Workshop – Raising Finance through Crowd Funding & Banks

Workshop – Raising Finance through Crowd Funding & Banks

 

Well 2014 has started and we have certainly hit the ground running at Plus Accounting. Our first Workshop of the year took place on 28 January at Myhotel and despite it being a hectic week for all Accountants and Tax Return submissions, it proved to be a great success!

 

The Workshop was about raising finance from Banks and from Crowd Funding. This was very topical especially with the level of bank lending being scrutinised by the government and media, and the growth in the numbers of businesses using Crowd Funding to raise finance.

 

The speakers included John Randall from Lloyds Bank Group, Nick Tong and Benita Matofska the founders of Compare and Share who have successfully raised three times their initial funding investment using Crowd Funding and myself.

 

All speakers took to the stage to complete a small presentation on how finance is best raised through Banks and Crowd Funding and the pitfalls to be aware of.

 

A number of questions were raised throughout the presentations which ensured a lively debate.

 

Bank Finance – Key Advice

 

i)                    Make sure you have a financial business plan ensuring you have calculated your funding requirement

ii)                  Keep the plan short and to the point

iii)                Ensure you have controlled your account well in the past and kept your bank manager informed

iv)                Consider what security you have to offer the bank if it requires it

 

Crowd Funding – Key Advice

 

i)                    Don’t underestimate the amount of work involved in raising finance through Crowd Funding

ii)                  Make sure you promote your business using both social and traditional media, have a marketing campaign

iii)                Produce a high quality video promoting your business clearly explaining what you do.

iv)                Ensure you  carefully choose the right Crowd Funding platform for your business

v)                  Pick an achievable target of funds to raise

 

If you would like to know more about the various ways to raise finance for your business, please get in touch and I will be happy to discuss the options available to you.

 

If you would like to be added to our database and receive invitations to future seminars please email my Marketing Manager Victoria King on victoriak@plusaccounting.co.uk

 

Written by Jamie Young, Director