About TheHotStart
It started about 22 months ago. A few chance encounters lead a bunch of us to realize that our country has a long way to go when it comes to helping our incredibly talented people turn their dreams to reality. So we decided to do something about that. As we started our exploratory journey and spoke with hundreds of people over several months, we felt fascinated by the tremendous potential, or at least the intent, that urban folks in India have. The intent, in its fundamental form, pointed towards an inclination to support initiatives that can make our complicated lives a little less cluttered, a little more beautiful. The good news is that a large number of people are not just willing to support through funds but also through their personal time and efforts. And that gave us tremendous confidence and encouragement to create TheHotStart.
Given the success of crowdfunding in the United States, we decided that such a platform could really benefit the vast number of creative people in India, who often cannot successfully launch their own projects due to the lack of funds. We believe that this issue could be resolved, if we could use one of India’s most prolific resources – our growing middle class population that is making discretionary spends thanks to the rising disposable incomes. Crowdfunding is anticipated to grow heavily from about USD 1.5 billion to over USD 5 billion by 2017 and we definitely want India to join the revolution.
At TheHotStart, our goal is simple. We want to bring together anyone who has ever wanted to start something and inspire others, to fund projects they feel a connect with. Crowdfunding opens up the scope of exposure to an incredibly large market. The higher the exposure for an innovator, the better it is for his/her idea to jump to a bigger stage. Considering that most innovators approach crowdfunding websites with novice ideas that they believe have the power to become a part of something exponentially larger (the word larger has been used in three sentences consecutively), the risks involved for a project creator are relatively low. It also saves the innovator time, money and energy that he would have otherwise exhausted in garnering support for his idea by word of mouth/personal encounters. Crowdfunding presents itself as a consolidated, one-stop solution to both the innovators’ and the evangelists’ problems.
On TheHotStart, we wanted to make it really simple for you to get started. So it’s simple, straight-forward and uncomplicated. We went a step further and allowed room for adjustments so that the platform could fit varied needs. You can choose between two funding models, namely, Almost All or Nothing (AAN) and Flexible (FLEX) Funding. And this is perhaps the only place in India where you can do that.
So How Does it Work?
The AAN model reduces partial funding risks involved in crowdfunding by setting a target limit of monetary funds that are to be reached before an Evangelist can actually contribute money towards your project. Before the set limit is met, an Evangelist can only pledge his contribution via the website wherein he/she agrees on an amount that they would like to pay up if that project meets its required threshold. When this happens, the Evangelists are notified via e-mail, which is when they can make the payments of the amounts that they had earlier pledged, using credit/debit cards.
The FLEX model on the other hand, allows an Evangelist to make a contribution immediately. These funds are then directed towards the Innovator without the pre-set requirement of meeting an upper limit/set target amount. The FLEX model will allow the project creator to make use of whatever funds that can be raised via our website towards the completion of his project.
We are really excited about the possibilities. Why don’t you take the first step to making a small dent in the universe by registering on TheHotStart website (www.thehotstart.com) or liking our page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/thehotstart). Either way, it takes less than two minutes.
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