My husband is a master coppersmith specializing in hand-crafted "fine art" copper fountains and other copper art. We have a vision for our company, goals have been set, we believe we're past the "seed stage" and are entering into the actual "start-up phase", and have a business plan all written up. Right now we are seeking an angel investor to get us where we want to be. But pitching the idea of an art-based business is vastly different than trying to pitch an up-and-coming high tech product. There are no demographics or sales numbers available to show market trends in the arts industry, which doesn't make it any easier. And because the products are hand-crafted, we're not looking at explosive multi-million or billion dollar profits. Are there angels out there who invest in art-based businesses? If so, is there any techinque to finding them and securing their interest?
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It seems to me that you are approaching this problem from the wrong direction. What, exactly, do you want from investors? I know you want money, but the question is, what will you do with that money if you can get it? And how will your repayment of those investors effect your financial future? The business of hand-crafted fine art is limited by your husband's man power. No matter how much you promote him, you can only sell what he can produce. And that production is quite limited. If you hire a team to produce items, those items cease to be hand-crafted fine art. So what do the investors get out of this deal? There are large numbers of very creative people selling their art on the web. I don't think I have ever seen one who needed investors to help them create and maintain a web site. All the promotion in the world can't help your husband create more fine art than he will normally make. You might increase demand enough to raise prices a bit, but there is a limit on fine art pricing, unless you are very, very famous. |
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Believe or not, some have been having success in this area using LinkedIn, and even Craigslist. However, it depends on the amount of funding you are seeking. Trade journals are another avenue to acquire funding from enthusiasts with the ability to invest. If you need help, please let us know. http://www.dnavertical.com |
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It seems that you have a site up, have a catalog, support paypal transactions and publish your show attendance. I'm not so certain I would categorize your effort as a startup - looks like you've been selling a while now. What exactly will the funding support? Without additional insight, i'm in agreement with gary - its a bit difficult to scale production with one artist w/o losing that artesian flair. If the issue is channel, perhaps asking what others have experienced / insights on selling goods on ebay, novica, craigslist, art consolidator sites etc. would be helpful. |
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To a certain extent, I agree with everyone on identifying what you're going to do with the money and how will you make more with it. However, you may need to hire help if you are overwhelmed by orders. Michelangelo didn't paint the Sistine Chapel Ceiling all by himself and Andy Warhol had plenty of help (His studio was called The Factory.). Hiring people to clean up, rough cut copper/weld, refill acetlyne tanks, pack crates, etc. isn't going detract from the art. You may need capital to hire another talented artist full-time, but you can probably get away with some students or create an apprentiship (which you should do anyway to pass this skill along) for a lot less money. If space is a problem, you may want to look into an artist coop or start one yourself and split the rent on a space. To boost sales, start calling on local designers and commercial realtors. Corporations are notorious for spending a lot of money on office decorations. A custom fountain would be appropriate. |
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