By Dawn Dickson, Founder & CEO of PopCom

My journey exploring non-traditional ways of raising capital started in late 2017 after my company PopCom completed our seed round, bringing our funding total to $900,000 from angels and VC funds. All 2017 the tech industry, and almost everyone else, was buzzing about bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and initial coin offerings (ICO). When I began hearing about ICOs and the capital that startups were able to raise through them, I became enthusiastically interested in learning about the process. Like many founders, I have a compelling product in need of a substantial infusion of cash to reach its true market potential.