At BrewDog we hold all types of world records for equity crowdfunding.

When we launched Equity for Punks in 2009 we practically invented the space.

With over 227,000 investors, we have more investors in our community than the 20 next most successful online equity crowdfunds combined. I constantly get asked to advise companies looking to crowdfund and most of them always get it badly wrong – here are the most common mistakes I see these companies making:

1) They don’t build their community first.

You have to build a community before you launch a crowdfunding campaign. We spent 2 and a half years building the BrewDog community before we launched our first ever crowdfunding campaign.

If you don’t have an engaged, passionate and vibrant community, don’t even think about crowdfunding but focus on building your community. Oh, and by way of a bonus, this community build will help every single aspect of your business.

2) They don’t have a mission.

Simon Sinek famously said ‘customers don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.’ That insight is insanely valuable when it comes to crowdfunding. Our investors did not only invest in a beer business, they invested in our mission to completely redefine the beer market and make the planet a better place through world class beer.

Without a strong and compelling mission that gives people goosebumps, your crowdfunding will just get lost.

3) They don’t have a purpose.

Our most successful crowdfund ever was Equity For Punks Tomorrow. With this raise, every single penny invested went straight to cutting edge sustainability initiatives from our fantastic Lost Forest project to our innovative onsite bio-energy facility. People were not just investing in a high growth beer business, but in a better future for everyone.

4) They don’t give back.

It is important to realise that crowdfunding is different to normal investing. It is a two-way relationship between business and investor, and the business has to invest back into their crowdfunding investor community. We always aim to give investors around 15%-20% of their investment back through discounts, and more importantly in exclusive, money-can’t-buy products and experiences.

Crowdfunding is an amazing way to shorten the distance between your business and the people who enjoy your products and services, and we believe it creates the best possible blueprint for a 21st century business.

If you are going to crowdfund, make sure you lock in your community, mission, purpose and reciprocity first. These are hard yards, but hard yards that will really pay off and determine the difference between a successful or decidedly unsuccessful crowdfund.

Good Luck!