Raising Money For Mobile Apps: Mobile App Crowdfunding With AppStori

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Since most mobile app entrepreneurs are unfortunately not able to raise money from investors (if you think about how many apps there are out there and how many have gotten an investment, far less than 0.1% of apps ever get an investment), one of the next best options is to raise money by getting donations via crowdfunding.

There are a number of crowdfunding sites out there like KickStarter.com, IndieGoGo.com or GoFundMe.com. Those are general crowdfunding sites for many kinds of projects, and you would be in relatively good shape trying to raise money via those platforms. But there is one crowdfunding site that focuses specifically on raising donations for mobile apps. That site is AppStori.com.

I realize that not everyone knows exactly what crwodfunding really is so let me briefly explain this concept. Crowdfunding is a way to get donations online from strangers who believe in your project, or simply want to support you. That might seem great, and it can be. But there are many caveats to it. First of all, because this is essentially free money, entrepreneurs flock to this fundraising strategy creating an overly saturated environment. Due to the over-saturation of companies that are trying to get funding via crowdfunding, this has become far from the “free money” many people see this as.

For your crowdfunding campaign to do well, you can’t just sit back and watch the cash come in. You must promote your crowdfunding page, and get your friends, family, business contacts and people whom you reach with your marketing efforts to donate to your crowdfuding campaign. Arguably the worst part of it all is that on most of these crowdfunding platforms, you don’t get any of the money you’ve raised unless you reach your stated goal which you declare in the beginning of your campaign. The reason for this is that the crowdfunding sites realize that you will just sit back and watch money come in unless you are afraid of not getting any of the money. If you are scared of not getting any of the money you’ve raised, you will be promoting your crowdfunding campaign with all of your might. And guess what, when you promote your campaign, you indirectly promote those sites because the campaigns are hosted on their sites, and they take a cut from the money you’ve raised.

To sum up, you have three options when it comes to raising money for your app through crowdfunding. The first is to sit back and hope that people will just find your project and donate to it. This doesn’t work unless you are able to somehow build mementum through your own efforts. Once projects get momentum, they tend to float up on the crowdfunding sites and naturally get more exposure. But you have to push for that. The second option is to ask your friends and family for donations. Frankly, my opinion is that in most cases, if you do that, you might as well bypass crowdfunding sites, and just ask them for money directly, saving yourself commission from those sites. Lastly, if you have access to a strong marketing channel where you know that you can reach many people, promote your fundraising campaign there, and hope that people will donate.

More On Mobile Apps And Raising Money

I’ve written two books. The first is on how to build a great business out of your mobile apps, and the second is on how to raise money for your business. This blog post is a small sample from the books. Please check out the full books on Amazon. Here is the link to the mobile app business book, and here is the link to the fundraising book.

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