053 Gene Wright | Crowd Funding to Scale Up Your Business
What happens after bootstrapping your business to doing pretty good. Well for many of you, you need to raise money to reach a new market, add new people, or innovate further. Traditional sources are tight, really tight with money these days even for the best-run companies. Enter, my friend, Gene Wright who is working with growth-oriented companies to determine all the options to getting money to grow. Gene shares the important factors in getting crowdfunding…listen in to this episode even if you only need it someday so that you can be informed.
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Gene’s Target Audience: Gene’s target market is small to mid-sized companies who are seeking access to capital through non-financial options.
Today, many high growth businesses don’t have access to capital like they did 10 yrs ago because of where banks are at. Gene Wright is well aware of this fact, his North Star Consulting business helps small to mid-sized businesses find non-traditional sources of cash to grow and expand. In short, he helps innovative companies find innovative ways to grow.
The companies he works with must be in revenue and there are three specific attributes: customers, a bank account and money in the bank. They look for these three things because they are only interested in working with businesses that have gone from the idea/concept/hobby stage to profitable, viable businesses.
Another area Gene’s company explores is a company’s social media standing. His company believes it’s important for a business’ social media to crowd to understand what a company is doing, what its goals are and its objectives. These are all considerations Gene’s North Star Consulting looks at when choosing whether or not to work with a business.
In general, he sees a few key factors in the companies who successfully find alternative sources of funding. They are passionate, and they are seen as having credentials in the space they are in. These businesses are also able to explain what they are using the money for and how they are using it. But the most important factor is their ability to explain to investors how they will pay them back.
And how are these businesses using the cash influx? There are three primary ways: hire people, new products and services and finally, new infrastructures like storefronts and technology. Gene’s company is instrumental in helping companies acquire assets in these three areas and grow their companies to the next level.
In this episode, here’s what we’ll cover:
- How do you know you’re right for crowd-funding?
- Who are the most rabid fans and the most likely to invest in companies?
- What were the steps he took to get started in his niche?
- The necessity of encouragement when you’re niching down.
- What gave him the confidence to go out and buy an existing firm?
- Does he get tired of working in the same industry and the same clients?
- How often should you hold strategy sessions?
Practical & Actionable:
Gene says the most practical and actionable step you can take “…is to have a business model that is big enough to be relevant, scalable and replicable. And know how you’re going to protect your profits from your competitors.”
RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS SESSION INCLUDE:
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Do you have questions about today’s episode!?!
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