[quote style=”boxed”]No one will ever be as passionate about or really understand your vision, idea, start up as well as you do. I made the mistake of leaving my project to a third party to develop, because I naively assumed they’d take to it with the energy and commitment it required while I attended to other matters that I was less passionate about. Big mistake. Do as much as you can yourself, and never leave anyone else at the wheel.[/quote]
Sportfunder was founded and developed by Craig Williamson of Taranaki, New Zealand who has had extensive experience in managing sport and sporting organisations along with fundraising and finding sponsorship for athletes and sporting events. This firsthand knowledge of what sport was in dire need of along with his search for a better and more efficient way for sport to truly connect with sports fans, lead him to crowdfunding and to ultimately build Sportfunder from scratch, the world’s first global crowdfunding platform with an absolute focus on all things sport.
What are you working on right now?
Right at this moment I am tweaking and improving Sportfunder to make it the best, most feature-rich Crowdfunding platform I possibly can.
Where did the idea for Sportfunder come from?
I’ve done a lot of fundraising for sports in the past and have been at the coal face so to speak, so had been looking into developing an online means of connecting athletes, clubs, teams etc directly with their fans and supporters for several months, and then I discovered Kickstarter and realized that it was crowdfunding, but for sport (not art), that I was looking for. There were no sports specific crowd funding platforms out there so I went about building my own.
What does your typical day look like?
A typical day begins at dawn when our 22 month old daughter awakes. Then the day will be a mix of attending to her needs, developing, improving, promoting and managing Sportfunder, plus maintaing my day jobs which bring in a salary and help pay the bills. It’s a juggling act, and exhausting, but it’ll all be worthwhile into end.
How do you bring ideas to life?
My wife says I’m stubborn, pigheaded and fearless when it comes to pursuing my many ideas. Most, I successfully obtain, through hard work, persuasion, and self belief.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
I think we’re opening up a whole new world of possibilities here with crowdfunding. It’s power to the people, and those who are the most technologically savvy, bold and switched on, will be able to take control of their own destinies like never before.
What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
Senior management (teaching). I learnt that the hard way.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
I never stop thinking about my projects, over and over again, during any downtime I have. This is how I explore new ideas, develop, evolve and improve them.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
No one will ever be as passionate about or really understand your vision, idea, start up as well as you do. I made the mistake of leaving my project to a third party to develop, because I naively assumed they’d take to it with the energy and commitment it required while I attended to other matters that I was less passionate about. Big mistake. Do as much as you can yourself, and never leave anyone else at the wheel.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I am busy establishing Sportfunder’s sister site Healthfunder (crowdfunding better health) right now. So watch this space.
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be and how would you go about it?
I’m doing it, the best way I know how, by giving people a hand up via Sportfunder and Healthfunder. If nothing else, at least these two fundraising platforms will help people reach their goals and improve their lives.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
The Long Tail by Chris Anderson.
When was the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it?
Every day, my daughter, toddlers can be so incredibly funny and georgeous.
Connect:
Sportfunder’s Website:
Sportfunder on Facebook:
Sportfunder on Twitter: @sport_funder
Sportfunder on LinkedIn:
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.