Campaign Success: Drop Wine App

Drop is a virtual wine cellar delivering quality on-demand wine to wherever you are at the push of a smartphone. The company recently raised £533,380 from 538 investors on Seedrs. We spoke with CEO Bobby Watkins to hear their equity crowdfunding success story.  

What aspect of your Seedrs campaign are you most proud of?

We’ve run a pretty organic campaign from day one. It seems to us that a lot of crowdfunding campaigns get off to a slightly false ‘amazing’ start in that they’ve lined up a couple of chunky investors before kick-off. We wanted to roll the dice and see what happened and were staggered by the enthusiasm for what we’re offering. It’s always a terrifying moment because, of course, we believe entirely in Drop, but you never quite know if Joe Public is going to feel the same! It’s been a great confidence boost to find that they do.

Where did your investors come from?

This has been another encouraging aspect of the crowdfund – 65% of investors have come from Drop’s existing customer base. Having been quietly operating from our small Covent Garden HQ for four years means we’ve built a solid foundation of customers who totally get what we’re about and understand Drop’s inherent potential. To have this community commit to being a part of Drop’s future has been incredible.

Did you use any external support?

We used a brilliant videographer, Ross Turner, over at Lightmill Media, which really helped us turn our story to screen.

What has been key to your crowdfunding success?

We’ve been incredibly pro-active throughout the campaign – regularly updating our database on the raise, keeping our social media audience engaged, and perhaps most importantly, running weekly online briefing events with prospective investors. Whether 2 or 20 people attended these, they were always very worthwhile. We’ve always been available to prospective investors over email and telephone – being approachable and transparent has been vital to this crowdfund’s success.

What has been the biggest challenge of running your Seedrs campaign?

Finding the bandwidth to run a fast-growing business and a crowdfunding campaign with a relatively small team has been quite challenging. Obviously, we wanted to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the raise, but at the same time, we’ve been very conscious of keeping the business running smoothly. We’ve seen huge growth in the past year, and so it can feel like we’ve got quite a lot of balls in the air. However, we haven’t dropped any yet!

What would be your top crowdfunding tips?

Except for having a well-thought product, it is crucial to prepare your equity crowdfunding campaign well in advance. Making sure that your potential audience is there where you want it to be. Equity crowdfunding is building unusual B2B relations, which have to be fostered by online and offline activities.

What would be your top tips for equity crowdfunding success?

1. Put yourself out there: crowdfunding is not a time to be shy; you really need to be signposting your raise publicly in as many ways as possible.

2. Talk to your customers: for Drop, it is our customers that provides the fuel; they believe in our story, so engage with them via email, messaging, or however you can. Get them on board early.

3. Business Updates: We have used a weely flow, where we invite anyone to hear our pitch and ask questions. This has presented many opportunities for brilliant discussions.