The Road to Legalizing Crowdfunding – The Thank You Chart

Now that we did it, we want to acknowledge those of you who were actively responsible for working with us to make this possible!!  There are many others that went to incredible lengths, so a BIG THANKS to them as well.  Italics are events along the way and green are people in DC that if we didn’t have behind us, would have fallen apart.

 

Month

Name

Group

Notes

Aug, 2010 Sherwood Neiss, Jason Best & Zak Cassady-Dorion The Startup Exemption Faced with the funding void came up with the idea for equity-based crowdfunding then headed to Washington and worked tirelessly even past the signing ceremony at the White House and are still going!
October, 2010 Karen Kerrigan Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council Agreed to take up the challenge and stepped up to the plate and hit one home run after another for us by connecting to key players in Washington
David Saltzman Squire, Sanders & Dempsey First Securities lawyer to vet our framework and provide critical feedback
January, 2011 CrowdFund Investing framework brought to Washington, DC
Tom Leonardis & Whoopi Goldberg Whoopi Goldberg Initial backers of the idea
Gerald Laporte & Kevin O’Neill The SEC Took the time to have our first meeting with the SEC
Prof. Steve Stralser Ph.D. Thunderbird Initial and ongoing guidance
Daren Westlake Crowdcube.com First equity-based platform in the UK.  Shares data & success stories with us
Kathy Korman & Josh Frey EO Contacts from Entrepreneurs Organization that started to get the message out
Christina Shapiro & Commissioner Walsh Mayor Bloomberg’s office Initial meetings and interest in our framework
February, 2011 Chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa(Peter Haller, Hudson Hollister & Drew Colliatie) Oversight & Gov’t Reform Committee Asked us for initial questions to put in letter to SEC.  Letter stirred up our first press in the Wall Street Journal.  Called first Hearing on Hill.
Rich Sloan StartupNation.com Allowing us to post about our framework/solution to the capital crunch/jobs crisis
March, 2011 Angus Loten Wall Street Journal First main street reporter to cover our work
Susan Antilla Bloomberg News First negative article – that just made us stronger
Paul Spinrad/Jenny Kassan Sustainable Economies Law Center Wrote the initial crowdfunding petition to the SEC.  Provided continual input and guidance.
April, 2011 Ruth Hedges FundingRoadmap.com A huge initial supporter and constant advocate
Dana Mauriello Profounder First US Crowdfunding platform to express interest in our initiative
Valto Loikkanen GrowVC Int’l Crowdfunding platform expresses interest in our initiative
Kevin Lawton Author, The Crowdfunding Revolution One of our main sources of guidance & insight from this point forward.  An incredibly valuable asset.
Amy Cortese Localvesting Provided great quotes and statistics for our testimonies on the impact of investing locally
Michael Shuman Author & Expert Another one of our sources for guidance & insight from this point forward
Chad Parks & Gerard Bush The online 401k & BRPR Group Fellow entrepreneurs who encouraged us to push forward
Amy Millman Jere Glover Shared prior experiences to prep us for the path ahead
May, 2011 Our first Hearing on Capitol Hill, CrowdFund Investing as a viable business model wins Startup Weekend Miami
Dany Ramos, David & Doramary Russell, Eddy Borja, Mark, Stacy Cumberbatch Startup Weekend The team that rallied around the idea so we can prove to Washington that there’s market demand for CrowdFund Investing
Diana Perez Diana Perez Design For great graphic art from Startup Weekend to the Rally
Michael Sauvante Commonwealth Group Thought-leader in the Securities space provides experience and advice
Steve Cinelli PRIMARQ An early ‘accredited investor crowdfunder’ comes out with support & guidance
June, 2011 Verne Harnish The Gazelles As an entrepreneur thought-leader started to promote our cause and get the message out to his followers
Daniel Weinmann, Hernan Efron, Henrique Bastos, Thomas de Lara Catarse.com The largest Brazilian Crowdfunding platform comes out in favor of our framework for Brazil
President Obama(Doug Rand) The White House Asks us for a summary of what CF is and how it can benefit America’s Entrepreneurs and create jobs
Lucas Sommer, David Sinopoli Socialated Set up our social media campaign – hello twitter!
August, 2011 Jason Best, Zak Cassady-Dorion, Kevin Lawton, Paul Spinrad, Ruth Hedges, Danae Ringelmann, Steve Cinelli, Michael Sauvante, Jennifer Kassan, John Romano, Fred Bryant, Onnie Carr CrowdFund Investing Thought-Leaders CrowdFund Investing Thought-Leaders Meeting in San Francisco. Discuss and adjust the CrowdFund Investing Framework and build more support as a industry group
September, 2011 Dana Mauriello, Sherwood Neiss Profounder & Startup Exemption The “Crowdfunding Hearing” in the House
President Obama Includes Crowdfunding in the American Jobs Act
Representative Patrick McHenry, (Ryan MintoKunal Pahwa) Introduces HR2930 based on our framework
Dylan Ratigan, Tammy Caputo Dylan Ratigan Show Interviews Sherwood to discuss Crowdfunding
Hazel Henderson Ethical Markets Another early supporter and advocate to all their followers
Derek Slater Google For personally coming out and endorsing our work by writing about it
October, 2011 Tom Coleman State Department Starts spreading our message in the State Department
David Drake, Dara Albright Soho Loft Capital Creation Ardent supporters and PR machine from this point forward
Marc Billings Incubate Miami Rallying the Miami crew behind CFI
Freeman White Launcht An early supporter and advocate. Showed up in Washington more than once and his presence made a difference
Billy Parish Solar Mosaic CF Platform that comes out and starts advocating
November, 2011 The House passes HR2930 407-17!  CrowdFund Investing Rally to encourage the Senate not to wait!  Fast Company and NPR cover the event.
Gertrude & Edward Neiss, Ktjen Khong, Andrew, Roger & Sulin Best. Patrick Menasco, Karin `Brandenburg, Marc Wallace, Chris Brookfield, Karen Kerrigan, Josh Frey, Dennis Alloy and many others Major financial backers for the Rally (and those who love and believed in us without question). Long time friends and supporters that showed up on a miserable, freezing rainy day to hold signs on the Mall
Todd Anderson Deal Flow Media Asks us to Keynote the first Crowdfunding Conference
Ryan Feit Wharton MBA Reaches out to help organize the ‘student vote’
Senator MerkleySenator Bennet, Senator Brown (Andy Green, Brian Appel, Brian Murphy, Marne Marotta, Nat Hoopes) Introduced 2 Senate versions of the House Bill. Builds upon HR2930 by adding back into the legislation parts of our original framework. 
Bobbie Gossage, Darren Dahl Inc Magazine Write an article about our work
December, 2011 Crowdfunding Hearings in the Senate, We hold a ‘What is Crowdfunding’ briefing for Senate Staffers at Jones Day with the assistance of Karen Kerrigan and Freeman White of Launcht
Andrew Sherman Jones Day Graciously hosts us at their offices for a teach-in with Senate Staffers on Crowdfunding
Brian Tsuchya Startup Guru CF Platform that comes out and starts advocating
Mike Chapman, Roy Deloach DC Strategies Washington insiders who provide constructive feedback on ‘working in Washington’
February, 2012 Ria Ancheta-Adrias Nat’l Council of Entrep Tech Transfer Hosts Sherwood & Jason for a Webinar
Melissa Mitchell, Matt Ewing Ephibian.com Build & launch LegalizeCrowdfunding.org to show the positive impact a change in the law could have.
Barry Gander Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance Started the push in Canada for our framework
March, 2012 3rd Crowdfunding hearing in the Senate.  House passes JOBS Act including the Crowdfunding Bill.  Merkley & Bennets bill is merged with Brown’s.  It includes compromises that we suggested. The Senate version of CF is amended into the JOBS Act.  It passes 77-23.  And passes the House again.
Tim Rowe Cambridge Innovation Center Represents the voice of CrowdFund investing at the March US Senate hearing
Mike Piwowar Senate Banking Committee Takes 2nd meeting with us to discuss our compromise suggestions between all 3 CF bills to build bipartisan support.
April, 2012 President Obama Sherwood, Jason, Zak and Karen attend the bill-signing event at the White House.  We help organize a Leadership Group to address concerns of investor protection with the goal of forming the Crowdfunding Coalition to work with the SEC and represent the industry’s interests in both Washington, DC and to the Trade.  The Crowdfunding Global ProfessionalAssociation CFGPA is formed for Trade Association and The Crowdfund Investing Regulatory Association CFIRA is formed as a potential SRO.
Dara Albright, Chance Barnett Jason Best, Nick Bhargava, Luan Cox, Candace Klein, David Drake, Carl Esposti, Berkeley Geddes, Kevin Berg Grell, Alon Hillel-Tuch, Ruth Hedges, Brian Meece, Vince Molinari, Michael Norman, DJ Paul, Spencer Taylor, Brian Tsuchiya, Freeman White The Crowdfunding Leadership Group The amazing group of crowdfunding portals, experts and advocates that are continuing the relay in the 270-day rule making process with the SEC.  These guys and gals are a phenomenal group of spirited, dedicated, and motivated people.  Jason and I are beyond happy to be taking on this next phase with such a knowledgeable and experienced group.

 

* And special thanks to Professor Michael Moffett from Thunderbird who told us that by suffering through FORAD (the highest level finance class at Thunderbird) we might amount to something.  Professor Nancy Maveety Sherwood’s Political Science 101 professor from Tulane who provided the initial primer on how a Bill becomes Law! Alex Jacobs, Chris Brookfield and Marc Wallace for being a sounding board for 10+ years and the entire T-bird group for providing the encouragement to ‘keep o,n keeping on!’  And of course SNN, Todd and Benners because they had to listen to it over and over and over …

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  1. Pingback: Today is the 4th Anniversary of The Jumpstart Our Business Startup Act.

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