EU Commission is doing some economic promotion (Project Horizon 2020) in the Crowdfunding segment, with the deadline for submission early 2019. Even the chance is probably small to get funding, we want to try and plan accordingly.
For the submission we need basically 3 things
• The filled-out EU Commission Request documents
• This pre-requisites that we have initiated our relations with other Crowdfunding platforms (for which we need to have business documents and the prototype in place)
• Our company needs to be set up, which is also important in regards the Crowdfunding platforms we want to onboard, as they need to have confidence in a running company
The requested documents we plan to take care in February and still have time. The business documents and the prototype is critical, but doable. What we completely underestimated was how long it takes to set up a company.
Why we underestimated company creation
As a risk mitigation we wanted to work with somebody who offers “company set up services”. We checked various websites and offerings in advance.
• Based on those websites we got the feeling that it just takes a couple of days. Let me tell you this is wrong.
• Some stated on their website that with their service you can do everything from home. Maybe this is correct for them and their part of the work – you need to organize several documents like getting your signature attested etc.
• Some are advertising that the service is for free or little money. At the end you realize that you have to pay anyway and you getting some voucher which they calculate in. Voucher from 3rd party companies which are looking for startups as new customers.
Looking back
One point I really did not like was that my contact details were given to those 3rd party companies (without getting notified). One explained me that they received my contact details because I have a voucher for a 15 min talk with them. Everybody tries to make money out of startups. That’s weird.
Looking back, we probably still would have chosen such a service offering. It gave confidence. But I really would have appreciated if those facts would have been described on their website upfront and in a fair way. Knowing that I might have created a specific email account and used a pre-paid card for this exercise.
And most important: we would have planned our timetable differently. We still will be able to get it done, but now with much more time pressure.
