Adam is a Principal at Indiegogo, where he also serves as CEO of Distribber.com, the new-model flat-fee distribution service that places independent films on VOD platforms while allowing filmmakers to keep 100% of their revenue. He was recently named one of “19 Brave Thinkers in Independent Film” by uber-producer Ted Hope’s Truly Free Film blog.

1. Insights For Entrepreneurs
Adam Chapnick
@adamchapnick

2. We’re one of approximately 540
crowdfunding websites
When we started in 2008, we were one of one.
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3. TWO Crowdfunding Sites have
raised $10MM or more in VC.
We recently raised $15MM.
How? We put into practice learnings from our business.
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4. Make a big, fat, long, detailed,
granular business plan,
Then throw it away.
We saw that everyone on our site is
an entrepreneur, and
The campaign page proved a perfect
constraint for entrepreneurs, to
separate the contenders from the
pretenders.

5. “We’re democratizing fundraising.
YouTube in front, PayPal in back.”
If you can’t move people by conveying your
WHY within 3 minutes,
If you can’t articulate concrete deliverables
for the goal amount,
If you can’t excite people with the
BENEFITS they’ll get from participating
(People don’t care how smart you are, they
care how much money they will make),
People will fund someone who can.
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6. Traction comes from action.
There Are No Elves.
(Sorry).
Great idea ≠ VC

7. Ideas are great, but
Execution kills!
We saw that Proof-of-concept Prototypes work well
2nd & 3rd campaigns actually make more!?
Before going for VC, we bootstrapped, hustled up
campaigners & funders to execute the elusive
marketplace model
Now the convo became,
“How big, how fast?”

8. We saw that People don’t
fund projects,
People fund people.
Video campaigns raise 122% more than non-video
campaigns
Film trailers were okay  with personal bookends, great
After 2 years of making our case, we re-emphasized the
team, with photos, personal bios and success anecdotes

9. The more you update,
The more $$ you raise.
The Crazy Sibling Phenomenon:
Social proof  More sharing  Repeat funding
Our investors heard good news from us several times a week for
MONTHS before each of our rounds.

10. Very actionable intel
Percentage of Funding Raised
vs Overall Average
31 Updates = 4x Avg Raise
Number of Updates

11. Deadlines give Life
We noticed that successful campaigns are short: avg 47 days and
reach their goals in 36
Unsuccessful ones are long: avg 56 days
GOTP (Get Off The Pot) deadlines are essential
 They help KILL CUTE BABIES
 They show funders that you are WILLING to fail, but not
DOOMED to fail
We’ve had to GOTP on:
Distribber acquisition
Facebook App

12. We learned to
“wrap up before they click away.”
Thanks!