Ideazon, is a team of crowdfunding professionals who have assisted hundreds of individuals in raising funds, gaining visibility, and launching new businesses.
Crowdfunding is a means of raising money for capital that a whole lot of entrepreneurs have turned to raise capital for their businesses or start-up. Crowdfunding has become popular in recent times.
Who would want to have to pay interest on loans when you can easily get people/investors to raise money and start that business or idea? No normal person would want to do that.
However, running a successful crowdfunding campaign requires some resources and techniques. If one does not meet the target, the money is usually refunded back to those who donated.
Crowdfunding can be done for businesses in different industries. You do not necessarily need to be in a particular sector to be able to crowdfund. The food business is not left out. The second most popular category on Kickstarter is food.
Ideazon will be sharing 5 food products that were launched with crowdfunding. Who knows this might just inspire you to crowdfund.
- Brooklyn Soda Works: As artist Caroline Mak and chemist Antonio Ramos were playing with homemade ginger beer in their home kitchen, they came up with Brooklyn Soda Works. Their idea for a drink business was born when they discovered that fresh-pressed juice had the best results.
Those who contributed during Mak and Ramos’ 42-day Kickstarter campaign received free sodas, tote bags, and hand-printed original soda recipes. The pair earned $2,849, surpassing their target by more than $1,000, allowing them to move to a larger facility and purchase equipment to produce massive batches of their exclusive flavored sodas (raspberry-green peppercorn, red currant-shiso).
- Drought: 2011, five sisters (Caitlin, Julie, Jane, and Jenny James) determined that Detroit wanted a cold-pressed, vegan, raw juice bar and planned to open a stand in Eastern Market. The sisters launched a Kickstarter initiative to fund the purchase of commercial juicers, vendor stall rental costs, and high-quality food packaging.
Throughout their month-long campaign, the sisters shared brief videos of their daily lives. Since exceeding its target of $12,536 and receiving tremendous support, DROUGHT became a full-time enterprise with a storefront and a market stall.
- Kerfuffles Marshmallows: Spring Barnickle found comfort in the kitchen while suffering from a life-threatening illness in 2007. She began experimenting with marshmallows in spring 2012, when she was an accomplished home cook and candy maker, and created a recipe for smooth, fluffy, and creatively flavored marshmallows.
Barnickle’s Kickstarter campaign attracted over 2,000 fans thanks to the prospect of ethereal, homemade marshmallows as incentives. Donors got marshmallows in several flavors, including one that was only available on Kickstarter: Mayan hot chocolate. Barnickle exceeded her initial target of $2,023, raising $104,667.
- Revolution Doughnuts: After years of baking in her kitchen and then in borrowed spaces, amateur baker Maria Moore Riggs decided that her popular all-natural doughnuts, which she sold under the name at the farmers’ markets in Decatur, Georgia, needed a storefront. Riggs presold her doughnuts and locally roasted coffee on Kickstarter.
The store sells doughnuts made with organic flour and locally sourced ingredients, like a pumpkin with a spiced ginger glaze and chestnut-glazed yeast-style rings.
- El Poblano Farm: The farm was established in 2009 on a one-acre plot on Staten Island by Gudelio Garcia. Garcia agreed to enlarge the farm and establish a seed bank as demand for the farm’s specialty herbs from individuals and local restaurants increased. Hundreds of supporters came to the farm’s rescue thanks to incentives such as boxes of new veggies and seed packets.
The farm was also invited to participate in the Guac Rock Festival, an annual guacamole competition/rock concert held on a boat in New York’s East River, thanks to its Kickstarter initiative. The farm had raised more than $3,000 more than its $5,000 target by August 2012.
Check out Ideazon’s Blog to learn more about how powerful crowdfunding could be. The blog is also packed with essential tips on creating a successful campaign, and some crowdfunding examples sprinkled throughout for inspiration.