The audience sat rapt listening to Dwight L. Peters, the founder of crowdfunding startup BackersHub, share about his journey to become a tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. On a sunny day in November 2014 the auditorium at NYU’s Kimmel Center was filled to capacity as budding entrepreneurs answered the call put forth by the founders of The Phat Startup to attend the first ever hip hop inspired technology and startup conference, Tech808.
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As one of the speakers, Peters shared his journey of attempting to start different ventures and what happened to his mindset when he hit financial rock bottom, while sleeping on his friends’ sofa. That moment led him to start BackersHub a company founded when Dwight identified that crowdfund Backers had a pain point that he was equipped to solve.
According to research conducted by Ventureneer, crowdfunding is an excellent source of capital for women entrepreneurs, and when I inquired president and founder Geri Stengel stated that the positive effects can be applied to minority communities, as well. The possibilities for fundraising by entrepreneurs through crowdfunding received a welcomed boost in 2013 with the passage of Title II of the JOBS Act that should also benefit women and people of color entrepreneurs.
In choosing to found BackersHub, Dwight saw a need in the marketplace to connect fundraisers with folks who’d previously invested in other campaigns and were eager to continue to invest in quality campaigns.
BlackEnterprise.com caught up with Dwight to talk about his entrepreneurial journey and to get his tips for folks interested in raising funds AND, equally important, investing in campaigns.
BlackEnterprise.com: When did you realize you were an entrepreneur at heart?
Dwight L. Peters: As a child I had a strong creative background and most of my time was spent heavily focusing on the arts. The concept of creating something that never existed before and bringing it to life was something that I was greatly intrigued by. I had entrepreneurial influences around growing up as my stepfather and uncle were entrepreneurs. I collected comics and trading cards as a child and would try to sell them to the other kids in my class (to no real great success). However, I learned at an early age that a person can create a living for themselves by creating and providing value.
What types of businesses did you launch or attempt to launch before founding BackersHub?
Before BackersHub, I launched several attempts at a business – with each one leading me towards BackersHub. First was QuarterWaters [editorial note: If you grew up in a city, especially New York, you know this colloquial reference for the little drinks in plastic containers with foil caps] – a weekly podcast where I interviewed Social Entrepreneurs to have them share business tips, talk about the issues they were tackling and inspire others to get started.
Read more about Dwight L. Peters’ journey on the next page …
That led to me starting a tech accessories brand called Slate & Stylus – for every iPhone/iPad case we sold, we were able to provide children in Kenya with school supplies through our partnership with TheSupply.org. With a vision to grow, I transformed that into CrowdCases – a platform for non-profits to fundraise by participating in weekly design competitions in which the designs that won were turned into cases. None of these were great failures, nor were they great successes, but they taught me a lot about creating value, finding your audience and operating on a shoestring budget.
You spoke at the Tech808 conference a few months back. Share with us the story of where you were financially and emotionally just before founding BackersHub.
At the time when I started BackersHub, I had been in San Francisco for a few weeks. I flew out there last summer, via a one-way plane ticket. I asked my friends from high school if I could sleep on their couch until I figured out what my next move would be. I knew getting out of my comfort zone would force me to either fly or die trying. I was running out of money and was finally down to my last .27 cents – this was a very stressful time as bills were piling up, I had no way of flying back home to New York and didn’t even know how I would pay my phone bill that was coming up in a few days. Not having a ton of cash to get started was actually a blessing – as it helped me to stay really focused, and make every move calculated. I brought my cousin along with me who was looking for a new project to work on and got started.
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What is BackersHub?
BackersHub is a community of repeat Kickstarter + Indiegogo Backers. Our members are the most active Backers in the crowd funding market – each week we highlight new campaigns that are exciting and innovative.
What prompted you to launch BackersHub–what pain were you trying to address?
As a former Kickstarter campaign creator my biggest struggle was getting Backers for my campaign. The goal of BackersHub is to help campaign creators get their projects in front of Backers that would most likely support it.
As you were researching/preparing to launch were there any things that you discovered that surprised you? Were any myths busted for you about the crowdfunding community?
What surprised us the most was how dedicated Backers were
to supporting innovative ideas. The feedback our community gives to creators really helps shape and steer the direction of their campaign. Also, Backers tend to back several campaigns through out the year.What has been your biggest takeaway from your entrepreneurial journey so far?
The biggest takeaway has to be “Bet On Yourself.†So many times we get complacent at a job or career we hate because we are afraid of taking a risk and jumping into the unknown. We live in a day and age where information is available at our fingertips and starting a business is now easier than ever. It’s not going to be easy, and can be really frightening at times – however, the reward greatly outweighs the risk.
What’s the one piece of advice or wisdom you would share with the you of a year ago as the you of today?
The advice I would give myself would have been “get started nowâ€. I would have started my entrepreneurial journey even sooner, but that is all in hindsight.
What advice do you have for folks who have an idea for a startup but do not have a technical background?
I would highly recommend building a team that focuses on your weakness – find somebody that is technical if you do not have those necessary skills. Also, having a team is definitely better than going at it alone.
What are the three most important things that people should consider before launching their startup?
The 3 things that should be considered are:
1. Pain. Is there a real pain in the market?
2. Value. What can you offer to fix that pain?
3. Solution. Can you create the solution in an affordable way?
First time entrepreneurs tend to just create products without really assessing the market to see if what they are creating is needed.
Please share the things/tips a person launching a crowdfunding campaign can do to make her or him more attractive to your members and backers generally.
Launching a campaign these days is very much similar to creating a well oiled machine with so many moving parts. Everything must be in sync, from the video, to the description, pricing of the rewards and the actual idea. We put together an in-depth course on how to launch a physical product successfully for anybody interested at http://signup.BackersHub.com.
What are the benefits to investors of joining BackersHub?
As a campaign creator, you will get your idea in front of thousands of people that love to support great ideas and look forward to being first. If you are an active Backer, it is a great community to get access to Early Bird rewards, awesome deals and to be kept in the loop on upcoming products.
How can people find out more about BackersHub?
Anybody that is interested in launching a crowd funding campaign, getting deals on Kickstarter + Indiegogo-funded products or just learning more about BackersHub should check out BackersHub.com or shoot Dwight an email at dwight@BackersHub.com
What’s on the horizon for you as an entrepreneur?
What’s on the horizon for me as an entrepreneur? Hopefully to continue to grow, create value for our clients and inspire others to take the plunge into entrepreneurship.
One final note, Dwight has taken every public opportunity possible to say how much he has always wanted to appear in Black Enterprise, and how proud that would make his mom. Well, Dwight, here’s to making Mom proud! Thanks for sharing your story.
Michelle Y. Talbert is a recovering corporate attorney turned strategist and social media content producer. She’s NYC born and bred, but you can find her living and loving in Washington, DC. She founded Her Power Hustle, the community and podcast for women entrepreneurs. Connect with Michelle on Twitter @MichelleTalbert and on LinkedIn.