Technocopia founder sees 'Wow' factor as crowdfunding necessity
Nick Bold, left, shows crowdfunding contributor Shaun Connolly the technology available at the makerspace's Printer's Building facility, which were paid for in part through an Indiegogo.com campaign.
Nick Bold is a warrior in the 21st century gig economy and one of his greatest weapons is wow factor.
His day job is at Quinsigamond Community College, where he builds and maintains labs for the students. On the side, he’s executive director of Technocopia, a nonprofit collective of tech and artisan endeavors sharing a makerspace.
His real love is robotics. He and some colleagues worked on robotics in the Technocopia space and had an epiphany. Their inventions had less market value than the software design tools they’d developed. So now they’re in the software business and contemplating how to get investors interested.
Bold is a crowdfunding veteran. When Technocopia needed more space, he launched a campaign on Indiegogo.com and raised more than $16,000. In hindsight, he said, the goal needed to be a bit higher but they raised enough to move into 11,500 square feet in the Printers Building on Portland Street in Worcester.
Another crowdfunding campaign – an effort to raise money for the robotics venture – was a failure, Bold said. He said he learned a lot about the “Wow” factor and the need for a catchy video to drive a successful campaign.
But now he’s on the fence about whether crowdfunding is a viable option to raise the kind of investment he needs to take the software business to the next, potentially lucrative level.
While he watches developments in the crowdfunding equity space, he’s bidding on a contract to build out engineering labs at WPI. He’d also like to rev up the educational component of Technocopia. STEM classes for kids are good, he said, but there’s a need for workforce development courses that his team can provide. He’s hoping he can connect the dots and partner with the state’s workforce development program.
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