Darren Westlake

Change Agents Conference

• Started first company at 26• ‘Exited’ 5 years later with many lessons learnt• Started new company stronger from previous

experiences• ‘Exited’ 5 years later• Went corporate• 2 months later……regretted going corporate• 3 years later took the leap of faith and started new

company - Crowdcube

My entrepreneur life

Crowdcube and Crowdfunding

• Crowdcube provides a web-based central hub for entrepreneurs to meet micro-investors. It uses the power of Crowdfunding to provide a unique service to two types of people:• for entrepreneurs to source funding more accessibly than

conventional routes• for smaller investors to have the opportunity to invest in exciting high-

potential businesses

What is Crowdcube?

“$100 invested in Microsoft at their IPO would now be worth approximately $35k.”

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding• Crowdfunding is an approach to raising the capital required for a new

project or enterprise by appealing to large numbers of ordinary people for small donations

• Social Media• Crowdfunding examples

• Kiva.org - $212m funding raised, >800,000 lenders, ~500,000 entrepreneurs

• Kickstarter.com – 7,496 projects funded, $27m pledged in 2010, runrate $7m/mth

How it works

How it works

How it works

Successes

Successes

• Not for the faint hearted• Rollercoaster ride• Don’t always make any money

• Thrilling• In control of your destiny• Full benefit from what you put in

Points to consider

Screw it, just do it!

www.crowdcube.com

Thanks