2021 has been an incredibly strong period for innovation, with a barrage of creative projects that address some of the longest-standing issues in the space or provide additional value to users cropping up left, right, and center.
We have also seen a dramatic uptick in entrepreneurial activity this year, with early adopters, builders, and visionaries all looking to develop the next big thing in crypto. Inevitably, the vast majority of these will at some point need to solicit funding for their project — to varying degrees of success.
If this sounds like you, then take a look at these three creative ways to not only raise funds, but also maximize your project’s chances at long-term success.
Build With Edgeware
If on-chain governance is important to the development of your project, consider leveraging the Edgeware ecosystem to both manage the development of your project and obtain funding.
In short, Edgeware is a Substrate-based platform that looks to allow developers to easily build and launch their blockchain project and port their Ethereum code to Substrate via its EVM pallet.
It’s designed to make building and organizing new projects a far simpler task, while helping builders quickly rally support among developers and users with similar interests and goals through its working groups.
The platform allows promising projects to easily request funding from the Edgeware treasury. Any EDG holder is able to propose a treasury spend, and there is no limit to how much financing can be requested (and potentially provided).
However, the request will need to be voted in before any funds are disbursed — meaning only strong projects will likely succeed in soliciting funding this way.
Edgeware doesn’t just help you secure funding for your project, it also provides a way to easily decentralize the management, development, and growth of a project through a cleverly designed DAO structure that incentivizes value-adding actions.
How to apply: You will be able to create an Edgeware treasury funding proposal through the Polkadot JS App website. See the full details here.
Launch a Dynamic Coin Offering (DYCO)
For the real superstar projects out there, consider launching the final portion of your raise as a Dynamic Coin Offering, or DYCO through DAO Maker.
This is a novel type of token sale that gives users the opportunity to refund a large fraction of their investment should the project fail to deliver — e.g. an investor might be able to refund a maximum of 80% of their investment after six months if the token price on the public market is lower than their investment price.
Now, you might be thinking — “why would I raise funds that could eventually be refunded?” Well… there are more than a few good reasons to do so.
For one, it demonstrates extreme confidence in your product. Not only are you essentially providing investors with a guarantee that your product will be a success (or their money back), but also that it is likely to continue active development regardless of the prevailing market conditions.
Beyond this, both of the two previous DYCOs so far — Orion Protocol (ORN) and DAO Maker (DAO) — have achieved incredible returns for investors and have gone on to net a market cap of more than $200 million each.
How to apply: To apply to launch a DYCO, contact DAO Maker with your pitch.
Join a Community-Powered Crypto Incubator
As you are likely aware, fundraising is just one part of the challenge for new projects. They also need to grow their community and user base, hit their development milestones, secure synergistic partnerships, and get the word out to name just a few hurdles.
But what you might not know is that community-powered crypto incubators have exploded in popularity in recent months.
As the name suggests, these leverage the power of their communities to help projects not only raise funds, but als stand every chance of success post-sale — much like a traditional startup incubator.
DuckDAO is arguably the most prominent example of a community-powered crypto incubator. The platform has helped raise funds for dozens of prominent projects over the last year — including the likes of Shadows (DOWS), Convergence (CONV), O3 Swap (O3), Hodooi (HOD), and more.
But more than this, it has also helped numerous projects bootstrap their community, grow their socials, and dramatically scale up their network — thanks to its massive community of influencers, developers, project founders, and crypto enthusiasts.
If you’re looking to both secure funding and benefit from the perks that come with being fully incubated, consider applying to a crypto incubator.