EP 106 - Finding the Meat In Crowdfunding Feat: Tim Ray

My guest today is Tim Ray. He is the founder of Carnivore Club. An E-Commerce subscription based company that offers meat from different artisans around the world.   [02:04] Stories That Drive Crowdfunding   Carnivore Club is a subscription e-commerce business launched in 2013. Tim was working a 9-5 during the time of the dollar shave club hitting the scene. Tim tells us how wine clubs are a great example of subscription e-commerce based businesses. Because of their stories and delivery, it can be very successful   The different ingredients and interpretations really interested Tim. From a business perspective, he’s in a lightweight and durable industry on e-commerce. He launched in Canada and US with a crowdfunding campaign. Being aware of the crowdfunding space before he got into it, he took an unconventional approach to his marketing video.   He finds that most crowdfunding projects go with tear-jerking stories and something deep to create an emotional connection. The unconventional video was able to get Carnivore Club past the noise. After the launch of the video, the campaign blew up overnight in the US. He spent 13 grand on the video but got back 20 from crowdfunding.   [09:00] The Meat Isn’t Your Product, It’s Your Brand   About 50% of people when they find out about how much it costs to conduct a campaign don’t realize they won’t make money on the campaign. You may break even but chances are low you will make money. You need to look at it as launching a company and not just a product. Crowdfunding is not a get rich quick scheme.   The video Tim created it creates brand awareness. It got his vendors and customers excited for what was to come. Fulfillment and costs will continue to increase for crowdfunding. As the industry begins to mature there’ll be more brands utilizing crowdfunding to launch a product. Ultimately you need to remember you’re starting a business. You can kickstart a product but not become a successful business. Think long term.   [12:20] The Search for Meat   Tim doesn’t have international shipping. Each country he services has its own club. The artisans he works with don't have good websites or SEO. To find them he had to use guerilla tactics. He began searching Google using keywords to find his suppliers. To be successful you need to ensure you have everything lined up before launch.   Tim was on Dragon’s Den despite the saturation of the subscription box market at the time. However, it hadn’t really hit TV yet. Tim took advantage of this and ended up increasing his sales short-term due to this. He knew the value proposition but didn’t get any box features in line at first.   From once the campaign was closed he allowed himself time to figure out what they were going to give people. It ended up being put together on the fly when it came to getting monthly boxes together. This helped when it came to multi-month subscriptions as well as he was able to provide discounts.   [18:37] Start of Crowdfunding   Tim didn’t want the pressure of only having 20 orders for his first month. His first month and a half of the business was media and PR. He created brand awareness before Christmas to be able to tap into that market. His media and PR piece was about crowdfunding in general. He’s now launching a new company in the spring without crowdfunding. He feels a more traditional business launch would pull more heartstrings, considering his tenure as an entrepreneur.   Social media marketing is huge when it comes to crowdfunding. Getting your name out there to increase your brand awareness will show you success.   [21:14] The Bugs in Your Meat   When Tim launched his website, there was a lot of bugs. He had long painful nights to figure out his processes and systems. He launched the...