Crowdfunding Now!

" 1. Have the right type of product or business.  A large number of people must be able to understand your idea easily. Consumer, food, consumer electronics , and fashion products are particularly well suited to this. 2. Create a compelling video.  Most people will want to hear your story, see who you are and see prototypes of your product. 3. Raise sufficient funds.  On some crowdsourcing platforms, you don’t receive any money until you raise your total goal. This means you want to set an achievable fund-raising target. But you may not be able to go back for additional rounds or raise more than your target, so make sure you set the bar high enough to execute your vision. 4. Choose the right crowdfunding platform.  Make sure the site you choose meets your particular needs, including the right type of product or service, the type of rewards or equity you can give, the amount of money you can raise and the amount you need to raise before receiving anythin...

Under Dodd/Frank,  " six federal financial regulatory agencies – the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency –" must, by law, develop standards and an approach to assessing the diversity policies and practices of entities they regulate. This means looking at diversity at all banks, investment firms, and credit unions. All of them. Each of these agencies will develop a way to determine if the policies of the entities they regulate are fair, or at least, inclusive. They are asking for comments on this.  See:  http://twisri.blogspot.com/2014/01/standards-for-assessing-diversity.html Related articles Standards for Assessing the Diversity Policies of Banks, Investment Firms, Credit Unions

The shift in securities laws will make it easier to access capital for startups http://www.blackenterprise.com/small-business/jobs-act-win-for-minority-businesses-title-3/ Related articles WATCH: This Morning's Hearing On Crowdfunding & The JOBS Act Is A Big One Small Business Startup Funding And American JOBS Act Title III Outside the Box: 4 ways investing in startups will become easier for you Minority Business Development Agency Announces Record Client Performance

As we get closer to equity crowdfunding , we will start posting additional resources you can use here. The first is a ten-page PowerPoint deck you can use to summarize your company/business idea. Download it at:  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10GpwffpJ8JCRwZOEJkDjbaUBDTWbqwN1DAUcexZhzbQ/edit?usp=sharing From the book:  The JOBS Act: Crowdfunding for Small Businesses and Startups Related articles How to create a basic PowerPoint Presentation Add an exit strategy to bullet points in a PowerPoint slide

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 co...

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 ...