The secret to raising money for your business is having money to spend raising money for your business. Thank you for attending my TedTalk on how businesses are using JOBS Act Investment Crowdfunding to raise up to $5M for their business. Note - they’re spending $250k to $500k to do it. 

As you get over the shock of the Sticker Price of how much it costs to raise money for your business below are the Three Steps you need to know to understand why it costs money to raise money. In short, you need to be ready. 

Step 1 - Getting Your Business, Business Ready 

You need to have a BONAFIDE BUSINESS in order to legally raise money for your business. What does this mean if you’ve been in business for a few years or decades? It means you’ve already invested in starting a business and are more than likely 95% Business Ready. 

However, if you’re a StartUp, are you business ready? More likely, if you’re thinking about starting a startup (aka, you’re a wannapreneur) is your star...more

CrowdInvesting doesn't mess up your captable.

The only down side of having your mom, 8 auntie, 30 cousins and 3000 second cousins or customers on your captable is VC hate it when they can't dilute you down to an employee. That is the real reason VCs don't want a quote-unquote "messy" crowdfunding captable. It makes it harder for them to push a co-founder on you and claim 3 board seats so that in 18 months they can push you out of your company. Typically VCs reserve this treatment for women Founders but alas, greed is almost free of sexism...almost. 

However, I digress. Because seriously, Sharks are sharks and you've sorta gotta expect that kind of behavior from an industry and practitioners who call themselves Sharks, right? I mean the only ones you've really got to keep an eye out for are the "Angels''. Swear to g-d the best trick the Devil ever did was pivot into investing into early stage startups. What's one soul when you can claim the upside of an entire industry? Know what I...more

Your customers are you business' biggest influencers, not "Influencers". 

"Most influencers couldn't get their dog to sit."

Darren Marble, CEO of Crush Capital. 

The great thing about customers is that Customers are Humans and Humans rarely change. Yes, behaviors, expectations and even language adapt and evolve but at the end of the day, Human Customers all want pretty much the same thing, predictability. When you walk into your favorite store, restaurant or barbershop it's your favorite because you know exactly what you're going to get. The food is predictably delicious. The products predictably great or in some instances just predictably "okay" and you know that. You knew that going in hence why you're there. Especially when it comes to comfort foods. Yes, you know they're "bad" for you. But when you're in need of a bit of culinary nostalgia, a particular smell or taste that takes you back in time, to a place where an emotion or memory lives, you beeline straight to that s...more

Hello Beautiful People!

For those of you who have never met me my name is Samson Williams and I’m the President of the Crowdfunding Professional Association. I came by this honor by an odd set of circumstances that allows me to stand on the shoulders of everyone who worked so diligently to birth the Investment Crowdfunding industry. I say this because I am in no way responsible for the success of the industry but man oh man am I a fan. In that regard I am sharing my vision and thoughts on where the CrowdInvesting* industry will be by 2030. Are my predictions 100% correct? A crazy, wild-eyed scientist and a kid borrowed my time machine so I dunno. Time will tell. But as you read this just keep in mind, “The hardest part of anyone’s overnight success is the first 10 years.” Title III of the JOBS Act turns five years old on May 16, 2021 so the retail crowdfunding industry isn't even in kindergarten yet. What follows are insights into where the industry will be by the time it turns into a ...more

Many crypto enthusiasts imagine a world where everyone holds securities DRS (direct registration of securities) which have been issued/delivered in the form of tokens on a blockchain and trade them on exchanges. That's not going to happen.

Make no mistake, I'm a huge fan of tokenizing securities. I'll explain how, when and...most important...why.

Last week I spoke with the CEO of a large REIT. He'd spent over a million dollars on tokenization initiatives for his securities and, close to going live, he spoke with some of his investors (funds, insurance companies, cities and other institutional investors) and was stunned to learn they absolutely didn't care. So he shelved the project and continued issuing securities just as he always had. He asked me "why would anyone do this?"

Good question. Lets deconstruct the answer...

The problem that almost all real estate firms have, as well as private companies regardless of size, is that there is no secondary market for their securities. The cos...more

Let's keep this available in our own archive! 

The amendments to Reg CF, Reg A, and other rules relating to capital formation utilizing exempt offerings have finally been published in the Federal Register, with an effective date of March 15, 2021.

Facilitating Capital Formation and Expanding Investment Opportunities by Improving Access to Capital in Private Markets
A Rule by the Securities and Exchange Commission on 01/14/2021

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/14/2020-24749/facilitating-capital-formation-and-expanding-investment-opportunities-by-improving-access-to-capital 

How to raise your first $107k in investments - The beauty of RegCF Investment Crowdfunding

The first dollar is always the hardest. Whether you’re trying to earn it, generate revenue or raise it. It all starts with Dollar One. And, knowing that you're a busy Founder, CEO or CFO so I’ll save you a long read and just let you know the following 3 facts: 

1. It costs you sweat, creativity and drive to raise your company’s first $107k using RegCF.
2. After the first $107k, it will cost you about 10% of your goal to try and raise your desired amount. Most of that goes towards marketing.
3. If you hit your $107k, you can amend your filing and continue to raise money just like these Founders did: 
   • At Ease Rentals ($303k raised from 295 investors)
   • Cornbread Hemp ($492k raised from 870 investors) 

But don’t take my word for it. Listen to this interview with Jim Higdon, Chief Communications Officer of CornBreadHemp to learn more about how Cornbread Hemp used RegCF to raise thei...more