YES-DC looks back at a successful first event for 2012. On Wednesday the 18th of April, four speakers were invited at the Academy Building in Utrecht to introduce to our members the concepts of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing.
All four speakers used the same words to describe the event’s key message:
(Small investment in time or money) X (A lot of people) = Large impact and success
Robin Slakhorst co-founder and commercial director of one of the pioneering companies of the field, Symbid, opened the discussion by presenting the basic principles of crowdfunding, how Symbid encompasses the different models that investments unfold from (e.g. equity based, debt based, etc.). By showcasing examples he explained the benefits of Symbid’s equity based model and his vision for the future.
David Gernaat, founder of Crowdaboutnow, explained to the participants the advantages of the debt based model, through which his company has managed to fund several projects. He showed several success stories and intrigued the audience by inviting them to participate in funding energy related projects.
Sjoerd van de Meerendonk founder of Share2Start expressed the benefits of his crowdfunding platform, which joins as a shareholder to the projects that are ultimately funded. A clear difference with the previous presentations was that Share2Start works exclusively with projects related with the field of sustainability.
Sameer Safaya, introduced to our members two crowdsourcing platforms. “Sustentables” a platform, which brings together people with common interests and complementing skills, and bring their ideas to life. “OnePlanet Kitchen”, a successful model through which volunteer amateur chefs cook vegetarian food from local ingredients.
After the presentations and a short break the speakers were open for questions. The audience very versatile and enthusiastic, which consisted of young consultants, employees in the financial sector, young entrepreneurs, energy experts and so forth, had a series of questions and directed the speakers to the evening’s concluding discussion. Afterwards, old and new members, joined for a drink at Bar Walden, where they got the chance to interact with each other and find out more about crowdfunding and YES-DC.
This event can be very simply described by David Gernaat’s quote “It was an epic moment… the first time where the stimulators of crowdfunding sat on the same table”. As YES-DC we are proud to have brought this event to our members.
