1. Darren Westlake Change Agents Conference

2. Started first company at 26 ‘Exited’ 5 years later with many lessons learnt Started new company stronger from previous experiences ‘Exited’ 5 years later Went corporate 2 months later……regretted going corporate 3 years later took the leap of faith and started new company - Crowdcube My entrepreneur life

3. Crowdcube and Crowdfunding Crowdcube provides a web-based central hub for entrepreneurs to meet micro-investors. It uses the power of Crowdfunding to provide a unique service to two types of people: for entrepreneurs to source funding more accessibly than conventional routes for smaller investors to have the opportunity to invest in exciting high- potential businesses What is Crowdcube? “$100 invested in Microsoft at their IPO would now be worth approximately $35k.”

4. Crowdfunding Crowdfunding is an approach to raising the capital required for a new project or enterprise by appealing to large numbers of ordinary people for small donations Social Media Crowdfunding examples Kiva.org - $212m funding raised, >800,000 lenders, ~500,000 entrepreneurs Kickstarter.com – 7,496 projects funded, $27m pledged in 2010, runrate $7m/mth

5. How it works

8. Successes

10. Not for the faint hearted Rollercoaster ride Don’t always make any money Thrilling In control of your destiny Full benefit from what you put in Points to consider Screw it, just do it!

11. www.crowdcube.com Thanks