Raise money from your own users through equity crowdfunding instead of VC

After walking away from a VC term sheet, and with ~10,000 users on the app, ran an equity crowdfunding round on Seedrs (now Republic). Before going live, agreed terms and valuation with a handful of pre-identified angels (2-3 put in six figures each per round); everyone else invests on the same terms, no preferred shares, from as little as ~10. Made a pitch video plus docs and financials; publicly stated what the money would fund. Gave perks: all first-round investors got a Savvy Navvy sailing jacket; another round gave 3-year subscriptions. Set a minimum (enough for the next 12-18 months) and a maximum (to cap dilution) and closed the round when the max was hit. Used the money mainly for B2C marketing. Later taps the 2,500 investors (mostly boaters) for expertise, e.g. logistics or marketing advice. Investors can sell on the platform's secondary market.

First round: 125K target, oversubscribed within 24 hours, closed after 6 days at ~370K (3x). Repeated several times with most rounds around 1M; 2,500 investors; last round almost £700K at a $15M valuation (2025).