Be genuine, and your most loyal customers and biggest fans will also want to be your investors–and vice versa.

One way to achieve authenticity is to build an honest profile. Be upfront about your shortcomings and risks, then address them. Remember your investors aren’t people you’re trying to achieve something against, they’re people you’re trying to achieve something with.

If you run a micro-brewery, run investors through the brewing process at your specific brewery. If you’re a tannery, show them how you dye leather. Investors want to see faces talking, hands moving, things happening.

Ditch walls of text and visually engage investors: use pitch videos, product shots, virtual tours, etc. Invite them inside your business, and make sure they leave having learned something new with an experience they want to share.

You’re running an online campaign, so it’s easy to throw something together and hit publish. But staying inside your head is exactly what you don’t want to do.

Full-proof your profile by putting it in front of a diverse group of people. With no other context, can they grasp what you’re doing and the value of it? Are they engaged? Would they invest in you? If yes, your campaign’s ready for the web.

Don’t just boast about your grand vision of conquering the world in five years. Investors want to know what you’re doing now to build value for them today.

If you do have a long-term plan to conquer the world, roadmap how you’re going to get there and the steps you’ve already taken to get there—show you're not just a starry-eyed entrepreneur. Quantify your achievements to qualify yourself.

The average campaign raises 28% of its goal in the first three days. You want to come in guns a-blazing, but that doesn’t mean you want to leave yourself defenseless afterwards.

When you launch a campaign, have an entire timeline mapped out for the net 60 days. Stockpile content and updates—such as new partnerships, press, awards, videos, milestones—to keep the flame of interest well and alive week after week. Come in with an army of supporters and leave having conquered your campaign.

These 5 principles only scratch the surface of what it takes to run a successful fundraising campaign. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].