The crowdfunding provisions have more than enough protections for investors, and they’ll give entrepreneurs the capital they need

CrowdFund investing (aka equity-based Crowdfunding) is about to become the law of the land. Opponents have spent months screaming about how it would be an open invitation for investment fraud and a menace to small investors if it passed. Now that it has passed, it’s time to set those fears to rest. Crowdfunding will become a great source of funding for entrepreneurs and fully transparent way for investors to get in on the ground floor of what will be the greatest businesses of the future.

Every entrepreneur, at one time or another, has felt the pinch of the capital markets. Inspired by the success of donation-based crowdfunding, social media as marketing tool, and the principles of seed financing, the three of us—Jason Best, Sherwood Neiss and Zak Cassady-Dorion—decided to create a solution. The result is a framework that allows an entrepreneur to raise a limited amount of capital from his friends, family and customers on SEC-registered websites with prudent investor protections.

Why is CrowdFund Investing so necessary? With the collapse of the markets in 2008, the traditional means of financing startups and small businesses—credit cards, home equity lines, bank loans and venture capital—disappeared.Banks stopped lending and venture capital shifted away from seed stage investments to larger, more secure deals. What was left was a funding void for businesses looking to raise $250,000 or less in seed or early-stage funding. According to the SBA, this round is the most critical capital a young company can get. Lack of it is the #1 reason why startups fail in the first 5 years.

Only entrepreneurs with clean records need apply

We carefully crafted our framework to protect investors, drawing on similar programs exempt from SEC rules.  It is a rule under which entrepreneurs (who pass fraud/background checks) and small businesses with revenues of less than $5M (that aren’t foreign corps, public or investment companies) could raise up to $1M by either selling Common Stock or using revenue based financing on SEC-registered websites.

The law manages investors’ expectations

Investors would have to pass a quiz proving that they understand there is no guarantee of return, that they could lose their entire investment and that their liquidity/return is limited to any dividends, sale, public offering or a merger of the company. Once they understood that, the amount they could invest (i.e., risk) would be limited—between $2,000 and $10,000, depending on their income.

Standardized forms (generic term sheets & subscription agreements) based on industry best practices would be used to maintain transparency and reduce time and expense for all parties. Post-funding, standardized and automated reporting for use of proceeds would be required on a quarterly basis by entrepreneurs so people would know what is going on. All of this would be overseen by a Self Regulatory Organization (SRO) that reports to the SEC on what is taking place on CrowdFund Intermediaries with the goal to protect investors.

Platforms would provide the SEC real-time offering reports that include information on: deals funded, entrepreneurs’ names, social security numbers, addresses, date of births, amount of capital raised, list of investors and individual dollar amount contributed. This way regulators would know who is crowdfunding, who is backing them and how much they’ve raised.

Social media would enforce integrity

And most importantly social media would control the process. Entrepreneurs would only be allowed to solicit people in their social network using Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. Platforms would use social media tools to create a deal room for each idea where interested investors can publicly pick apart the entrepreneur, the idea, the business model and the investment opportunity. And most important, no money would be exchanged until the entire crowd decided to fund the entrepreneur and the entrepreneur’s funding target was 100% met. So if you say you need $50,000 to expand your business, you only receive the money when you have secured commitments for the entire $50,000.

Not so easy, right?

If implemented as designed, these protections would allay everyone’s concerns.  Entrepreneurs would get the capital they need. Investors would get the disclosues they need to make informed decisions. Regulators would stay informed on what is happening in the capital markets.

Think it can be gamed? Well consider this. You know those eBay ratings that guide your decision to send $1,000 across the country in exchange for a product? You are going to see similar ratings for both entrepreneurs and investors on CrowdFund Investing sites. Know those comment fields with the like buttons on Facebook? You are going to see those on the communication panel where interested investors will require answers of an entrepreneur and those answers will be rated and further discussed (just because that’s how we like to do things in an open dialog on the internet today).

Now take any fraud example you can think of and run it through this scenario. How many con artists want to register with the SEC?  How many want to target those closest to them? (That’s how crowdfunding through social media works: You are limited by soliciting your social media connections.) Yes, once the law is implemented a bad guy could cold-call an investor and claim to be crowdfunding the next Facebook. But that would be fraud, just as it is today, and the perpetrator could go to jail. The CrowdFund Investing framework restricts all communication to crowdunding intermediary sites, and in doing so provides the tools to protect investors. In 5 years, chances are the SEC will be using these tools to crack down on larger scale fraud.

Now that the JOBS Act has passed, we are moving to the next phase of development on a two-track strategy. First we’ll help build a self-regulating organization, like Nasdaq, to be the voice of the Crowdfunding industry and work with the SEC to regulate funding platforms and keep investors educated.

Second, we’ll work with the SEC on their rule-making progress. It is vitally important that entrepreneurs and small business people stay tuned in. The SEC will begin with 90 days of rulemaking, and then open their draft rules for 90 days of comments. These comments are very important to the process. Entrepeneurs have the most to gain (and lose) so we must continue to fight for rules that provide fair balance between the needs of investors and entrepreneurs.

  3 Entrepreneurs, 579 days, 1 Crowdfunding Law

Now, What Does it All Mean?

(Washington, DC) - The Jumpstart Our Business Startup Act (JOBS Act), H.R. 3606, passed the U.S. Senate on March 22, with overwhelming support (73-26). So what will the impact be, particularly as it relates to the CrowdFund Investing measure, for America’s entrepreneurs and small businesses?  According to the three entrepreneurs who developed the crowdfunding framework, which was the basis for the legislation, it means a new source of funding, more jobs and a greater chance of success for small businesses.

The U.S. House passed the Jobs Act on March 8 (390-23), and the U.S. Senate amended the legislation before its passage on March 22.  House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said he plans to schedule a vote on the amended package early next week. This means the legislation could be signed by President Barack Obama next week, if the House passes the Senate amended bill (which it is expected to do).   

More small businesses will get funded

“With the passage of this legislation, entrepreneurs will be able to post their businesses on SEC-registered CrowdFund Investing (CFI) websites and the community will step in to fund only those ideas they have fully evaluated and made an informed decision about,” says Jason Best co-author of the CrowdFund Investing Legislation that passed both chambers.   Entrepreneurs will use Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools to reach out to their customers and say, “If you like our business so much, why not become an investor?”

Investors (who must first take a short quiz to make sure they understand that investing in a business is a highly risky endeavor with no guarantees) will pick apart the entrepreneur, the idea, the business model and the investment opportunity in an open manner with other members of the community.  Until 100% of a funding target is met, no money will be transferred, but once it is, an entrepreneur will have not only cash, but also a loyal customer/investor base.

With the collapse of the markets in 2008, the traditional means of financing for startups and small businesses – credit cards, home equity lines, bank loans and venture capital – disappeared.  Interest rates increased, home equity lines disappeared, and banks stopped lending to Main Street.  Venture capital shifted to larger, more secure deals.  A funding void ensued ($0 to $250,000 in financing) that no one has yet filled.  According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), this is the most critical seed and early-stage growth capital necessary for success and the number one reason why startups fail in the first five years. 

More startups and successful businesses means more jobs

More jobs will be created once startups and entrepreneurs have access to capital. According to the Kauffman Foundation, the majority of new jobs in the U.S. over the past 30 years have come from small businesses that are less than five years old.  Sherwood Neiss who co-authored the crowdfunding framework with Best observed: “We are entrepreneurs who prior to the 2008 financial collapse were able to access capital to launch Inc500 businesses that created over 150 direct and countless more indirect jobs.”

According to Neiss, “cash is king” and following the 2008 collapse it became exceedingly scarce.  “We were left trying to figure out how to launch new businesses and create jobs without access to capital. So we merged the principles of seed financing and crowdfunding together to develop a framework.”

The framework will allow friends and family to invest up to $1 million into an entrepreneurial enterprise, but individual investments are capped below $10,000.  The capital will either go directly into hiring people or into the purchase of products or services. 

More successful enterprises, and a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem

The crowdfunding platforms will lead to more community investing and more successful local businesses because people will have a vested interest in the success of these entrepreneurs.

“Five years from now we are going to look back on the impact CrowdFund Investing has had on the world,” remarks Zak Cassady-Dorion Co-Founder of Startup Exemption. “We are going to see more vibrant communities where the residents aren’t just consumers but are also owners helping to drive the success of their local entrepreneurs and communities.” 

And why is this important?  “Because a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem depends on access to capital.  Freeing up new sources of capital – as the JOBS Act will do through crowdfund investing – will strengthen our nation’s small business sector, and add to their job creating capacity. Being accountable to community investors will enhance success,” says Karen Kerrigan, president & CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council).

As for investor protection, says Neiss, “Under the CrowdFund Investing model, we believe it is going to be easier to expose fraud with social networking and the real-time Web.  At the community level the people investing will be investing in people and businesses they know or have carefully evaluated.  With the transparency of the social Web, fraud can be exposed before it can take place.  We have seen this work on donation-based sites to great effect.”  

About  STARTUP EXEMPTION: 

Startup Exemption is the name Sherwood Neiss, Jason Best and Zak Cassady-Dorion created to describe their CrowdFund Investing (CFI) framework.  The framework is an exemption under Regulation D Securities Offerings that would allow startups and small businesses to raise a limited amount of seed and growth capital from their social networks using SEC-registered websites.  Their framework was the basis for the three Crowdfunding bills considered by Congress and was endorsed by the President.  It passed the US House in November, 2011, 407-17 and the US Senate on March 22, 2012 as part of the JOBS Act 73-26. The path from idea to law in 579 days can be found at: http://www.startupexemption.com/.

Contact Information:

Sherwood Neiss                                       Jason Best

(202) 247-7182                                 (415) 999-2271

Available  7am to 7pm M-F (ET)           Available  7am to 7pm M-F (PT)

sherwood@startupexemption.com   Jason@startupexemption.com

Other Links:

• Website:http://www.startupexemption.com/
• CrowdFund Investing framework http://bit.ly/mRWXcZ

About The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council: SBE Council is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to protecting small business and promoting entrepreneurship. For more information, please visit: http://www.sbecouncil.org/.

Contact Information:  Karen Kerrigan, (703) 242-5840, kkerrigan@sbecouncil.org

The vote was 73-26. 

CrowdFund Investing (CFI) to be LEGALIZED in the USA!

Because The Senate version of Crowdfunding was attached as an amendment.  It needs to go back to the US House for one final vote!!

Over a year ago, 3 successful entrepreneurs sat down with a goal to craft a framework to allow a limited amount of seed and growth capital to flow into the hands of entrepreneurs using the tenants of crowdfunding.  These entrepreneurs had the experience of taking ideas, raising money, growing businesses and hiring over 150 employees.  That’s walking the walk.  These MBA grads understand what it means to be an entrepreneur, what information investors need to make informed decisions, what the laws regarding raising capital formation are and the benefits of a symbiotic relationship to a functioning, transparent marketplace.

The missing component post the 2008 financial meltdown was the disappearance of capital. Along with the collapse of the financial markets went home equity lines used to launch ideas, credit cards with large credit lines and low interest rates used to finance growth, and private money used to expand businesses.  Business 101 – Cash is KING.  Without access to capital, you cannot grow or hire!

So rather than come up with “a mechanism to undermine market transparency, roll back important investor protections, and, drive up the cost of capital for small companies” as Barbara Roper Director of Investor Protection, Consumer Federation of America said, these Entrepreneurs crafted a framework that if implemented along its original extent would have addressed all the concerns, misperceptions and drama floating around today.

The framework was carefully crafted.  It carved out a rule under which fraud-free entrepreneurs and small businesses with revenues of less than $5M that weren’t foreign corps, public or investment companies could raise up to $1M either selling Common Stock or revenue based financing on SEC-registered websites.  Where, investors would have to agree using current standard verification technology that they understand there is no guarantee of return, that they could lose their entire investment and that their liquidity/return is limited to any dividends, sale, public offering or a merger of the company.  And once they agreed to that, would be limited as to how much they could risk to the lower of $10,000 or 10% of their AGI. Where standardized forms (generic term sheets & subscription agreements) based on industry best practices would be used to maintain transparency and reduce time and expense for all parties.   Post funding standardized and automated reporting for use of proceeds would be required on a quarterly basis by entrepreneurs.  Platforms would provide the SEC monthly offering reports that include information on: deals funded, entrepreneurs’ names, social security numbers, addresses, date of births, amount of capital raised, list of investors and individual dollar amount contributed.  And most importantly social media would control the process.  Entrepreneurs would only be allowed to solicit people in their social network using Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.  Platforms would use social media tools to create a deal room for each idea where interested investors can publicly pick apart the entrepreneur, the idea, the business model and the investment opportunity.  And most importantly, NO MONEY would be exchanged until the ENTIRE crowd decided to fund the entrepreneur and the entrepreneur’s funding target was 100% met.  Not so easy, right?

If implemented as designed it would allay all concerns including entrepreneurs who need capital, investors who need proper disclosures to make informed decisions, regulators who want to know what is happening in the capital markets and intermediaries who will provide the social media tools to allow for solicitation and vetting before the crowd collectively and in an open dialog, decides which of their community entrepreneurs they wish to fund and with how much money as well as the conduit for the transaction to happen.

Crowdfund Investing will be a great financing tool for our nation’s entrepreneurs.  The opponents, well they are academic and regulators.  We are entrepreneurs , investors and most importantly JOB CREATORS. We created 150 jobs before when capital was available.  But you know what?  We can’t do it today, without Capital!  The time is now to Legalize Crowdfunding!!

Sherwood Neiss, Jason Best & Zak Cassasdy-Dorion are the developers of the framework for Crowdfund Investing which is the basis for all the CF Bills before Congress.  For more information about us go to www.startupexemption.com/about-us

The House passed our Crowdfund Investing Bill (HR 2930) back in November.  The Senate has been sitting idly even though a few Senators have tried to push Crowdfunding forward.  However both Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) and Banking Committee Chairman Johnson (D-SD) refused to act until now.

On March 8^th, the House took 6 of the Capital Formation bills that passed with almost unanimous bipartisan support (including our Crowdfunding bill), packaged them together into one (called the JOBS Act) and passed it again with overwhelming bipartisan support.  The President came out and endorsed this Republican-led initiative and now they are calling the Senate’s bluff.  Either sit and do nothing and come election-time Americans will know that the Senate is the cause of the gridlock in DC or bring the bill (or their own version of the bill) to the floor to vote and act on our country’s behalf.

Here are 4 things you can do to help Legalize Crowdfunding today:

1. Now more than ever we need people calling both Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) at (202) 224-3542 and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-SD) at (202) 224-5842 and let them know that America’s Entrepreneurs need Crowdfunding.
2. Click the links, download, complete these form letters with your information and send them to both Reid and Johnson.
3. Tweet, Facebook Status Update, Google+ & Linkedin Post about this page to your followers to spread the word.
4. If you are an entrepreneur or if an Investor who would use or back some on a Crowdfund Investing website, then register on LegalizeCrowdfunding.org. (You can get there on your cell phone by texting “HR2930″ TO 83432).