Veteran Entrepeneur Grapples With Crowdfunding

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Aug. 25, 2014 - PRLog -- Madame Vapor a veteran owned and operated ecommerce store announced the unique opportunity to participate in a crowdfunding campaign. There were many crowdfunding sites but in the end it came down to Kiva Zip being an actual loan at 0% interest and a reasonable time table to pay back the loan. After several drafts and reviews by Kiva staff an initial campaign began with friends and family.

Veteran owner Terry Hoekstra noted that after months of research in building the business concept the challenge came down to who would take on the risk with a startup with no past business experience. “This is my first business that I started from the beginning and with poor credit I knew banks would be out of the question,” Terry stated.

Kiva Zip provides entrepreneur’s a platform to succeed by coaching and helping them build their story. It all starts with the entrepreneur telling their story and helping the investor qualify why to invest in that persons business. “I found this process quite difficult,” Terry stated, “since I never did a lot of writing in my life I always just went out and did the work”. Every qualifying candidate must write a short and personal story to explain the purpose of investing in them and the business even breaking down the financial aspect.

Before the entrepreneur can go live with the campaign Kiva Zip takes it one step further and requires the future borrower has truly exhausted all funding options by requiring 15 donations from friends and family. Getting friends and family to recognize the project is only open for 15 days. “This ended up being more difficult than I expected but was a great crash course in marketing 101” stated Terry. The final step is the actual 45 day campaign online and again the borrower must continue the marketing.

Terry’s campaign has started publicly at: https://zip.kiva.org/loans/5331/i/lcje

Kiva Zip is a pilot program of the micro-lending website Kiva.org, developed to increase access to small business loans in the United States. Entrepreneurs who are endorsed by a trustee can post profiles on the website and get loans that are “crowd-funded” by individuals who contribute as little as $25.

Media Contact:
Terry Hoekstra
Madame Vapor LLC
480-945-2644
www.getmvnow.com