Opinion

February 13, 2013 @ 7:01 am By JD Alois  |  

It used to be that stock transactions were a laborious task.  Phone calls were made, account verifications were processed, confirmations were mailed and summarily filed away.  The advent of internet based stock trading was a natural and exciting evolution of  investing in equities.  No longer… Read More

February 7, 2013 @ 9:10 am By Charles Luzar  |  

The SEC has a mandate to protect investors while facilitating access to capital. The crowdfunding industry has a mandate to facilitate access to capital while protecting investors. In theory, the goals of the SEC and the crowdfunding industry align. Industry participants know that there will… Read More

January 25, 2013 @ 1:59 pm By Michael Goldberg  |  

Quang Mai Duy, the dynamic CEO of the Vietnamese start-up company Biaki, has a problem. Despite Biaki’s initial progress in developing its CRM software solution for the Vietnamese market, Quang is having a hard time raising capital in Vietnam. Angel investing outside of the family… Read More

January 23, 2013 @ 8:30 am By JD Alois  |  

Recently a superlative document was published by the Milken Institute which reflected upon the current state of crowdfunding domestically within the United States but also drawing on parallels abroad.  This missive was authored  by Messrs.  Chris Brummer, a law professor at Georgetown University and Daniel Gorfine,… Read More

January 23, 2013 @ 2:49 am By Forbes  |  

A lot has been written in recent weeks about the Series A crunch in venture capital. For the uninitiated, the Series A crunch is the widening gap between the number of angel/seed financings (growing) and the number of Series A financings, the second round of… Read More

January 21, 2013 @ 4:53 pm By VentureBeat  |  

Martin Luther King Jr.  had a dream that his children would “one day live in a nation where they would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” While we’ve certainly made great strides towards racial and… Read More

January 19, 2013 @ 8:42 am By TechnicallyPhilly  |  

One Philadelphia Attorney’s perspective: New Year’s Eve of 2012 came and went this year as it does every year. Some partied. Some slept. But for those of us who are paying attention to the world of equity crowdfunding, Dec. 31, 2012 was supposed to be a day… Read More

January 18, 2013 @ 10:56 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal published an article outlining a ten-fold increase in crowdfunding-related domain names in the past year. The main takeaway was in how many were determined to need further scrutiny… In a year-end trawl of the Internet, the association of securities regulators… Read More

January 16, 2013 @ 8:49 am By Charles Luzar  |  

This article is part three in a series on entrepreneurship and access to capital. I recently talked to Richard Seline, Principal of Global NextGen Advisors, who just spoke at the Crowdfund Texas conference. He also offers support to the entrepreneurial community through his organization, Competitive Texas. I recently watched a documentary called… Read More

January 15, 2013 @ 8:37 pm By Huffington Post  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission is finalizing its work on implementation of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama on April 5, 2012. Concerns that common folks will lose money if they invest in crowd funded ventures are one of the… Read More

January 13, 2013 @ 11:51 am By Charles Luzar  |  

This article is part two in a series on entrepreneurship and access to capital. I recently talked to Richard Seline, Principal of Global NextGen Advisors, who just spoke at the Crowdfund Texas conference. He also offers support to the entrepreneurial community through his organization, Competitive Texas. As crowdfunding rules are… Read More

January 12, 2013 @ 4:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

File this under recently discovered.  The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has published a document inquiring; Are You An Informed Investor?  Crowdfunding.  It would appear the NASAA is not a fan of the Jobs Act – at least certain segments of it. Certainly a benign… Read More

January 8, 2013 @ 7:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

Not only is Crowdfunding listed as a Crucial Consumer Trend on TrendWatching it is listed as Number 1. “How will you deliver on consumer expectations in the next 12 Months?”  That is the subtitle for this ranking.  Crowdfunding beats Number 2 – Emerging – as in… Read More

January 5, 2013 @ 7:40 am By JD Alois  |  

Mark Cuban speaking on the NextMarket podcast declares that Crowdfunding site Kickstarter should be a requirement for every start up; “Kickstarter should be a requirement for every startup. It’s a way for you create demand and sell the product without giving up any equity. That is… Read More

January 3, 2013 @ 11:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

Coming from the pages of VentureBeat, Crowdfunding Game Pixel Academy was their number 2 Gaming Story for 2012, which was Crowdfunding on Fundable: #2.Educational outreach program Pixel Academy looking for a place to call home. Offering workshops on topics like video game design, 3D printing, film making,… Read More

December 27, 2012 @ 7:47 am By Kristin Voinovich  |  

I read an exceptional article back in November written by Daniel Gorfine and Ben Miller.  Daniel is Director of Special Projects & Legal Counsel for the esteemed Milken Institute and Ben is Co-Founder of Fundrise – a direct investment platform for local real estate and… Read More

December 23, 2012 @ 2:34 pm By Washington Post  |  

Since President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act last spring, the most successful crowdfunding campaign — for an e-paper wristwatch called Pebble Watch — raised $10 million. Another campaign — this one for a video game, raised $6.3 million from 90,000 fans online… Read More

November 28, 2012 @ 6:00 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Last month I wrote an article about how a fund of funds may help some investors participate in crowdfunding.  Interested in additional perspective on the idea, I reached out to Sherwood Neiss of Crowdfund Capital Advisors for his take.  His response was as follows: (f) Applicability- Section 4(6) shall not apply to transactions… Read More

November 5, 2012 @ 8:25 pm By Paul Niederer, CapitalUnderdogs  |  

Here is a typical headline … Equity Crowdfunding: Potential Disaster Waiting To Happen … and here is a previous blog article I wrote around this type of headline. The Road to Equity Crowdfunding Hell Through the Rear View Mirror … but surely motive is also… Read More

November 5, 2012 @ 8:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

The recently released document put together by a cadre of European academicians has quickly become a must read for the policy leaders of the domestic Crowdfunding industry. Matthias Klaes, Professor of Commerce from Keele University in the UK opens the discussion by quoting Schumpeter and… Read More