Know Why You're Starting a Company

Ringelmann says founders should be clear about the problem they want to solve and why it matters to them. Her goal was to democratize access to capital, a problem she saw affect her parents and herself. She says a clear purpose helped her find co-founders who shared it.

Ringelmann’s original plan was for an offline fund, but her co-founder Slava suggested using the internet. That prompted the team to develop a perks-based model and launch Indiegogo. Because she focused on widening access to capital rather than preserving her initial solution, she could adapt.

Indiegogo expected to raise its first venture round in fall 2008, but it took three and a half more years. Ringelmann had planned to go a year without a salary and had to manage for four. She says the mission helped the team persist, and that it also shaped practical choices such as keeping the platform open, going global, and prioritizing customer happiness.

Ringelmann connects democratizing access to capital with offering different funding structures, including fixed and flexible funding. She says the mission attracted employees motivated by the work and customers with ambitious projects. She cites solar-powered roads raising over $2 million and uBiome raising $350,000 on Indiegogo before joining Y Combinator and later closing a $4.5 million seed round.

Ringelmann recommends repeatedly asking why you want to start the company until the answer reaches a deeply held belief. Her own chain moved from democratizing funding to fair opportunity, ending with a belief that life should be fair. She says that conviction helped her recognize the mission was real and worth pursuing.