Strategy

October 12, 2016 @ 8:02 am By Ethan Senturia  |  

Securing the right financing for your small business is likely to be one of the biggest and most complicated financial transactions you’ll make in your professional life. Though a bit of a daunting task, it is typically worth the effort for small business owners who… Read More

October 6, 2016 @ 4:00 pm By Anthony Zeoli  |  

While I have kept both my statutory summary pages and comparative summaries relatively up to date, it has been quite a while since I have done an editorial update on Intrastate Crowdfunding. With the increased number of active Intrastate regulations, as well as the growing… Read More

October 4, 2016 @ 3:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

In 2015 a small Spanish company named Hawkers was looking to enter the North American market for sunglasses.  They decided to utilize Kickstarter to help cross the Atlantic and expand their brand. Jump forward to today and this company has just raised $56 million to… Read More

October 2, 2016 @ 5:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

Coolest Cooler, the 2nd most funded Kickstarter campaign of all time, continues to struggle in its quest to deliver coolers to campaign backers. Late last month we reported that Amazon was selling Coolest Coolers for about what you had to commit during the crowdfunding campaign… Read More

September 29, 2016 @ 6:44 pm By Luke Davis  |  

There is no question that the proliferation of various forms of alternative finance has proven vital for Britain’s scaling businesses attempting to secure growth funding. In the UK, the alternative finance industry traded a staggering £3.2 billion worth of business in 2015, an increase of 84%… Read More

September 27, 2016 @ 12:01 pm By Amy Wan  |  

This article is a response to the draft paper referenced in the article entitled “Crowdfunding and the Not-So-Safe SAFE” authored by Joseph M. Green and John F. Coyle. There are many so words to describe my thoughts about the paper: patronizing, impractical, misguided—but mostly, unfortunate. One… Read More

September 25, 2016 @ 1:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Legion M is one of the early success stories of Reg CF investment crowdfunding. Legion M raised $1 million on Wefunder with the backing of over 3,000 individual investors – the most ever for a single Reg CF offer to date. Out of the 32… Read More

September 22, 2016 @ 2:32 pm By Joe Green & John Coyle  |  

Earlier this year, on May 16, 2016, the final portion of the JOBS Act became actionable. The much anticipated Title III provisions and Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) went into effect, marking the official beginning of retail crowdfunding in the United States. While the industry is… Read More

September 21, 2016 @ 12:19 pm By Bruce C. Rosetto and Rebecca G. DiStefano  |  

Jobs creation and wages are in the spotlight again by voter demand this presidential election year and receiving attention from both Republican and Democratic parties. This begs the question whether an improved version of Regulation A under the JOBs Act of 2012 offers a practical… Read More

September 19, 2016 @ 9:21 am By Moshe Hecht  |  

We don’t do crowdfunding. I can’t tell you how often I hear these words, spoken with such confidence, by the head of a major non-profit. I’ve come to realize there are many reasons for this initial hesitation, and it’s a combination of many things, but… Read More

September 19, 2016 @ 6:00 am By Amy Wan  |  

First off, don’t panic. We’re not talking about hacking into computer networks or anything. Legal hacking, or hacking the law, doesn’t involve anything surreptitious. From an organization standpoint, Legal Hackers is an organization originating from Brooklyn Law School and now a global movement with over… Read More

September 14, 2016 @ 10:50 am By JD Alois  |  

The SEC is constantly churning out releases and statements and, at times, advice for investors. Earlier this week they revisited an important topic: fees and expenses ladled on by funds and firms can harm your long-term investment returns. Most investors focus on top line numbers… Read More

September 12, 2016 @ 2:49 pm By Amy Wan and Jillian Sidoti  |  

As securities attorneys, we’ve been getting a fair amount of questions lately on special purposes entities (SPEs), also known as special purpose vehicles (SPVs). What are they? What do they do? Should I choose an SPE over an LLC? (That last one is my favorite)…. Read More

September 11, 2016 @ 12:57 pm By Anthony Zeoli  |  

Now I don’t usually use this forum to discuss particular crowdfunding offerings. However, after seeing a recent MSNBC piece on DSTLD, and their current Regulation A+ equity offering, I simply had to highlight their truly model story. I believe many wannabe Reg A+ issuers could… Read More

September 8, 2016 @ 12:00 pm By Anthony Zeoli  |  

In connection with a private offering of securities the issuer will provide potential investors with some form of disclosure document. Regardless of what type of offering it is (e.g. Rule 506, Title III, Intrastate, or other private offering), the intent of this disclosure document is… Read More

September 8, 2016 @ 9:33 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

This week, Indiegogo announced the release of its new Campaign Marketing Workbook. The global crowdfunding platform stated the new workbook helps project creators organize all of the key stakeholders in their project along with set a strategy and schedule for when to reach out to them… Read More

September 7, 2016 @ 11:41 am By Bret Conkin  |  

So you want to start a Crowdfunding Portal… In White Label Crowdfunding 101: Players & Profits, (Part II of our three-part series) we will introduce some of the primary white label vendors, sample sites and criteria for vendor selection to help you navigate the options…. Read More

September 3, 2016 @ 3:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

Agency 2.0 was one of the very first marketing agencies in the rewards-based crowdfunding sector to get it right. Their participation in a campaign on either Indiegogo or Kickstarter almost guarantees success.  The years of honing their technique and perfecting their strategic approach to raising… Read More

August 31, 2016 @ 1:01 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

This week, Kickstarter offered some advice on how organizers can attract media attention towards their crowdfunding projects. The funding portal decided as release a list of ways campaigns can get noticed. The Kickstarter team stated the core question that creators have asked when they launch… Read More

August 30, 2016 @ 9:04 am By Jason Best  |  

As any entrepreneur knows, when you are creating something new, there are no shortage of naysayers.  Among the 3 types of clients we work with (investors, corporates and financial regulators) the regulators tend to look at new things most skeptically.  But, of the many questions… Read More