Crowdfunding coffee shop? Why not try "alumni style"?

It is said that the shareholders of these coffee shops, which are crowdfunded in the name of alumni, gather regularly to discuss the operation. Interviewees provided pictures

Some local coffee shops in Guangzhou, set up in the name of alumni, are trying to brand their shops, owners of shareholders and customers of friends.

Liang Zhaosi, reporter of New Express

Intern Hou Yanting

This year, crowdfunding investment among friends has been greatly reduced, but alumni crowdfunding coffee shops, which take the circle economy as their lifeline, continue their enthusiasm of "acquaintances pooling money to do a career". A reporter from the New Express News visited and found that some local coffee shops organized by college students and graduates in Guangzhou in the name of alumni are trying to brand their shops, become owners of shareholders, and personalize their friends. Some officials say that after a bubble-style crowdfunding campaign, everyone is much more rational now.

At the beginning of this year, Li and Xu, doctoral students at CUHK, wanted to set up a coffee shop with the theme of career planning and entrepreneurship. "with so many alumni resources at CUHK, students don't seem to have a chance to get in touch with outstanding brothers and sisters, and at the same time they want to try to start a business." so I did. " Classmate Li said.

This is similar to the concept of a coffee shop crowdfunding project last year. Xu and their three middle school students are deeply aware of the lack of a communication space and hope to create a youth space based on alumni exchange. The students got to know each other and reached the idea of cooperation. It is said that the crowdfunding project took only 40 days to attract dozens of foreign enterprises, state-owned enterprise employees, workplace elites and well-known entrepreneurs who graduated from CUHK through official Wechat account and interpersonal communication. On July 14, the coffee shop tried out on Shangdu Road next to the Haizhu campus of CUHK.

New Express reporter learned from some preparatory objects that the new alumni coffee crowdfunding project pays more attention to the construction of operation and withdrawal system. "our starting point is to help students connect resources and let a lot of alumni come to get together." Classmate Xu said. He believes that profit is necessary for crowdfunding projects. So, how to make a profit and be popular? "to provide college students with a communication space and activity platform to gather popularity and consumption, profit will be a natural addition," Xu said.

The reporter learned in the interview that in Guangzhou, coffee shops prepared in the name of Peking University alumni and Wuhan University alumni are under preparation.

Is your crowdfunding project easy to fail?

Learn from successful people!

Why?

Scattered operation opinions and low decision-making efficiency

Although unwilling to admit that a few white-collar workers' dream of "crowdfunding" of a coffee shop was shattered, some local angel investors and entrepreneurs in Guangzhou experienced a boom in crowdfunding bookstores and coffee shops last year. Have smelled the great possibility of crowdfunding failure.

The reporter visited and found that one of the big reasons why crowdfunding coffee shops are prone to failure is that shareholders do not regard themselves as bosses, operate in person or are present to support them. Because shareholders are white-collar workers, coupled with the average shares, shareholders basically regard themselves as "guests", it is difficult to have enthusiasm.

"people in society have to go to work, and they don't have the energy to do business full-time, but running a coffee shop is essentially doing business. Their opinions on operation are numerous and scattered, resulting in inefficient decision-making and poor operation of crowdfunding coffee shops, and many of them go bankrupt as a result. " Said one investor, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

how to deal with it?

Enhance the sense of shareholder participation + crowdfunding standardization

It is very important to enhance the sense of participation of shareholders. In this regard, Wang Hai, the founder of a crowdfunded coffee shop, pointed out their way to victory. "for example, coffee shop shareholders can use team activities for free in the restaurant, get a free drink every day, and have a more favorable price." He added that the crowdfunding restaurant under the college student operation team, because it is "college students serve college students", has greatly narrowed the psychological distance with consumers. "

Xu also said: "if we want to ensure profitability, we must ensure that shareholders continue to play." He mentioned that by serving shareholders and attracting shareholders to bring in activities, shareholders will naturally conduct word-of-mouth publicity and bring follow-up profits. Of course, monitoring financial transparency and business processes is also a very important part.

Wang Yong, deputy general manager of an investment fund company, believes that the standardization of crowdfunding is an important change in capital market investment in recent years. "both crowdfunding targets and crowdfunders are more rational than last year. In terms of management, they pay more attention to the brand effect, and the decision-making will be operated by the core team, instead of simply emphasizing the democracy of each shareholder. "

Source: new KuaiBao