We have moved. You will now be redirected to our new site ECF.BUZZ

Sunday 14 October 2018

We are launching ECF.Buzz - a one stop goldmine for all things ECF for both investors and companies.



ECF Solutions is launching a new site - ECF.Buzz - A subscription site, including this blog with free access, where investors and companies can read and download guides to and reports on all things ECF. Plus a forum so you can a have a safe and sensible place to discuss experiences, ideas and find what did happen to that investment!


Knowledge is Power - we have the knowledge, you need the power.


Fantasy Equity Crowdfunding (FECf) will have an annual subscription, a one off fee option for guides and reports, a separate forum subscription option and a one day, read only, use of the forum facility. We believe we are uniquely positioned as an independent source of relevant information in the sector. We intend to offer that information to subscribers. Since 2011, when ECf was created in the UK by Crowdcube, we have been writing about it. We have been correct in pretty well all of our assumptions to date. We know our advice is pertinent, as current downloads and feedback on our DD guide and our advice to hopeful ECf companies, both show this. 

Guides (~40 in total, updated and regularly added to) will use real data collected over the past 35 years and will include  - 

  • The Art of Due Diligence
  • Investing via ECF - what you need to know 
  • How to make sense of small company balance sheets
  • Reading what's really happening in a projection sheet
  • Analysing a Business Plan and Pitch Deck
  • Spotting a winning team
  • SEIS/EIS guide
  • Best practice for creating a successful ECF campaign
  • Telling the difference between fact and fiction.
  • Using SM to find out the facts.
  • Avoiding Overtrading
Annual reports using our data set will include

  • ECF platform analysis - independent!
  • Sector analysis 
  • ROI and analysis by sector, exit method etc
  • ECF Europe and ROW - developments and opportunities
  • The Regulation Landscape - what to look out for.
There will also be an information centre which take all of the data we have currently on companies that have raised, failed to raise, the people involved and the outcomes and allow you to search for what you are looking for. Additionally there will be a resource library with links to hundreds of useful resources and reviews of some of them. This may take a little time to get up and running as it will be manual for us to start off with. This will link into a purely fact driven information centre on live pitches - again allowing investors a level of information that they could not hope for without our service.
We would like to know if you have ideas that should be included. If we havent already thought of them then we will offer you free membership for a year if we use them. Dont post them here but instead send them direct to me at rob@ecfsolutions.co.uk. We are also keen to talk to potential partners who may have something to offer to this project. So please do get in touch.

We hope that with traction this will develop into a site that will be able to run an annual get together for networking etc. A community of SMEs and investors, with a common goal - the success of UKplc. 

If we can help make investors more savvy and help companies choose the right time and strategy to use ECF, then we will all be winners. This will force the standards of investment opportunities higher, make the businesses more sustainable and cut out the dross.  

The aim here is not make a lot of money. The aim is to help preserve ECF as a functional way to create sustainable SMEs in the UK. The fees will be small. To give you an example a single download will be ~£9 and 12 months full membership will be ~£36. This is still WIP.

Help us make a change for the better.


16 comments:

  1. You could ECF the new site ;-)

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  2. Had I known about this blog 3 years ago I'd have saved circa £ 3k. Money that was paid into Directors banks as salaries for underperforming roles.
    How are you not an advisor to the FCA ?? You keep up this credible crusade, you save many a heartache.

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  3. Will you be raising money on crowdcube 😂

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  4. As we dont consider an investment opportunity, we wont be raising money via ECF - Im pretty sure we could have although maybe not CC :))

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    Replies
    1. dont consider 'this' a ......... mt typing just gets worse!

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  5. You'd better watch out Rob, Crowdrater just put in an order for Novichok. Any suspicious letters don't lick your finger to page turn..

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    1. Seriously for moment - we have decided for now not to take on their role. We wont be offering analysis of live campaigns unless there is some interesting factual angle. We believe that people should make up their own minds and we want to give them the tools to do that plus offer a place for investors to have a chat/find out what their company is up to. The Crowdrating offer is a little flaky IMO - there simply is no way their analysis stands up to scrutiny, so their 'advice' is worth worthless. Better that investors understand how this all works, know about the trends and news and have advice on how to analyse things for themselves - hell they might even learn something!

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    2. Is Crowdrater still funded by the very companies they write reports about? That would be illegal if it happened with listed companies!

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  6. What will you call it? Old, bitter and clueless.com?

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  7. Well Rob IMHO if CC has 300k + subscribers, a small fraction from this traffic to yours can only be good for the punters. Not only the punters but ECF and UKplc alike. Hell I can see hush money on the horizon, only your as honest as day follows night..

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  8. Nobody with a brain cell is going to subscribe to read your negative crowdcube bashing rants. But hopefully once you realise you wont be able to moneytise your negative comments you will close it down and spend your time doing something far more constructive. Perhaps join your wife’s wine business?
    You are unlikely to post this comment but despite your negative, know it all type responses, you still fail to grasp that whilst CC has 300k+ of investors the bulk of them will be one time investors in their friend/family business that was listed on CC, the next percentage will be “punters” gambling £10 on anything with a nice name and story and a very small few actual HNW investors that might back more than one company, that could afford your service would be unlikely to subscribe to you as they are capable of making their own investment decisions without your negative rants!.
    In short there is zero market for the service you want to offer, as much as you enjoy writing junk all day about what other people are doing in business, you are wasting your time!

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    Replies
    1. I take it from your first line you will be joining us? As always Anon you have totally missed the point. The blog will remain FREE. Please do try to read what we post if you are going to waste your time commenting. Im certain that all of your other assumptions are also nonsense. It seems illogical that 26k readers over the last 12 months (rising at 70% with zero promotion) are all morons, as you suggest. As your posts are not helpful to anyone, we wont be posting anymore. Thank you for taking part.

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  9. Judging Anons response he/she is feeling the heat, I'm saying (He).
    CC Wouldn't be in business relying on tenners and a few HNWs.
    I for one will certainly be paying £36 annually to LEARN, Like a value Open University course.. Packed with insight and a good grounding regarding Due Diligence.. ECF is due disruption from the foundations..

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  10. I’m in! I think it’s a splendid idea.

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  11. Great idea , looking forward to the discussions already

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