Youngry
Ash Kuma, an award-winning entrepreneur and author, set out to build Youngry, a media company aimed at early-stage entrepreneurs. The pitch he settled on was a contrast with traditional entrepreneurship content. As he put it, the state of entrepreneurship content is "very top down," telling readers how they need to be to succeed. Youngry would instead gather stories directly from successful founders and publish them in story format, then connect early founders with those mentors through events.
Rather than launching quietly, Youngry chose to launch with an equity crowdfunding round. A law passed in May 2016 let both accredited and unaccredited investors back a deal, and the founders saw their audience of early founders as potential investors. They were one of the first four companies on Republic, the crowdfunding platform from AngelList. The minimum goal was $50,000, and the company hit $65,920 with over 143 backers. The founders had also committed $50,000 of their own, so they knew they would fund the goal themselves if needed. The round used a crowd SAFE with a 20% discount, and the company was valued at $2 million pre-money.
The company's revenue did not come from readers. Ash described the first revenue as sponsorships from brands for offline events, which he said matched the amount raised in the crowdfunding round. Brands could fund speaking events and bootcamps that Youngry ran for its audience. Ash said the crowdfunding campaign also drew brand interest, and that over $50,000 in sponsorship deals had been signed offline based on the campaign.
The crowdfunding campaign worked as both a fundraising tool and a marketing initiative. It built a pre-launch email list of roughly 50,000 to 75,000 people in about two months, which Ash described as still growing. Backers could also see public comments on the deal page, which Ash said he valued for transparency even when the feedback was skeptical. Skeptics questioned the $2 million valuation, and Ash could not answer those questions offline under crowdfunding rules. The planned affiliate revenue from book recommendations within articles was still future work, since the site had not launched yet.
As of the interview, Youngry was still pre-launch, with a planned launch date of December 1, 2016. The company was looking for content contributors, and it had influencer and sponsorship deals lined up for when the site went live.
- •Crowdfunding the launch turned future readers into paying backers, which created an invested audience before the product existed.
- •Pairing the campaign with a pre-launch email list gave brands a targeted audience to sponsor, so sponsorship revenue came before the site launched.
- •Positioning the content as founder-sourced stories rather than top-down advice made the offer easy for early founders and mentors to recognize and join.
- •Using the crowdfunding as proof of demand helped attract brand partners, turning a fundraising event into a sales signal.
- •Founders' own $50,000 commitment reduced campaign risk and signaled confidence to other backers.
- 1.Pick a crowdfunding platform that lets your target audience invest, and set a minimum goal you can cover yourself if the campaign falls short.
- 2.Publish a public deal page with comments visible so skeptics can see the discussion and you can respond to concerns.
- 3.Use the campaign period to collect email addresses from every backer and interested visitor, then build a pre-launch list.
- 4.Package your audience into a clear sponsorship offer for brands, such as sponsored events or speaking sessions, and pitch it using the campaign results.
- 5.Line up revenue streams such as affiliate book recommendations and sponsored events before launch so the site has income from day one.
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