How To Raise $20K on Twitter in 4 Days!
Online entrepreneur Shea Gunther recently raised $20K in four days using Twitter and other media. Feedback Secrets caught up with Shea to ask him some questions regarding his unorthodox fundraising technique, and to get the scoop on his latest venture.
Could you tell us a little bit about your new start up venture?
I’m starting up a screen printing and t-shirt company. We’ll start with a handful of shirt designs and build out more lines focusing on green themes, social media and news, online celebrities, and pop culture.
How much money did you raise, how much equity was sold, and how long did it take you?
In four days I raised $20k and I have another person considering going in for another $5k. All told so far I’ve sliced off 30% of our equity to my investors/partners.
Can you tell us about your business background before you started using Twitter?
I’ve been starting businesses since I was 20 and founded a $16M VC funded online video dot com. I’m 30 now so I guess that means I have a decade of being an entrepreneur under my belt (that makes me feel old). My day job time spent is working on a new green web startup. I’m working with some amazing guys in Chicago on a news site targeting the college set. This is my fifth startup with $100k+ in funding and I’ve started a handful of smaller businesses in between and on the side.
How much did your business background, prior to establishing a presence on Twitter, contribute to your ability to raise capital so fast?
I think my investors and partners know that I’ve been around the entrepreneurial block. We’ve built a tight little business model and I think we’ll do good in the niches we’re going after. I’ve been friends with my lead investor for a few years now- it’s all about who you know and who knows you.
How has Twitter increased your leverage as an entrepreneur, both in terms of this fundraising effort and in general?
I’ve been able to build a network of acquaintances on Twitter that’s proven invaluable. I’ve made some very real friends out of people who started off as followers and it’s provided me a platform to promote myself, my work, and my friends work. Twitter has so far seemed to attract a high proportion of smart, high achieving people and it’s been great to be able to tap into that.
What are the different methods by which prospective investors contacted you with questions regarding potential investment?
I didn’t write a business plan for this one. I didn’t have time and frankly hate having to write them. I do a LOT of business planning, I just despise writing out the formal business plan. If I was raising $200k or $2M it’d be harder to justify not writing a plan, but because I was targeting people for $5k and $10k investments I was able to get away with it. I wrote a lot of emails outlining everything I had planned and followed it up with Q&As on the phone. It was actually a very easy process, everyone came in excited to get involved.
Someone left a reply on your Twitter profile suggesting that the SEC might not be happy about you raising funds on Twitter. What are your thoughts on this subject?
I said something to the effect of “I’m raising $20k in all, I’d welcome the links I’d get from an SEC investigation”. I’m not blasting spam out to a hundred million people asking for investments in the next hot new stock, I’m asking my big circle of friends if anyone else wants to help start a t-shirt company with me. Boing Boing would be all over any federal heat coming my way. That would almost be worth it alone. ;D
When can we expect T-Shirts to be available for purchase?
We’ll be up and running at the end of June, beginning of July. We’re in no huge rush to get up and want to make sure we have production and the whole sales and shipping cycle down before we sell shirt one.
Related Posts