PieShell
| Industry | Crowdfunding (food and beverage) |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | fundafeast |
| Founded | July 2015 |
| Founder | Cheryl Clements |
| Headquarters | New York City , USA |
| Website | pieshell |
PieShell is a crowdfunding website for food and beverage start-ups. The company is based in New York City, USA, and was launched by Cheryl Clements in October 2016.[1]
History
Founder Cheryl Clements named PieShell as a tribute to her mother's pie business, based in their home in Smiths Falls, Canada.[1] After working as a senior project manager with SAP SE software, Clements noticed that food and beverage start-ups were struggling to find funding.[1][2] On Kickstarter, for example, roughly 75% of all food and beverage projects would fail to meet their goal.[3] Clements believed that a specialized site would help these projects to find investors: "By focusing on one area, we give them an undiluted pool of support. People aren’t distracted by wrinkle-free pants or wireless earbuds."[2]
She first attempted a food crowdfunding platform in 2014, called fundafeast. After what Forbes called "lackluster results", the site was taken offline.[1]
In October 2016, Clements launched a new, reward-based crowdfunding site, PieShell. The venture was financed in part by a GoFundMe campaign.(NYBJ) The company operates out of a Spacious coworking space.[4][5] PieShell's new design sought to improve on fundafeast's flaws, viewing the previous site as a "beta test". The site began with four crowdfunding campaigns that included a hot dog truck and the no added-sugar ketchup brand Not Ketchup.[1] The initial campaigns raised a combined $61,000, and as of January 2017, PieShell had a 100% success rate for its campaigns.[1][6] Nutshell, a vegan nut bar company, raised $15,000 on the site in early 2017. In mid-2017, PieShell had more than 30 campaigns in various stages.[1]
Features
PieShell uses a stepping-stone funding system that requires a campaign to first raise 25% of its first stepping-stone from friends, family, or other sources via a private link. Only campaigns that meet this initial goal appear on the site to attract wider investment.[1] PieShell keeps 6% of the funds raised in a campaign, of which 1% is donated to Emma's Torch, a culinary job-skills program for refugees.[2]
To create a sense of community on PieShell, anyone who wishes to create a campaign must first pledge to another active campaign.[1] For funders, PieShell includes an "I don't want the rewards option" for those who simply want to help a campaign based on its story or goal. Clements said in February 2017 that 40% of the site's users were choosing this option.[3][7]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Roberts, Nina (May 31, 2017). "PieShell Wants To Be The Crowdfunding Site For Food StartUps". Forbes. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ^ a b c Stern, Gary M. (November 21, 2016). "Crowdfunding site PieShell targets the food and beverage niche". New York Business Journal. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ^ a b Cortese, Amy (February 27, 2017). "PieShell Helps Food Entrepreneurs Raise Funding, Step by Step". Locavesting. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ^ Hagan, Shelly (April 3, 2017). "People Are Paying to Work From Bars and Restaurants". Bloomberg. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ^ Mechling, Lauren (January 26, 2017). "Meet the Classpass of Coworking". Vogue. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ^ Kvidahl, Melissa (January 25, 2017). "What sets PieShell apart among crowdfunding sites?". New Hope. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ^ Pearl, Amy. "A Recipe For Crowdfunding With PieShell Founder Cheryl Clements". ComCap. Retrieved August 5, 2017.