage, he helps consumer brands identify the right tech to transform marketing automation, customer engagement, and retention to drive their overall business growth.

He is a regular contributor of articles for e27 (you can read his thought leadership articles here).

In this candid interview, he talks about his personal and professional life.

How would you explain what you do to a five-year-old?

I do marketing. I help companies find and use special tools on the computer to make their work easier and more efficient. 

Like in your school, you meet new kids with whom you study, play, eat lunch, and some of them become your best friends. In the same way, I help companies find friends (they call them customers) to be happy and be best friends forever.

What has been the biggest highlight/challenge of your career so far?

Consistency is the key, be it marketing or anything in life. When someone is consistent in their actions and words, they are more likely to be seen as dependable and trustworthy. So just having a day as your highlight doesn’t cut it. I recommend and vouch for ensuring you sustain and keep achieving goals consistently. Hence, every day is a highlight.

Also Read: We can no longer adopt a cookie-cutter approach to marketing: Gunalan Ram of CINNOX

People are the most challenging part because they have unique personalities, backgrounds, beliefs, likes, dislikes, and emotions. So one must understand and respond to their needs, motivations, and expectations. 

The best part is that it constantly evolves, so something that works with one person may not work with others or the same person in a different environment.

How do you envision the next five years of your career?

In the next five years of my career, I plan to continue growing and developing my skills and expertise. I see myself taking on more challenging and complex projects. 

Additionally, taking on more mentoring and leadership roles, helping to guide and support the development of the next generation of professionals in my field. I plan to use my experience and knowledge to inspire and empower others to reach their full potential. I want to impact the industry and those around me positively.

What are some of your favourite work tools?

HubSpot: a B2B marketing automation platform. Now the platform has evolved beyond marketing with the addition of sales and customer service software. It offers a range of tools and functionalities to help businesses attract, engage, and delight customers. These include but are not limited to features for email marketing, social media marketing, content management, search engine optimisation, CMS, etc.

OneNote: a digital note-taking and organisation application from Microsoft. It allows users to create, edit, and share notes, including text, images, audio, and other media. You can also organise notes into different notebooks and sections, as well as the ability to collaborate with others on notes.

MoEngage: a customer engagement platform that helps consumer brands increase customer retention and loyalty. It allows marketers and product owners to personalise marketing campaigns, analyse customer behaviour, and improve the customer experience. It also enables users with actionable insights, real-time analytics, AI-powered recommendations, etc.

Slack: a collaboration platform that allows teams to communicate and share information in real time. One can send instant messaging, share files, and integrate with other tools and services. Apart from internal communications, it is used widely by several global communities and helps you connect and network via Slack.

What’s something about you or your job that would surprise us?

Sometimes people assume that I would say no, but often I don’t and instead encourage people to decide things independently or ask them why. Having a healthy debate helps gain different perspectives than blindly executing things. 

Often this helps generate ideas, expand the horizons, and find better ways to solve problems rather than repeatedly doing the same thing.

Also Read: What makes Desmond Yong thrive in ambiguous situations

Do you prefer WFH or WFO, or hybrid?

It depends on the situation and the individual’s preferences. Some people prefer working from home (WFH) because it allows for flexibility and a comfortable working environment. Others may prefer working from the office (WFO) because they enjoy the social interaction and the structure of a traditional work setting.

My preference would be a hybrid approach, which can also be beneficial as it allows for a balance between the two. Meeting people in person helps one forge stronger relationships. While WFH has its own set of merits, the one problem I see is the lack of non-verbal cues, which is essential for effective communication. Often people won’t turn their cameras on, making it difficult to gauge the audience, and you can force them to do so.

What would you tell your younger self?

I would tell my younger self nothing. It is all about experiences; the lessons you learn from them and how you incorporate them matter. I am here today because of my choices and experiences, so I wouldn’t do anything to change it. Perpahs, I might talk about everything in the universe or watch anime together.

Can you describe yourself in three words?

Responsible, driven and trusted.

What are you most likely to be doing if not working?

I play Settlers of Catan with my friends and family when I’m not working and practice Lesmills body combat — an MMA (mixed martial art) inspired non-contact exercise.

What are you currently reading/listening to/watching?

I just wrapped up Wednesday on Netflix. Currently watching Naruto, one of the animes on my watch list from back in the day, and listening to the audiobook DotCom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online by Russell Brunson on audible.

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Join the e27 contributor community of thought leaders and share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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Every year in January, it seems I always get asked for advice by a number of corporate friends that share their aspirations to “leave the nine to five” and “be their own boss.”  Many have told me that they want to be the next Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg and that they feel that this is the right time for them to go all in and leave the comforts of a steady paycheck. 

As much as an investor and a fellow founder myself, I lace many mentorship sessions like these with much optimism and encouragement, I also balance it out with doses of reality that entrepreneurship is not going to get you more time to hang out on the beach drinking fruity beverages, but it will demand much more of yourself than any job that you’ll have in your life.  This is especially true since most venture capital firms, even at the pre-seed stage, require a full-time commitment from founders.

Some context here, I myself am a late bloomer.  I decided to start a startup at the tender age of 37.  This feels late for many, but in actuality, many founders start companies in their 20s but also in their 30s and 40s. 

What is different this time, though, is that I have a wife and kids, and I was well into my corporate life. If leaving an executive role in a financial services company wasn’t enough, it is the responsibility of being the sole breadwinner in the family that created a lot more stakes in this decision as it is not just my life that will be affected but four other individuals that I am responsible for their well-being.

Here are the five questions you must ask yourself before leaving your job:

Do you have a business or just an idea? Is there external validation that people need this?

Fundamentally, are you quitting your job for a hobby or a real business opportunity?  When I was in Cisco, we called this the “anyone but your mother rule.”  A true test of a business is that someone is paying for your product or your service besides your mother, uncle or friends.

Also Read: What startup founders don’t know about exit strategies

Again, payment is key, as it seems many people start businesses without any commercial validation, often relying on gut instinct or market surveys. The best validation is to have paying customers or, for B2B, commercial agreements to know that you have a real business opportunity worth pursuing.

Are you financially prepared to take on the business? Can your income go to close to zero for six-12 months minimum?

This is probably the toughest to hear.  Many of us have dreams of starting a company, but we can’t afford to do so.  Not all of us have rich aunties or uncles, so the option of just quitting is predicated on financial savings, particularly asking if you have four-12 months of household expenses that you have saved up.

When we were starting Plentina, I had about four months of household expenses saved up before tossing in the towel, but note that it took me five years to save up that money consciously every month.  I called it my personal startup bank account. 

Why is this important? Since as much as we see movies or articles that people get funded in a day or a week, the reality typically happens that you should never assume that external funding will come, especially at the earliest stages of a company’s pre-product stage.

Will you have any regret if this business does not become successful?

According to an article in Fast Company, “as many as 75 per cent of venture-backed companies never return cash to investors.”  This doesn’t even account for the millions of businesses that do not get past the standards of venture capital. Despite these odds, most founders-to-be start companies not to solve a personal mission or a problem but the dream to build a unicorn and maybe retire early. 

The past five years have given a false sense of hope for this generation that founding a company is sexy and is the path towards millions. A critical question you must ask yourself is if you can be happy in the fact that you have a rare chance in your lifetime to try to solve something important to you and perhaps the world.

Can you imagine that in four or five years, the company might not exist, or your startup gets sold for zero dollars, but the mission still continues?

Do you and your family all know the sacrifices needed to give this a shot?

A few years ago, INC Magazine published an article entitled The Start of a Company, the End of a Marriage.  Launching a business can shatter the founder’s marriage.

Also Read: From hobby to startup: Here’s my story as IKIGUIDE’s Co-Founder

This is because the founder’s life is no easy path, mired in stressful situations, near-death experiences and personal income instability that is almost impossible to shield your family from, unlike a normal nine to five where you can leave your work worries at the door.

Can you have an honest discussion with your loved ones on what this decision to quit means for them and how this will affect them individually? 

I had a sit-down with my wife and kids indicating that we might have to cut down a lot from our lifestyle and that dad will be busier but have less time for the first few years.  I also had to ask my parents and my in-laws for support as they might need to help my family during this time.  Are you having these conversations?

Do you have an unfair advantage in building this business?

The last question is putting the investor’s mind into your business.  Will you trust your own money and invest in the business because you and your founders are the right people to pull this business off? Do you have unfair insights, expertise or advantage to make this happen for the world?

Final thoughts

If I had to sum up my advice to many, the simple answer if people should go full-time all comes down to timing.  Timing of your readiness as an individual to mentally, emotionally and financially go towards this path, and timing of the market to accept the idea that you have. 

Even if this seems gloomy, starting a company and seeing how much impact it has given to hundreds of thousands of individuals has been one of the most rewarding feelings I have had in my lifetime, and I will never regret the day I decided to pack up my suit, and traded it for my startup hoodie.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

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We all may have different opinions on whether kids should be on social media (or not), but the fact is that two-thirds of children aged seven to nine in Singapore use smartphones every day and are active on social media. More than 40 per cent of them have their own Facebook accounts, while a quarter is on Instagram, according to a poll by online market research firm Milieu Insight that was conducted in 2021.

The question that remains is how to create a safe environment for children to interact through social media, which contains a multitude of risks, including exposure to inappropriate content and ill-intentioned strangers.

This is why Singapore-based startup myFirst introduced myFirst Circle, which it dubbed the first social community app for children. Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 on January 6, the platform includes features that provide children with a safe environment to experience the benefits of social connectivity.

Using the app, children can create posts and share photos with their circle of friends without the need for parents to approve every post. At the same time, parents can monitor and make changes to their child’s activities instantly if found inappropriate, creating a balance between safety and freedom to socialise with friends.

“We created myFirst Circle because there is no platform currently that allows children to have authentic social engagements in a safe and controlled environment. Children can stay in touch with genuine friends even after they leave for other schools, keeping their childhood friendships alive. With myFirst Circle, we want to let children explore the world of social media, while ensuring we are there to guide them along the way,” says G-Jay Yong, Founder and CEO of myFirst, in a press statement.

Also Read: How Globish helps children and working professionals in Thailand and Vietnam master English

The myFirst Circle app is now available for Apple and Android devices and is also accessible through the myFirst Fone device.

To use the platform, children under the age of 13 will need their parents to have an account. Parents will also need to whitelist and approve the friend requests received by their children before they are added to the children’s social circle. Once the friend request is accepted, parents can assign the connections into four categories: Family, Besties, Friends, and Acquaintances. These groups create an expanding circle that defines the types of posts a person can see.

Each child will also be attached to a nuclear family, which is also known as a family bubble in myFirst Circle app. This bubble typically consists of parents and their immediate children.

Also Read: How e-sports is evolving with blockchain gaming

Research has also shown that receiving less validation on social media, as reflected by the number of “likes”, can affect users’ self-worth negatively, particularly in teenagers.

In addition to providing safety by limiting the people who can access their posts, myFirst also aims to prevent this from happening by replacing the “likes” system with a “ShoutOut”. So, instead of receiving a simple “like” on posts, users are encouraged to send 16-character text messages, an eight-second voice blurb or emoji reactions, building a more meaningful connection.

Building for the children

In an email interview with e27, myFirst details the process they had to go through to develop the products. First, it begins with identifying the underlying problem based on the team member’s own personal experience as parents of young children.

“We all live in a digital social world, but all the social platforms are designed for teenagers and grown-ups. So what about younger ones? Our kids? Unfortunately, they’re exposed to a lot of inappropriate content and dangers on regular social platforms.
So as a team of parents, we’re working towards the digital social world we want our young ones to grow up in,” they explain.

“With the broad problem statement of regular social media not being safe or suitable for kids, we sat down and discussed with kids and parents what functions they needed to stay connected. We built 25 versions of the app, and it is always a continuous process of iteration and improvement. We kept re-designing it to accommodate all their needs, as well as features both kids and parents would like to have.”

The company sees the need to balance the needs and wants of its two sets of customers, which is the kids and the parents. Parents want to keep an eye on their children and ensure their safety and well-being; kids want to have fun.

“We can’t please either side 100 per cent cause if we do, the other side won’t use it. We can please either side 70 to 80 per cent and that’s enough of a balance. Kids will still be able to have fun, and parents can still keep an eye on their kids. The app is cloud-based so that myFirst Circle works for any user across multiple devices. That means a kid can use myFirst Circle on their myFirst Fone (wearable kids smartphone) or their iOS or Android smartphone or tablet,” the company continues.

Also Read: 3 gadgets that will help you enjoy traveling with your children

According to the company, myFirst’s ecosystem users are mostly between three to 12 years old, and the myFirst Circle app is between 5 to 12 years old. When a kid becomes a user of the platform, an average of three other people are onboarded as users as well –as it still requires parents or other family members to help with the setup.

“When building a network, the usual challenge is the cold start problem. Our kids tech ecosystem overcomes this problem because the atomic network that endures as other atomic networks form is the nuclear family for immediate communication needs (mommy, daddy, siblings and grandparents of the kid) of messaging, voice, video calling and geo-location. Practical usage from the need to stay connected,” it explains.

“Eventually, these atomic networks will intersect. Kids with the smartwatch will pair with other kids, and as more and more kids connect, so will these families. It could also be the grown-ups connecting their family network with other grown-ups and their respective family network, so cousins or family friends and all the kids can stay connected. This will form larger and larger networks and eventually spread into one big socially connected mesh. The use case and problems our kids tech ecosystem and myFirst Circle solve are very clear to parents, so our focus is on education that this ecosystem and solution exists.”

Founded in 2017 by Yong, myFirst has been busy with the launch of its products in the recent month. At CES 2023, the company launched its latest kids’ wearable smartphones, the world’s first kid-safe earbuds (myFirst Carebuds), and myFirst Circle.

“Our big goal for 2023 is to grow the myFirst Circle community in Singapore, and enable kids in other markets where myFirst is present such as the US and the rest of Asia to experience all the benefits that come from staying connected, with no ads, no strangers, only real connections,” the company highlights.

“There is a worldwide underserved market where there just simply isn’t a good solution that exists today. We want to define the digital world our own young ones grow up in.”

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Images Credit: myFirst

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