Crowdfunding used to sit on the sidelines. It was seen as scrappy, small-scale, something you did when venture capitalists weren’t calling. Today, crowdfunding is a serious path to market for founders who want to build something bold and bring their community with them from day one. It’s funding, yes, but it’s also validation, loyalty, advocacy, and a powerful way to grow without giving up control.
At this year’s Ideas Fest, we’re getting into the real story behind crowdfunding, the wins, the work, and what it takes to turn a campaign into a company. We’re talking about founders who did it. Who launched, raised, delivered, and grew. Founders who didn’t just go to the crowd for capital but built companies everyone could believe in.
Mike Turner, co-founder of Bird & Blend Tea Co., knows exactly what that looks like. He and Krisi, his co-founder, started out packing tea in a back bedroom. From day one, they were creating an experience, a sense of play, joy, and community around tea that didn’t exist anywhere else.
Over the years, they’ve built a colourful, creative tea brand with an amazing following, 18 physical stores, and a thriving online business. But when it came time to raise capital, they didn’t go behind closed doors. They went to the people.
Their crowdfunding round hit its target in just 30 minutes, eventually bringing in over £1 million. It wasn’t just hype, it was the payoff of years of relationship-building, showing up for customers, and doing things differently. For Mike, raising through the crowd was a reflection of how they’ve always done business: with people, for people, and never by the book.