In this episode of The Idealists. (formerly Grit & Grace), host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa interviews Dawn Dickson, a serial entrepreneur and inventor with over 20 years of experience in technology entrepreneurship, marketing and business development. She has founded five successful companies and since 2017, Dawn has raised over $1M from venture capital and angel investors and she has raised over $4.5M via equity crowdfunding.
In this episode, she shares why she believes equity crowdfunding is a better alternative to venture capital.
“Everything we need is within our community. We have all the resources and all the money that we need and we can leverage our immediate network to get ahead. We don’t need to look to external forces or go to Venture Capital if we don’t want to. In my industry which is technology, the foundational thought was always that in order to grow a big tech company you need VC money… but it’s been shown recently with companies like Calendly, Mailchimp, and Pop Com coming along that there’s a lot of ways you can grow a really big business outside the box.”
in the episode:
Dawn begins the episode describing the difference between institutional investors and equity crowdfunding.
She describes her experience raising $1M through venture capital and why she decided VC money does not work for her.
She then shares how she built her current business (valued at $32m) and how she has leveraged her network and community to grow the business.
Dawn ends the episode with practical advice for listeners who may be interested in launching their own equity crowdfund campaign.