Jonny Price
President @ Wefunder
Wefunder lets founders raise capital directly from their own users, customers, and community. Companies use it instead of, or alongside, traditional VC. Substack, Mercury, Replit, and Beehiiv have all done it. Jonny Price runs the company.
"The best raises start before the raise."
The 2021 Rule Change Most Founders Still Don't Know About
In 2021 the SEC lifted the REG CF cap from $1.07M to $5M. That single change moved community rounds from a fringe option to a real seed strategy. Companies that used to need a lead VC could now close meaningful capital from their own users.
"Five million is real venture money. Most founders still don't realize it."
Concentric Circles: How Real Raises Get Built
Jonny's framework starts with your closest network and expands outward in rings. Friends and family first. Then existing customers. Then followers and lurkers. Cold ad spend comes last. Most founders flip the order, lead with paid traffic, and wonder why nothing converts.
"Ad spend is the last circle, not the first."
Treat the Page Like a Product
A Wefunder page isn't a brochure. It's a startup landing page that converts strangers into investors. The founders who win iterate on it like an MVP: copy tests, video swaps, headline rewrites, social proof updates.
"Every imperfection on the page is quietly destroying trust."
The Mid-Raise Lull Is a Goal Problem
Almost every stalled round comes back to one mistake. The goal was set too high. The progress bar tells investors the round is going to fail, and they walk. Set a beatable goal, hit it fast, then expand.
"A round that looks like it's losing, loses."
Why Healthcare Is Quietly the #1 Sector
Wefunder's strongest performing sector right now is healthcare. Patients become believers. Believers become investors. Believers become marketers. It's the cleanest example of why community rounds outperform when the product creates emotional ownership.
Small Investors, Big Doors
A $100 investor once introduced a founder to someone who wrote a $1M check. That's the compounding loop community rounds unlock. Small investors aren't just capital on the cap table. They're distribution.
"Your smallest investors become your most effective marketing team."
The Number One Mistake Founders Make
Treating the raise like a side project. An hour or two a week. Community rounds work when the founder commits to them the same way they'd commit to a product launch. Six weeks of full attention beats six months of side-of-desk.
"If you can't commit to your raise, your investors won't either."
The Last 24 Hours
The highest converting moment in any Wefunder raise is the final day. A direct text to your investor list in the last 24 hours moves more capital than the previous week. Most founders don't do it. The ones who win always do.
How Startupr Helps Founders Run Better Raises
At Startupr, our co-founder Parker Costin came up inside StartEngine and Wefunder. We help founders before, during, and after a community round so the raise becomes a growth engine, not a one-time event.
ICP and audience build before launch
Page copy, video scripting, and investor update writing
Warm outbound to existing networks before going public
Pipeline build for the customers your raise needs to grow
Post-raise GTM so the capital actually moves the business
Work With Startupr Book a strategy call
Connect with Jonny and Wefunder Website: https://wefunder.com LinkedIn (Jonny Price): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonnyprice/
Thinking About Raising From Your Users?
Startupr helps founders build the audience, the page, and the pipeline that turn a community round into a real growth engine. We work with companies before they launch and stay through the round.
