Halifax Event Wrap Up: Crowdfunding, What it is and how to Benefit from it

Posted by Andy Osborn on August 8, 2013

Our thanks goes out to Milan Vrekic and Volta Labs for hosting a panel discussion yesterday on, Crowdfunding, What it is and how to Benefit from it.  The event featured a terrific panel including Andy Osburn (CEO at Equals6.com and Atlantic Advisor to NCFA Canada), Julia Rivard (Partner at Norex and Pursu.it), and Abel Lazarus and Tanya Wiltshire (Nova Scotia Securities Commission). Attendance was around 30 people for the lunch and learn and resulted in a great exchange of view point and questions on the current state of crowdfunding in Nova Scotia, Canada and beyond.

Andy provided some background on crowdfunding in general and some specific experiences regarding the Equals6 Student Scholarship crowdfunding platform, which has been recently launched.  Julia provided a number of great pointers and interesting facts for prospective campaigners based upon her experience thus far with Pursu.it. These include the following:

• Include a campaign video that is 2.5 minutes or less - shorter content is better
• Have a clear funding target based on a tangible need explained
• Clear deadline (campaigns shorter than 40 days are the most successful)
• Asking amounts must be well defined, well communicated and make sense to the crowd
• $25 is the most common donation
• Have a minimum of 3 perks and a maximum of 8 perks
• 70% of donations come in from personal networks of connections to personal networks

Tanya and Abel led a great discussion on the current state, challenges and complexities on the regulatory landscape in Nova Scotia and Canada regarding equity crowdfunding.  It was terrific to have them on the panel and great to be able to gain direct insight from the regulatory perspective.

Event Pics

Panelists Andy Osborn of Equals6.com, Julia Rivard of Pursu.it, Abel Lazarus and Tanya Wiltshire of the Nova Scotia Securities Commission.

Special thanks to Volta for being the venue sponsor.

Source:  NCFA Canada