2019 CfPA Chairman's public address
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
2018 CfPA Chairman's year-end address
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
3 Ways to Get Cheap Tickets, 10 Good Reasons to Attend and 5 Bad Reasons Not to Join SuperCrowd22
Devin Thorpe
3 Ways to Get Cheap Tickets to SuperCrowd22
Let’s get this out of the way quickly. There are three ways to get cheap tickets to SuperCrowd22.
- Save $100 here. Everyone is eligible.
- Pay what you can here. If you can’t afford the full price or even half price, pay what you can. No questions asked. We don’t want the cost to keep you from attending.
- Become a CfPA Member. You can join for just $10 per month and cancel at any time. We hope you’ll stay for a long time. Benefits include free or discounted admission to future events. Members can purchase tickets to SuperCrowd22 for just $75%
Register for SuperCrowd22!
10 Good Reasons to Attend SuperCrowd22
There are countless good reasons to join us for SuperCrowd22; here are just ten:
- Meet people like you. Every day you get up determined to make the world a little better. Wouldn’t it be great to increase your circle of friends who do the same thing!
- Learn from experts. The roster of speakers is nearly 100 people long, including the smar
Calling All Social Entrepreneurs: Urgent Reminder
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
Expert: Crowdfunding and Venture Capital Markets Will Merge
Frankly, I don’t remember when a guest and I covered so much important ground in so little time. Don’t miss my conversation with Christopher Lustrino, the founder and CEO of KingsCrowd.
SuperCrowd22
Chris will be speaking at SuperCrowd22, our two-day virtual conference on impact crowdfunding and community capital. This event is for you!
“One of the cool things about building our business is that we get to watch how the entire world of equity crowdfunding is forming, what investor sentiment is like, what their behavior is like, what startup founder behavior is like,” Chris says.
“This is an incredible place to be in the world at this moment in time,” Chris continues. “So, it’ll be fun to dive in and tell folks more about what it is that’s happening all around us as this industry develops.”
KingsCrowd is tracking every deal in the sector, so he has a great perspective on the industry. Don’t miss it!
Readers can register now for half price!
Convergence of Crowdfunding and Venture Ca
...more
This Social Entrepreneur May Appear Scattered But She's Laser Focused
Michelle Thimesch Works to Fix Capitalism By Empower Women and BIPOC Entrepreneurs
Devin: What do you think of within that skill set as being your superpower?
Michelle: I am a very practical problem solver. The analytical thinking from the legal training side is something that definitely helps evaluate things. I’m a practical problem solver. I believe there are solutions to all problems. So for me, it’s about communication, openness and problem-solving. I guess that’s multiple superpowers, but I see it under the umbrella of communication.
You could be forgiven for thinking Michelle Thimesch is a bit scattered. She is working on several major projects right now, but they are all closely aligned in solving a single problem. She’s no more scattered than a laser-guided missile.
She is the CEO of Crowdfund Mainstreet, which she founded with Jenny Kassan. She also organized an investor network called Angels of Mainstreet. Most recently, she raised a fund to create Opportunity Mainstreet in B...more
Are Your Investments Working Against Your Philanthropy?
Your investments work for you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. What are they doing? Does that work align with your mission and values?
Hard Work
Investing is hard. Like, really hard.
It’s easy, of course, to buy a stock. Especially today. It has never been easier. Many online brokerages don’t even charge commissions anymore. It’s so easy.
But really investing to earn a return over time that will help you achieve financial goals, like being able to retire someday. That is seriously hard work.
One way to make it easier is to hire other people to do it. There are easy ways to do this, like buying mutual funds and ETFs. An ETF is an exchange-traded fund that trades like a stock but represents ownership in a portfolio of stocks, similar to a mutual fund.
Choosing funds is almost as tricky as selecting stocks. Broad funds like those that track the S&P 500 index or the Nasdaq 100 invest in many individual stocks. Funds are not required to disclose every stock they own—only the top ten la...more
The Virtual Impact Crowdfunding Event of the Year September 15-16, 2022
Big Announcement
We're organizing an industry-wide virtual impact crowdfunding conference and you’re invited!
At SuperCrowd22 you will learn, connect and grow with people like you. And all for a song.
Let’s start with the song. If you are a member of CfPA, you can save $124 and register for just $75! Click here to register now.
You can join CfPA for just $10 per month. If you're not a member and don't want to join (are you nuts?) you can register for the conference for $149 ($50 off just for being a friend of CfPA). Click here to register.
What is this conference all about?
SuperCrowd22 is the biggest event of the year at the intersection of investment crowdfunding and impact investing, what I call impact crowdfunding.
Investment crowdfunding is a freshly legal way to invest your money, even if you don’t have a lot. Rich people have always been allowed to put money in startups or to back the local bar or diner with a few other rich friends. Investment crowdfunding created ...more
