The campaign page is the place to tell the story of your business, your achievements to date and present a clear understanding of how your business will grow. It should give investors a sense of who you are, where your passion lies, why you started the business and why you think it will succeed.
The most important aspect to writing your pitch on Seedrs is to create a compelling story that draws people in and educates them as to why you believe your company is going to be the next big thing. When setting the scene and creating your story think about the following elements:
Who your target audience is and the tone in which you’ll speak to them
The most compelling aspects of your business
The reason you set out to create your business
The main use cases of your product
Once you have set the scene, the aim is to make the investor's decision to invest in your business as quick and simple as possible by providing an overwhelming amount of evidence that it is on a successful trajectory.
The key things to include, if possible, are:
Financial success (e.g. revenue) This is a key validation for an investor, it shows you have a product or service that meets the needs of your market, who are prepared to pay for it.
Total number of users, and growth rate of user-base. This validates the traction that you have in your market and how much that is increasing. Coupled with the first point you can build a powerful story.
Key clients or partnerships. If you are working closely with a well established brand, this validates that they see a value to your product, which helps build the picture for the investor of the total value of the business.
Press inclusions and awards. This is a great way to include third party sources of validation for your business.
The final element that needs careful consideration is what you are going to do next. With the funds you raise here where are you going to get to, and when are you going to get there. It’s really important to be realistic but keep it fairly specific. It’s incredibly likely that you’ll be raising follow-on rounds in the future, whether through Seedrs or other means, therefore it’s vitally important to have a body of happy shareholders you can call upon to help.
By setting the expectations here and then meeting them (or hopefully exceeding), you’ll keep them on your side and they’ll be more than willing to help you achieve your goals. You’ll want to consider:
When will you need to raise again (i.e. how long will the funds you raise here last?) This is the time frame you want to talk to investors about. For example, "we’re aiming to achieve the following things in 9/12/18 months".
What will the business look like at that time, and how is that different to now? (i.e. how many users/how much revenue/other key metrics have increased in the time frame you set?)
Explain about the bigger picture. Once you achieve the above things in the time frame you set, what next? Set the expectation that there will be another round and where that fits in your plan.
When you’re talking to shareholders following your campaign, you can refer back to these goals in your communications to them. How close are you to achieving them? If they are not relevant anymore, why not? This lays the foundation for a great relationship with your shareholders, and that will allow you to get far more from them than just funding.