Crowdfunding the creation of the next version of LFGSS

^^ ah sorry - missed that post. In that case, based on yesterday's timing (and the fact they've obviously processed nothing today), we should expect the funds to clear before 11pm :)

As per my post, yes, they process them once a day.

David - as you seem to know some of the Seedrs chaps, is it worth pointing them at this thread once the funding has been done, or pass some of the feedback from here to them? I was certainly going to tell them that it's a bit disconcerting to see one transaction go through fairly fast, and then another not go through for nearly 24 hours, and there's nothing in their FAQ's about that.

They are definitely aware of this thread. As to whether they've read it, I do not know. But they are aware of it.

Once we're done we can compile feedback for them, I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

And I only know them via this process, Twitter, and having bumped into their investors. I do not know them personally.

Am also in the KYC holding position. No doubt they'll have it sorted soon.

I've had a message from Jeff Lynn, too.

Bet they didn't expect the run on Microcosm. :)

Was the message delivered by an "Evil Woman"?

God, I love kyc.

Excellent new avatar!

Funds in and approved. World of investment - brace yourselves!

God, I love kyc.

Know Your Chainbreaker

Is that ever really possible?

Excellent new avatar!

Funds in and approved. World of investment - brace yourselves!
cheers! Youd probably do better than the current lot....

Know Your Chainbreaker

Is that ever really possible?
Only carnally.

I had a message from Jeff. They process the money once per day - but... it can be first thing in the morning, or last thing at night. This means if you time it wrong you can miss the early process and then be unlucky that yours won't get done until the next evening - so potentially up to 48 hours delay. Since my money was in their account in time for the early process and didn't get done at all yesterday I'd say even that is flakey.

One qualification on that from reading between the lines of Jeffs email and the odd timings is that your money is in the Client account and allocated to you, but the process of updating the website and sending you the email is done manually - and given the emails I've received have been after 10pm and before 7am I'd say Seedrs are a very small company with someone doing a lot of overtime.

From the roots up

I'd said that because of the flat I wouldn't be able to take part, but I saw that you can invest <£500 on Seedrs so I'm going to put a little bit in. I seem to be all registered and just need to move some money over, which I can't do until I get home this afternoon. Hope that won't be too late?

It should launch on Seedrs no sooner than last thing today.

That's partly because of the delay in clearing such Experian checks, and that my partner is yet to supply the last two bits of evidence for his identity and work.

Close of business today or midnight?

Future advice to people starting companies and seeking investment: I really hope that you kept your payslips from the last decade, every one of them, and that every time you got a promotion you also acquired a letter on headed paper stating the job title, etc.

Thankfully I keep all this stuff, but my filing system is not an exact science and it took longer to find a 2010 payslip than a 2007 one.

Future advice to people starting companies and seeking investment: I really hope that you kept your payslips from the last decade, every one of them, and that every time you got a promotion you also acquired a letter on headed paper stating the job title, etc.

Thankfully I keep all this stuff, but my filing system is not an exact science and it took longer to find a 2010 payslip than a 2007 one.

My payslips and my porn library are the only thing I'm really anal about.

Close of business today or midnight?

Close of business UK time is the point at which I've said, "Please launch no earlier than.".

Seedrs do seem to work extraordinary hours though, so I wouldn't be surprised at a 9pm or 10pm launch.

Marvellous - that'll be 3 - 4 am here...

Actually, I now need a 2003 payslip... this is testing my filing now.

Sorry, im a simpleton so can someone explain to me what happens if i invest £500? Im aware that I can potentially lose £500 and Im not expecting instant returns but what feasibly could I gain (apart from a warm fuzzy feeling!)

I'm concentrating on the warm fuzzy feeling. That's what makes it worth while. As we are discovering, Seedrs is a small start up company currently experiencing a rush of interest. I guess that Microcosm will be one of their instant successes that funds support for the less viable schemes on offer.
I wouldn't worry too much about the slow once a day processing of deposits. Once you are in you can commit to pay before the funds arrive. Once you battle through the questionnaire and checks you discover that their model is for investors to spread their cash across many start-ups.
Looking at the 3 viable schemes currently in play the median investment is about £250, the lowest is £10. If everyone on lfgss got over the registration wall and put in £10 that would be real crowdfunding - lots of warm fuzzy feelings with almost no distressing risk. Doing that might break the Seedrs management capacity and I'm sure it doesn't fit their marketing model.
Microcosm has probably brought 100 new investors into their system, if we stick around and put £100 here or there they will be very happy. The seedrs business model is interesting, taking 7.5% on incoming funds plus 7.5% on outgoing profits. That is probably around industry average for what they are doing but as it is largely web based and semi automated it could become hugely profitable.
Like others here I have been reading up about start-ups and their financing, it's more interesting than buying a lottery ticket every week. There is lots of talk about 'pivoting' your business. So if microcosm runs into sticky situations it could be pivoted into a start-up crowdfunding support system, undercut Seedrs by 50%, have software that works better, have crowd support with lots of warm fuzzy feeling, and come out as market leaders.

On investing £10 the Seedrs FAQ says:

The minimum is £10 per investment. Given the risk profile and returns distribution of startups as an asset class, however, we ask that you commit to building a balanced portfolio of not less than £1,000. By "balanced portfolio", we mean at least 15-20 individual investments. If your portfolio of investments by the end of your first year of membership does not meet or exceed the £1,000 investment level, we have the regulatory obligation to contact you to understand why, and we may suspend further investment opportunities from those who are unable to justify their position satisfactorily.

Hence my suggesting in the poll a £500 or above investment... you may not pass end of year regulatory checks if you just invest £10 in one thing.

Pivoting comes from basketball, with one foot where you are, move the other foot, change direction to keep moving towards the ultimate goal of building a sustainable and profitable business in a high growth area.

In the case of Microcosm, well, any startup, it's good to think about what pivots may be available. I would say that aside from changing the fee structure to pay-for-hosting, there is software licensing as an option. But those being just revenue changes, we could also change the target audience from hobby/interest sites to small and medium business collaboration. And if we want to change the fundamental product then we could easily move into mailing lists and email collaboration or take a really wild pivot and go towards fan sites for the music, movie and games industries.

In the "Lean Startup" book by Eric Ries, there's a principle of having a monthly meeting in which one asks the question, "Do we quit, pivot, or persevere?". A constant reappraisal of progress.

For a long time this will be persevere, but the real test will be after the initial version is out there and looking at the traction and growth we achieve after LFGSS has been imported.

That's when the question will be a hard one every month. That's how we'll know to focus and double-down, or to change the game.

One hopes to never answer "quit"... but if it does go bad, one also hopes to answer quit as soon as possible and then provide as graceful an unravelling as possible. And for you investors, this means triggering the SEIS stuff such that you get a chunk more of your money back.

Since many are opening a seedrs profile just to do this, it makes no odds to them if they are suspended at the year end checks from further investments in other lost causes. Unless they have a thing for funding watermelon powered sex aids that is.

Seedrs MUST act as a responsible intermediary. As they point out, it's regulatory. If you don't appear to be an investor, they have to ask why.

One sizeable investment is a good enough answer, but a solo very small investment likely won't meet the definitions that they have to apply.

Watermelon powered sex aid? Is there really a proposal for that? Link please, I have to see this or my life will not be complete.

scherrit knows who makes them:

https://www.lfgss.com/post3252554.html