Fundraising round strategy, when and what type matters with Trade Signal Inc
Welcome to the Gust Launch Founder Spotlight! Gust Launch supports a variety of exciting founders doing amazing things. In this ongoing series we’ll highlight the experiences of Gust Launch founders, in their own words, as they navigate the challenges of early-stage entrepreneurship.
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The Founder, the company, and why we’re excited
We’re excited to share the story of seasoned founders on a mission to democratize market intelligence, by matching retail traders with financial influencers seeking to sell their market insights through their mobile app, Tradefluence. The Trade Signal team has a proven track record of success in the fintech and AI industries, enabling the fast growth of the app, which has 25,000 users and monthly recurring revenue of $23,000 in its beginning stages. Since incorporating in 2021, they’ve launched in the iOS app store, executed 2 rounds of beta testing, raised a preferred round and are currently raising a Regulation Crowdfunding on StartEngine.com.
Trade Signal’s fundraising journey and why they did a Preferred Round followed by a Reg CF round
Each raise has served its own purpose.
During the preferred round, our goal was to get investors who would write checks – as well as provide intangible contributions like industry expertise and connections. So, it involved a lot of research and targeted outreach. In the end, we were successful; our board of investors and advisors has decades of collective experience in marketplaces, fintech, and AI, having worked with companies like Flipkart, Tiger Global, EWM Global, and UBS.
With that said, we’ve always loved the idea of crowdfunding. Like Tradefluence itself, it’s a person-to-person exchange of value. It’s a way to let your actual advocates and users own a piece of your business. So, now that the platform is live, we wanted to give a piece of it back to the users. StartEngine has been a valuable partner in that regard, making the process smooth and relatively painless. Anyone in the world can now invest in Tradefluence and earn shares in the business, which they can hold or trade – just like stocks. And, considering our 25K+ users are all retail stock traders, that’s a very appealing proposition!
We were already incorporated and Gust Launch was still able to help
As experienced founders, we knew we needed a Delaware C-Corp. So, we formed one. But that’s where the easy part ended. We always intended to crowdfund, so didn’t consider how we’d manage our cap table during a Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, etc. It soon became clear, however, that we’d need to recruit Angels and Advisors to refine our product before we could offer it to the wider world. So, we searched for something that would help us manage everything in one place – from templated Agreements of Advisors to sign, to an easy-to-manage Cap Table, to different tiers or shares and rights. The only solution we found was Gust.
We were so far along with our corporate actions by that point; we almost weren’t able to use the platform’s many other tools such as cap table services and hiring agreements. Gust Launch’s default software experience begins with helping startups incorporate as Delaware C-Corporations so they can ensure everything is done correctly. We were already incorporated when we found Gust Launch but they saw the promise of our start-up, and their customer support on-boarding team worked with us to integrate our existing corporate setup to their platform’s corporate legal structure in time for our Preferred Round.
Where can we learn more about Tradefluence?
If you want to try Tradefluence, that’s easy. You can just download it on the App Store.
If you want to invest in Tradefluence, too, go to https://startengine.com/tradesignal.
We believe Tradefluence makes stock picking really easy. You download it to your phone. You find a financial influencer – a Tradefluencer- you like. You subscribe to their stock signals, and follow their trades, with clear target sell and stop-loss prices. We recommend following someone at the top of the leaderboard, but you can follow whoever you want. The whole idea is: you follow prescriptive trade signals from people with proven track records.
Whenever a Tradefluencer you subscribe to publishes a new signal, it goes to your phone – so you can decide to put on the same trade, or not. It’s always up to you. We believe it really makes stock trading very very simple. That was the whole idea of Tradefluence.
Tradefluencers set their own subscription prices. So, if you believe you’re a successful trader or analyst yourself, you have the possibility to earn extra income by selling your stock picks on Tradefluence. Some Tradefluencers are already making thousands from subscriptions.
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This article is intended for informational purposes only, and doesn't constitute tax, accounting, or legal advice. Everyone's situation is different! For advice in light of your unique circumstances, consult a tax advisor, accountant, or lawyer.