The Bar Towel

atomeyes wrote: crowd funding was overdone 1-2 years ago and no one really cares much any more.

Unless, of course, if it still works. Sounds like Yogi Berra's "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded"

S. St. Jeb wrote:

atomeyes wrote: crowd funding was overdone 1-2 years ago and no one really cares much any more.

Unless, of course, if it still works. Sounds like Yogi Berra's "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded"

You know what also works, and has worked for hundreds of thousands of small business owners worldwide for many, many decades? Coming up with the capital yourself. Get some investors. Put your own assets on the line. Go grab a bank loan. Too many people looking for free handouts these days.

Why isn't crowdfunding the same thing as finding investors?

MatttthewGeorge wrote:Why isn't crowdfunding the same thing as finding investors?

why isn't being the mayor of a Starbucks on 4square the same as John Tory's job?
see what i did there? with the unrelevant 4square?

simple answer: crowdfunding was cool 2 years ago. people were excited about businesses to be excited about. some breweries (for example, Kensington) ran successful crowdfunding campaigns.
what crowdfunding did was a) get you some capital b) drum up hype and excitement.

once a few similar companies did crowdfunding, the experience and the request/buy-in became dull. people were less excited. it was more of a marketing gimmick than a legitimate way to request funding.

as i've said, in the case of Brothers Brewing, what is $20K really doing? in the grand scheme of opening a brewery, $20K is anywhere from 2-5% of total funding needed. it isn't the capital needed to push you over the finish line. it's half a cherry on an ice cream sunday.

so, from a dollars and cents point of view, if your business plan is to get significant capital from crowdfunding - brewery or other businesses - then you're really hoping people hop on the hype train and throw their money at you.

as we've seen in Ontario, few breweries have had the pre-open hype that Left Field generated. it's also a different market (2 years later) so no one's really getting excited about breweries pre-opening. you're not checking a blog on the construction process, you're not waiting the 6-12 months. there are other options. so why would Joe Drinker hand over $10-1000 to some strangers to open up what many others have done? like, for example, Block 3.

if you want to open a business, you either fund it yourself, find investors, or put up some capital/collateral and get a loan. internet strangers isn't a secure way to plan on opening up.

Clearly some kickstarter/crowdfunding campaigns are more about marketing, customer engagement, and building loyalty than an actual need for hard cash to establish the business.

Look at the campaign launched by the start-up SHED Brewing in Dundas (Hamilton). The objective is to restore the original brick of its historic building, and "return the old Dundas Curling and Skating Rink sign and return the Bus Destination banner." SHED has already purchased and is installing its brewing equipment, the head brewer is in place, etc.

Would the owners have restored the brick and signage, regardless? Quite likely. But this is a clever idea aimed squarely at their future customers, heritage architecture loyalists, and so on.

Craig wrote:How is it outdated? They're raising money and they for us taking about them.

If they're renting, most of the repairs you're taking about would be the responsibility of the owner. 20k could go a long way towards what they need to do. Or it could just be a marketing ploy for them. Either way I don't see why it's upsetting.

Yep. The restoration is being done by the developers. They even say in their Indiegogo campaign its for interior design/decoration.

MatttthewGeorge wrote:Why isn't crowdfunding the same thing as finding investors?

Being an investor means you own a piece of the company (i.e. the investor gives money, the company gives a share which entitles the investor to receive a portion of future profits and a portion of the proceeds if the company is sold. of course, if the company is unsuccessful, the investor loses a portion or all of the money)

participating in crowdfunding means you give the company some money in exchange for some trinkets - $10 for a sticker, $100 for your name on a barstool ... $xxx for a bottle of beer a week for life. There is NO future income (share of profits) or proceeds if the company is sold.

crowdfunding is essentially charity and/or cheap marketing for micro businesses

I don't see the difference as black and white as everyone else here. Some people invest a million dollars in hopes of 10 million dollars, others invest ten bucks in hopes of a sticker. Both are people who perceive the value of the output higher than the value of the input.

I'm not denying it hasn't already been done or it isn't more about marketing, but if people are willing to give you money in exchange for either current goods or future money, then go for it.

That said, my money is staying in my pocket for this project.

MatttthewGeorge wrote:I don't see the difference as black and white as everyone else here. Some people invest a million dollars in hopes of 10 million dollars, others invest ten bucks in hopes of a sticker. Both are people who perceive the value of the output higher than the value of the input.

I'm not denying it hasn't already been done or it isn't more about marketing, but if people are willing to give you money in exchange for either current goods or future money, then go for it.

That said, my money is staying in my pocket for this project.

it's outdated.
it's irrelevant.
it's investing your money in kindereggs.
and it is black and white. anyone who has any business savvy will not invest in a gofundme. anyone who invests in a gofundme is buying a less lame lottery ticket with a dimmer light at the end of the tunnel.

my initial point is that,regardless of your business savvy: gofundme's are so bloody silly and outdated. if they hit $2000? god bless 'em. but their whole pitch is flawed and false and silly and likely to not reach the "necessary" target of $20K.
and if they don't reach it? WHAT WILL THEY DO????
stay tuned!! maybe there will be another video of hydrometer readings set to shitty blues!

atomeyes wrote:
it's outdated.
it's irrelevant.
it's investing your money in kindereggs.

Using the word investing for any crowd sourcing / funding program is a bit silly. It may be past its prime, but it's still going strong....and perhaps changing. The BIG crowd funding projects I think are dying off. But the smaller ones aren't.

What I've seen from most of the smaller ones...in the $10k type of range...the only people paying tend to be family and friends. So they really just turn into slicker websites for people you know to donate money to your cause and get some updates along the way.

I'm all for people taking risk to make their dream business succeed...so hobbies / ideas / stunts on kickstarter type sites don't interest me even if they really are cool products. I'll wait until I see it on a shelf somewhere.....but hey, I still have an iPhone 4 too.

Bump

Anyone heard anything about this place? Apparently they served their 'first keg' from the new brewery at NV last week. The brewery building is still all boarded up though. Has their stuff been available elsewhere before?

It's been around for a couple of years on contract, but the one at NV is their first from the actual brewery. There's a private party at Brothers next Friday and I think they're hoping to be open to the public the Friday after.

How is the beer?

It's crawling distance from the office.... could be dangerous

I've had 3, all from when they were contacting, all a couple of years ago now. I remember liking all 3 at the time. Hoppy pale ales, west coast in style.

So take that for what it's worth, which isn't much really.

looks like they open the doors at 4pm today -