LiquidPiston

Overview

LiquidPiston develops advanced rotary engines and hybrid power systems for applications where size, weight, endurance, and fuel flexibility matter. Its 2026 Regulation Crowdfunding offering on StartEngine launched on April 15, 2026 and closed on October 15, 2026 with $3,899,861 invested.

As StartEngine's Director of Funding Growth, I managed the issuer strategy, led the growth plan across teams, and hosted three investor webinars with LiquidPiston's founder and CEO, Alec Shkolnik, PhD, from launch through the close.

Raise records

LiquidPiston's raise on KingsCrowd

• KingsCrowd2026 Reg CF raiseLiquidPiston's 2026 Reg CF raise on StartEngine, which closed on October 15, 2026 with $3,899,861 invested.

The challenge

Making engine technology an investment story

LiquidPiston had a complex product to explain: rotary engines and hybrid power systems built for uses where every pound and every hour of endurance counts. Investors needed to understand what the company had built, where the technology could be used, and what the offering was.

The story had to stay grounded in what the company had already achieved, with its patents, government contract progress, and founders up front, while the campaign found the people most likely to invest.

Goals and scope

The playbook

How I ran the raise

1. 01

   Built a plan that responded to the first two weeks

   I modeled four launch scenarios for the first 14 days, each with its own path for the rest of the raise and the budget it would need. Raise pace, investor and follower activity, channel results, and open decisions went into a weekly account review, so the plan followed the campaign rather than a fixed budget.

2. 02

   Made the technology understandable to investors

   I organized messaging tests around four story angles, then worked with the paid media and creative teams to keep the product proof and offering claims clear as each message moved through issuer and compliance review.

   Government contracts

   The company's progress on government contracts, as evidence of the work already underway.

   Patents and traction

   The intellectual property and milestones behind the technology.

   Founder story

   The father-and-son founders and the engine they set out to build.

   Applications

   Where LiquidPiston's engines can be used, presented as uses for the technology rather than current sales.

3. 03

   Directed a phased acquisition plan

   Google, Meta, and Taboola each had a distinct role. The campaign opened with structured tests of six discovery ads across the main story angles. The winning concepts stayed live while new variations tested headlines, copy, and graphics.

   Later phases moved attention to warm audiences, milestone and deadline messages, and closing versions of the best creative. I reviewed cost per follower, cost per investor, click and checkout behavior, and investment quality together before recommending larger budgets.

4. 04

   Put the founder in front of investors

   I hosted three live webinars with LiquidPiston's leadership, from a session with Kevin O'Leary in May to a commercialization briefing in September. Each one let investors hear the technology and the business case from the people building it, and I coordinated its promotion with campaign updates and other investor communications.

5. 05

   Managed the account beyond ads

   I tied the message, the landing and campaign pages, founder content, campaign updates, platform promotions, investor follow-up, and close planning into one operating calendar. Current results decided which proof to repeat, which audiences needed more education, and when to move to closing language.

Investor webinars

Three live sessions I hosted

Each webinar gave investors a different part of the story, straight from LiquidPiston's leadership: the business with Kevin O'Leary, the company's role in national security, and its road to commercialization.

Webinar 1, May 11, 2026 LiquidPiston Webinar with Kevin O'Leary Play the video. It loads from YouTube.

Key moves

What I brought to the campaign

1. Four launch scenarios that set the budget path from the first two weeks' results
2. Messaging tests that made a complex technology clear to investors
3. A phased acquisition plan across Google, Meta, and Taboola
4. Three investor webinars I hosted with LiquidPiston's leadership, one with Kevin O'Leary
5. One operating calendar for ads, pages, content, updates, follow-up, and the close

Results

The numbers

Each figure describes LiquidPiston's 2026 Reg CF raise on StartEngine, where I was Director of Funding Growth.

• $3,899,861

  Invested in the Reg CF offering

  Closed October 15, 2026

• 6

  Months from launch to close

  April 15 to October 15, 2026

• 3

  Investor webinars hosted

  May, June, and September 2026

• 10,000+

  Views of the webinar with Kevin O'Leary

  Live May 11, 2026

Results in detail

What the numbers mean

LiquidPiston's 2026 Reg CF offering on StartEngine closed on October 15, 2026 with $3,899,861 invested, per KingsCrowd. The figure is the full campaign's total, from the launch on April 15, 2026 to the close, and covers this offering only.

The webinar with Kevin O'Leary drew more than 10,000 views, and the two that followed kept the founder in front of investors through the summer and into the final weeks of the raise.

Timeline

Campaign timeline

1. April 15, 2026

   LiquidPiston's 2026 Reg CF raise launched on StartEngine.

2. May 11, 2026

   A live investor webinar with Kevin O'Leary and LiquidPiston's founder and CEO, Alec Shkolnik, PhD, which I hosted.

3. June 30, 2026

   A live webinar on LiquidPiston's role in national security.

4. September 24, 2026

   A live webinar on LiquidPiston's road to commercialization, with its VP of Engineering.

5. October 15, 2026

   The raise closed with $3,899,861 invested.

Key learnings

Learning Experiences

1. Explain the technology before asking for the investment. Investors back what they understand, so the story leads with what the product does and where it is used.
2. Plan around the first two weeks. Launch scenarios let budget decisions follow the campaign's real pace.
3. Test the story angles, then scale the winners. Judge creative on investor cost and investment quality, not clicks alone.
4. Bring the founder back more than once. Each webinar covered a new part of the story: the business, defense applications, and commercialization.
5. Run the account as one calendar. Ads, pages, updates, promotions, and follow-up work best when they move together toward the close.