Devin: What do you see as your superpower?
Peter: It’s grit—grit and values. Grit comes from values. Grit comes from having an aim, a mission.
Peter Rostovsky’s fintech startup, Raiseway, grew out of his personal experience helping a friend raise money for his startup. Exploring the possibility of investment crowdfunding, he was flummoxed by the sheer number of portals to choose from. At the time, there were over 40, a count that has now topped 70.
“That kind of started this very long exploration into the execution problem with investment crowdfunding for founders of startups and small businesses,” he says, having learned that crowdfunding can be difficult.
Last year, Peter asked me to serve as an advisor to Raiseway, and I was honored to accept. He is an advisor to The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation.
Raiseway is potentially game-changing because the vast majority of businesses in the country that can benefit from crowdfunding are small and can’t afford expensive consultants but can afford to use an app that will guide them through and, using AI, help them execute their crowdfunding campaigns.
Peter has two critical tips for folks looking to crowdfund:
Assess your community. Before you launch, assess your community to determine how large, accessible and warm it is.
Don’t bet on “if you build it, they will come.” To get people to invest, you need to drive people to the investment opportunity thoughtfully and strategically. They won’t find it on their own.
In building Raiseway, Peter leverages his superpower: grit.
AI Podcast Summary
Devin Thorpe interviews Peter Rostovsky, the founder and CEO of Raiseway, a crowdfunding app for entrepreneurs.
Raiseway is designed to streamline the crowdfunding process and help entrepreneurs accelerate their fundraising journey.
The alpha version of Raiseway is currently available for free use.
Peter’s work with Raiseway could completely alter the investment crowdfunding landscape.
Raiseway aims to make crowdfunding more accessible and affordable for small businesses and startups.
Peter’s key tip for entrepreneurs considering crowdfunding is to thoroughly prepare and evaluate their community and connections before starting.
Peter’s superpower is his grit and determination, which he developed through his experiences as an immigrant and in running his own business.
Peter believes that being okay with failure and having a few wins under your belt can help develop grit.
Raiseway can be accessed through the app; contact Peter directly.
How to Develop Grit As a Superpower
Peter developed grit as he grew up. Born in St. Peterburg, his family moved first to Moscow and later to Bryansk, a city he describes as a “hellhole.” Later, still a teenager, he immigrated to the United States, facing a fresh set of cultural challenges.
The difficulties adapting to new situations, cultures and individuals helped him develop the grit he deploys to build his business.
Peter faced a challenge recently. After publicly announcing the launch of the alpha version of the software would happen on April 15, the startup missed the deadline. He admits feeling ashamed due to missing the self-imposed but now public due date.
After worrying that he couldn’t possibly recover, he took responsibility for getting the process back on track and, within weeks, got the product launched. It is now available as a free download for a limited time for those interested in help with their crowdfunding campaigns, willing to provide feedback.
Peter offers some advice for developing grit. “I am a former F-student through and through,” he says. He acknowledges that the learned helplessness phenomenon applied to him. The key to overcoming it is to “get a couple wins under your belt.”
“You can point to them in your life and say, ‘Well, no, I’m not a failure. I did this, this and that.’ It’s not only professional, it’s personal as well,” he says.
By following Peter’s example and advice, you can make grit a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.
Guest-Provided Profile
Peter Rostovsky (he/him):
Founder & CEO, Raiseway
About Raiseway: Raising money with crowdfunding is prohibitively hard for businesses that need it the most - small businesses and startups. Raiseway is a software service to make investment crowdfunding easy and affordable to execute. From the moment of learning about crowdfunding through campaign preparation, execution, and reporting to investors, Raiseway provides businesses with digital tools to increase their chances of successfully raising capital with crowdfunding for a monthly subscription fee.
Website: raiseway.app
Biographical Information: Born and raised in St. Petersburg and Moscow, I moved to New York in 2011 to finish high school. After graduating with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from CUNY Hunter College with a focus on geopolitical risk analysis and the work of the UN, I sold and serviced capital markets intelligence services. After working at Panjiva, Roubini Global Economics, Debtwire, and Preqin, I decided to apply the learnings to serve small businesses that need access to capital the most.
Twitter Handle: @peter_raiseway
Personal Facebook Profile: fb.com/peter.rostovsky.7
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/peter-raiseway
Instagram and Threads Handle: @pool_bread
On July 19, 2023, we’ll hold the first-ever SuperCrowdHour with an extraordinary panel I’ll moderate, discussing “The Power of the Purpose Round.” The panel will include Parker Clay CEO Ian Bentley, DealMaker CEO Rebecca Kacaba and Renew VC founder Mark Hubbard. You’re entitled to a 50 percent discount as a Superpowers for Good reader! Join us for just $5 when you use the discount code SUPERCROWD. Register here.
Fintech Entrepreneur Uses Grit to Launch App to Support Crowdfunders