Crowdfunding Now!

2013 Entrepreneur Expo National Black MBA Association, Inc. - Washington DC Chapter Tuesday, November 5, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EST) College Park, MD http://nbmbaadc2013entrepreneurexpo-eorg.eventbrite.com/

The full Securities and Exchange Commission voted today to approve rules allowing full crowdfunding. This means that, in short order, you will be able to sell stock in your small or startup company over the Internet . Title 3 of the JOBS Act means that issuers can sell securities online to anyone. The SEC voted to create a new SEC Act exemption to do so. The amount of money you can raise and the amount of money you can invest is limited, however. SEC Staff Members John Ramsey and Sebastian Gomez were two of the authors of this exemption. Ramsey noted the new rule requires crowdfunding intermediaries to register with the SEC and FINRA. The new rules create an entirely new type of business financing firm: a Funding Portal (FP). Portals bring investors, companies together. He noted that FINRA will issue a regulatory notice on FPs. SEC Staff Member Lela Bond noted that the proposed rules exclude foreign companies, investment companies, companies with no business plan, and compan

Letter from the US Senate to the SEC about the JOBS Act . October 21, 2013 The Honorable Mary Jo White Chairman U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street, NE Washington, DC 20549 Dear Chairman White: We write in response to recent news reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is nearing the point of proposing regulations on crowdfunding .  Proposed regulations have been delayed significantly, and we urge the SEC to move forward with its proposal as soon as possible. The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act was adopted with bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House of Representatives . The legislation was signed into law on April 5, 2012, and in it Congress directed the SEC to publish rules on the crowdfunding provisions within 270 days of enactment.  It has now been over 530 days since the JOBS Act became law, and we have not seen a proposal from the SEC on crowdfunding.  We are concerned that so much time has passed wit

Cover of Illmatic (Aniv) We note with interest the crowdfunding campaign by Nas , (formal name: Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones.) According to Wikipedia, "his debut album Illmatic , released in 1994, received universal acclaim from both critics and the hip hop community. It is frequently ranked as..the greatest hip hop album of all time.." His crowdfunding campaign is unique, actually brilliant. No other celebrity of his stature has launched a crowdfunding campaign that has been as personal and targeted. Rather than focusing on a record, a product or a film (in contrast to, say, Spike Lee or Zach Braff) or self aggrandisement, Nas chose to focus on the needs of a single human family. Outstanding. THIS is what crowdfunding can do and may be the template for future crowdfunding campaigns by similarly situated performers. Related articles How To Crowdfund: 5 Crowdfunding Tips Not Your Mom's Fundraiser: Crowdfunding Is Nothing Like Fundraising Crowdfunding's G

With crowdfunding gaining traction, I thought I would revisit and update our crowdfunding tips. 1. Review other crowdfunding campaigns for best practices As one blogger noted, "Before you start your crowdfunding campaign,  study others who have done it well." There will be many  examples of how to do crowdfunding right. Watch our Twitter feed (@Blackcrowdfund)  2. Hustle Develop a " strategic approach." Who are you trying to get support from? Why would they support you? What are the long term benefits to your supporters? Are you going to hit them up again? How many times?  Create a m edia list. Get "ambassadors," people who will speak on your behalf. "Plan ahead  as much as possible. This means contacting your supporters before you  launch to firm up their promotion and participation, and also  developing a thorough marketing plan." Above all, get going! 3. Adapt quickly As one crowdfunder put it, things may not go as planned. You wi

From a recent article, 7 Key Elements of a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign. My comments are in bold text below: 1. "Tell your story. As the old adage goes: facts tell, stories sell. When it comes to eliciting customer engagement, a campaign with a good story is an unparalleled strategy . Did you experience some kind of obstacle on your path to entrepreneurship? Did a major life event influence your career choice or business decisions? Tell your story in your crowdfunding pitch to make a connection with backers and encourage engagement.If you don’t have a personal story to share with your audience, share facts and highlights about your startup, product or vision instead. Describe the problem (and severity of the problem) your product will solve, or discuss the vision for your startup . Keep your tone and messaging personal to make backers feel closely connected to you and your project." Agree wholeheartedly. Telling your story is key 2. "Provide value for value. Crowd

" African American buying power will increase 73 percent between 2000 and 2012, which not only overtakes the 60 percent increase in Caucasian buying power, but also the 67 percent rise in total buying power of all races combined. Two factors contributing to the gains include a 61 percent increase in black-owned businesses in the five-year period between 2002 and 2007 and 84 percent of blacks over 25 years of age completing high school or college – a sharp increase from 66 percent in 1990."  Related articles The Color of Money African Americans face financial challenges New Prudential study shows African Americans' wealth building weakened by competing financial priori In Colorado, Blacks Make Up 4 Percent Of The Population And 100 Percent Of Death Row

Martin Luther King Memorial, Washington, DC Photo by William Michael Cunningham Copyright, WMC, 2012. "Evil is not driven out, but crowded out...through the expulsive power  of something good. " MLK Related articles "I Am MLk" Poem Crowdfunding statistics & trends [infographic]

A short video describing the top 10 things black folks (and others) need to know about crowdfunding. A plug for Blackcrowdfunding.net. http://youtu.be/4hXsgxuO-ag

Join Us for a FREE Webinar on Crowdfunding! May 7 at 10 AM PT/ 1 PM ET http://greenforall.org/programs/business-engagement-strategies/crowdfunding-101/ Related articles What to do after you've launched your crowdfunding campaign Champions of Change: Crowdfunding Entrepreneurs New Crowdfunding Site Supports Black Entrepreneurs 7 Strategies For Launching A Successful Crowdfunding Campaign Upstart, A Site For Crowdfunding People, Raises $5.9M From First Round, Eric Schmidt, And Others | TechCrunch Crowdfunding websites raise $2.7 bln in 2012

The University of California, Berkeley's Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership has conservatively estimated the size of the equity and debt based crowdfunding market to be at least $3.98B.  Professor Lee Fleming, Faculty Director of the Fung Institute, Academic Director of the Program and contributing author said, “While estimating the size of the future and currently non-existent market is a hazardous endeavor at best, we have presented a set of data, assumptions, and estimations that may prove useful. From the lenses of Angels, VCs and Small business lending we believe a market as large as $3.98B per year could rapidly evolve.” “While Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson added credibility to the concept of crowdfund investing by predicting crowdfund investing could amount to a $300B market, we believe that the market size may be much small yet equally impactful” said   Sherwood Neiss , co-founder of the Program for Innovation in Entrepreneurial and Social Finance and co-au