UK duo helps SMEs, others raise funds

Prague's starving artists need not starve anymore, as a new website launched this summer allows would-be entrepreneurs, authors, musicians and other creative, enterprising types a forum to raise money for their projects using integrated social networking. The brainchild of two childhood friends from Southeast England, Fondomat.cz is based on the concept of crowd funding, which allows online contacts to pool money to support a cause. Fondomat.cz combines photos, video and text as tools for users to promote their project, be it a business venture or a rock album, and share the page with all their contacts with one click to receive contributions and support through PayPal in Czech crowns.

We sat down with co-founders Conrad Watts and Joe Wakeford to find out what they hope their site can do for small business startups in Prague.

The Prague Post: How many users do you have raising money on the site so far?

Joe Wakeford: There are about 30 projects. They're mostly English speakers at the moment, but we'd like to get some Czechs involved in the site. What's great is the projects that have really made full use of the page - that have a video, a photo, a good description, a good title, and you can have comments, as well. There is a personal link there because you've got Facebook and all the social networks integrated so you can send the page to all of your friends.  

Conrad Watts: When the site is utilized at that level, the concept really becomes three-dimensional, and it's so much more effective than any traditional type of fundraising. People can look at your photos, watch your video and interact with you directly.

JW: There is an option to leave a message or a Facebook comment with your donation. So, from a marketing perspective, it's very simple. If you tell 10 friends, they'll tell friends, and then it balloons from there.

TPP: What sets Fondomat.cz apart from all the other fundraising websites?

CW: It's simple, and that's the key for users. We looked at dozens and dozens of fundraising websites in the Czech Republic through which it is possible to donate money, but through an extremely complicated and convoluted way, with making phone calls and passing bank details. We really thought our site needs to be as clear as possible, and with top-of-the-line security.

JW: There is nothing here that does this, so we're quite unique in that sense, it's all in Czech and English; the payments are in Czech currency, but at the checkout, you can use foreign credit cards. It's better for people here because they don't have to pay a bank surcharge for currency conversion.

TPP: How many small business startups are fundraising with the site?

JW: Right now there are about five or six startups - shops and other small businesses. One reason why some of the projects are private and not visible to everyone is because someone might have an idea for a small business and because they're just starting out, they don't want everybody to know all the details.

TPP: What can crowd-funding like your site offer that other methods of fundraising can't?

JW: One commercial advantage is that it always takes money to raise money. You can do something completely untargeted like handing out leaflets on the street, but you're not reaching your target audience. We take 4 percent from each donation, which is 15 percent to 20 percent cheaper than most traditional fundraising methods. It's about two minutes of work to set up a project on the site. Startups can save all that administration cost and overhead. They can just push a button.

CW: Once it became the case that even the loneliest stay-at-home soul had at least 100 friends on Facebook, it starts to make sense that you can get in contact with people really easily.

TPP: Where did you get the idea for the site?

CW: Joe had all these contacts within the music industry. I originally came to Prague to write a book, and being part of the writing community in the UK, I know a lot of very talented people who cannot finish their work or even start it in some cases because they have to commit themselves to a full-time job. If I was in a position to be able to offer people the opportunity to get some talent out there instead of letting all these dreams be put on the shelf, that's what I wanted to do.

JW: By day I'm a music producer, and I've got a studio here. Obviously I saw a lot of projects come to a point where they can't proceed with the resources they have. There is nothing in the Czech Republic in the Czech currency that can be used for something like that. On the creative side, there are a lot of gallery owners on the site, and we know a lot of writers and musicians, but there are also business owners and creative ideas for new businesses.

CW: The expat community is full of people with creative ideas who want to get things started.

Emily Thompson can be reached at
ethompson@praguepost.com