Friday, December 31, 2021

Dear friends,

Thank you for another year far surpassing my hopes both personally and professionally.

The CfPA continues to be highly-regarded here and abroad as a generous and vital organization expanding access to capital and opportunity for entrepreneurs, small businesses and investors. Our work in 2021 helped Crowdfunding reach new highs, extended our global voice, and expanded our capacity domestically. We saw over $500M raised using RegCF offerings where even non-accredited investors finally got a piece of the pie. We saw RegA+ offerings land over $2B. For these, and so many other reasons, it continues to be an honor to be a part of a leadership team on the cutting edge of Alternative Finance. CfPA’s reputation continues to be enhanced by the many professionals who freely contribute their time and expertise to advancing the association and the industry. There have been so many noteworthy moments and I look forward to seeing even more debut in ’22.

In 2021...more

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Dear friends,

A vast majority of you reading this letter are part of the Crowdfunding community—whether you know this yet or not, your knowledge, initiative, collaboration...and pocketbook have made our industry touch more lives than you might imagine. We at the Crowdfunding Professional Association thank you for all your imagination, hard work and follow-through, and celebrate with you the continued growth enjoyed by communities everywhere. I want to preface this letter by making certain my fellow volunteers at the CfPA are aware just how fortunate we are to have their gift of time, knowledge and leadership—thank you, again.

At its simplest, Crowdfunding lives at the intersection of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, and even until recently was seen more as a funding method for ventures too risky for conventional capital or for entrepreneurs lacking loan-worthy collateral or relevant experience. But in just six+ years since passage of the JOBS Act, Crowdfu...more

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Dear members, friends and colleagues,

Unlike students “getting back to school” each fall, the best work of our association’s many volunteers tends to commence at the start of each new calendar following a frenetic year-end rush both professionally and personally. So, welcome back—I hope your 2018 was prosperous, and your holiday break inspirational and renewing.

Before outlining our goals for 2019, I need to first thank and congratulate all for a pivotal year that commenced with the necessary and successful recruitment of what many have confessed to me is an enviable assembly of alternative finance pioneers and thought leaders—over 34 remarkably generous board members, advisors and committee members, tripling all previous leadership. I am humbled to have gained your mindshare and commitment toward pursuing the CfPA’s noble mission. However, I emphasize “toward” because, as an organization, our ultimate fulfillment remains just over the horizon—we have much to...more

COVID Relief Easing Certain Crowdfunding Rules Ends on August 28!

This week, I’m traveling to Puerto Rico to cover the Bluetide Caribbean Investment Summit for Impact Entrepreneur Magazine. (See a related story here.) As a result, I didn’t have time to produce a podcast for today’s newsletter. I’ll also be sharing the podcast I would typically share on Thursday on Friday—it’s a special one.

 
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Big News! I’ve confirmed with the smartest people I know that an important bit of COVID relief expires on August 28, 2022. If you are a social entrepreneur looking to change the world for good, read on!

One of the biggest barriers to investment crowdfunding is the requirement for financial disclosure. Under the rules that return to full effect on August 28, you must provide financial statements reviewed by an auditor if you hope to raise more than $107,000. An auditor must complete a review before the offering can begin. And it is pricy. A review can easily cost $10,000.

If you raise mor...more

Hello Beautiful People! 

A quick note to point out the obvious thing in RegCF...the Broker Dealers are joining The Crowd. Some bullet points for you to mull over: 

1. Last week $17.3M was committed to RegCF deals. This is probably up 100% from 2020 but you'll have to go to KingsCrowd.com to confirm. 
2. Note the #5 Funding Platform isn't actually a "Funding Portal" but a Broker Dealer. 
3. Who is Dalmore Group? And why should you care that BDs are swimming with The Crowd? 

While there are only 65 FINRA registered Funding Portals, there are over 3200 Broker Dealers in the USA. BDs have far more access to capital than even Sharks do. To put it in terms more easily understood, if VCs are Sharks, Broker Dealers are Orcas. DYK that Orcas are the only seafaring creature that actively hunts Great White sharks? 

SO! This is a big deal because BDs have access to institutional capital the likes of which VCs could never fathom accessing. What happens when institutional mone...more