Toward the top of SeedInvest’s website is a video of CEO and co-founder Ryan Feit, and in it, he interviews with Cramer’s Mad Money. A ringing Mad Money endorsement for the company brings the ...

SeedInvest Review

Now that Virtuix has begun shipping it, the company wants to raise more money on SeedInvest under the new mini-IPO rules of Regulation A. Institutional investors that have already indicated ...

VR treadmill maker Virtuix runs toward a mini-IPO

When you hear “crowdfunding,” you might automatically think of fundraising sites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe. However, crowdfunding sites have changed even the investing world, offering new ways for startups, equity firms, and real estate ...

Best Crowdfunding Investing Apps

Reg CF market share YTD, per @Kingscrowdinc. StartEngine's typically trumpeted acquisition of SeedInvest has had very little impact. (Unsurprising, given SeedInvest had 2% market share before the ...

Wefunder Touts Reg CF Marketshare for 2023

Fundhomes, a leading platform revolutionizing real estate investment through Airbnb rental properties, is pleased to announce the initiation of its

Fundhomes Launches Public Offering, Enabling Average Americans To Invest In Real Estate Through Airbnb Rental Properties

Led by entrepreneur and real estate investor, Ming Zhu, along with the head of growth, Jack Donnell, and investor and advisor Ryan Feit, who is also the Co-Founder of Seedinvest, a global financial technology firm, Fundhomes brings together a talented team ...

Fundhomes Launches Public Offering, Enabling Average Americans to Invest in Real Estate through Airbnb Rental Properties

SeedInvest is a crowdsource funding platform letting everyday investors connect with some of the most innovative startups looking for capital. You’ll get opportunities to invest in AI research ...

Should You Invest in a Startup?

Most early-stage capital comes from outside sources, such as family and friends, business loans, angel investors, startup incubators and accelerators, or crowdfunding platforms like SeedInvest, StartEngine, and Wefunder. There are several avenues for the ...

How to Invest in Startups

StartEngine, one of the biggest retail crowdfunding platforms in the U.S., has acquired SeedInvest, reached a funding milestone, and launched new campaigns. StartEngine has officially acquired assets of fellow equity crowdfunding platform, SeedInvest ...

StartEngine Acquires SeedInvest, Reaches Funding Milestone, and Launches New Campaigns

Next on our list of companies like Kickstarter is SeedInvest. With an investor base of over 700K, this is a great platform for startups and small businesses. SeedInvest is best for seed-stage ...

A Breakdown of 8 Kickstarter Alternatives: In Search of the Ideal Funding and Validation Platform for Products

SeedInvest

seedinvest

Crowdfunding allows retail investors who are not accredited to invest in early stage companies and get equity in return. This is different than the Kickstarter’s of the world. In Kickstarter campaigns, the backers do not get equity in the company, and often there isn’t even an actual company behind the campaign. Crowdfunding was made possible because of the Jobs Act passed during the Obama administration. A slew of platforms like , & emerged to facilitate crowdfunding. The pros of crowdfunding are that startups had another way to raise funding, if you are a non-accredited investor looking to invest in startups you had a way to do it. The cons included even if the startup you have invested in a successful startup, you might not be able to reap the benefit of making a successful bet because of a lack of investor protection in crowdfunding deals. Republic Start Engine Seed Invest The Didactic Effect: As the crowdfunding platforms increased, the number of companies using crowdfunding for their first or second funding rounds increased over time. Some of the companies like , and successfully raised crowdfunding to million dollars. Move and Knightscope came back to raise multiple rounds as well. Move Knightscope Hacker Noon But for the most part, crowdfunding eluded most angel investors, because of the yet to be found exits. The hottest deals were not happening in crowdfunding platforms but were still facilitated by the traditional angel investing communities. All that is now changed! Recently a new startup “Didactic” founded by Gagan Biyani (co-founder Udemy) & Wes Kao (Co-Founder AltMBA) that they will allow retail investors to invest in their company via crowdfunding. So technically one can invest along sides with Naval Ravikant, Li Jin, Sahil Lavingia, & Austen Allred at a minimum amount of $100. announced It can't get more egalitarian than this. A deal that would be usually limited to high-profile angel investors is now accessible to everyone at a minimum of $100. The Persistence of Didactic Effect: The argument against crowdfunding growth is, this is a one-off phenomenon, but it sets a precedent for the long term change that can be expected. There are very many reasons why more high profile deals will happen using crowdfunding. But the main reason why this will continue to happen is the . negative customer acquisition cost Not all crowdfunding campaigns are successful, meaning not all companies that set out to raise $1M will be able to raise the whole amount. The success depends on the company’s ability to gather a community of small investors around the crowdfunding objective. So naturally, all the companies which have successfully built a community of users are ripe for using crowdfunding as their source of funding. A great example of this is Hacker Noon, a company with 12,000+ freelance writers, that was able to successfully raise $1M from their community and a range of investors. This leads to the approach of how company’s with high signal capacity can look at crowdfunding especially the early-stage consumer-facing ones. For this, look at the company Move. It is a YC company that successfully raised funding through crowdfunding. And part of their success in crowdfunding comes from the fact that they have given huge discounts for their memberships for those who decide to invest in them. The structure of incentives to the investors made it a no brainer deal to invest in. From Move’s perspective, they have acquired customers for their service at negative customer acquisition cost. That means instead of paying to get customers, they got paid for being a customer. A reversal in the direction in which the cash flowed. In any fundraise, there is smart money & dumb money. Now there is a third category “CAC Money”. If you have a compelling service these customers will continue using your product/service. The same logic will work for Didactic as well as it is going to be a cohort-based education company. Irrespective of the details that have not been published, having 5000 retail investors who can be your beta testers and product evangelists helps in taking the company to the next level. These retail investors in the company are potential future customers and evangelists. To summarize: for any company that is looking to build a consumer-facing company or has an existing community behind it structurally will be effectively using crowdfunding not only to raise funds but also to create a core evangelist network for the product. The Didactic Effect is here to stay. P.S: I would like to be known as the person who coined “The Didactic Effect”. This post is originally published here on The Startup Project

How Didactic's Move to Crowdfunding Signals Opportunity for All 

When you watch a Youtube video from your favorite creator, there will most likely be ads rolling before the video actually starts (which I know you're very tempted to skip 😅). The profit from these ads is paid to the original creator by Adsense as compensation for their contribution to the site. But what if I told you, in the future, there might be a possibility that YOU might share part of the beneficiaries? Fractional Ownership The original idea for this change in content creator economy comes from the term "fractional ownership" that originated from the real estate market. In this sense, multiple people or groups might own a tangible asset   together as investors, and share the profits of the asset together. Taking this term into the context of the content creation market, many artsists and creators in this age, Youtubers included, are producing premium content that costs millions of dollars in production. Take Mr. Beast for example, who reportedly spent to recreate a set of Squid Game for one episode on his channel - a budget equals to that of major Hollywood production studios. Niko Omilana bought most of the Apple products from a real Apple store to open his own "fake" Not-Apple-Store to document a huge prank on the public in London . There is no limit to the budget for content creators in this age to gauge audience attention and views, but in order to have the budget, the creators themselves first must have enough views. This is the loophole where fractional ownership in content creation comes in play. 3.5 million dollars for a single Youtube video Content Production Process Roadmap What if the creator has an that they are passionate about making, and their audience is also passionate and want to see? The answer you might have in mind is through crowdfunding, which other creators have tried before, such as through GoFundMe or SeedInvest. But here's the difficulty in these platforms: ambitious content project Part of the money goes to the funding site. It is not entirely appropriate for creators to fundraise for a project that doesn't necessarily align with the traditional value props of these crowdfunding sites, which are usually for charity donation or social changes. Other solutions include using the creators' personal funds, getting brand sponsorship, selling merch - but this all comes at a cost, whether it be that there's no brand necessarily aligning perfectly with the mission of the content to be suitablle sponsor, or the creator isn't yet at a comfortable position to start producing and selling merch. So, an easy way to fund creators for this ambitious project is allowing their viewers to invest in the production process by letting them own a fraction of the final piece. Explained by , experts on content creation and hosts of the Colin & Samir Show: Colin and Samir "What we think the future is, is that fans and and supporters being able to participate and own a share of those catalogs (that creators have created")." Fractional Ownership Process in Content Creation Let's break this down in an easy example. You really love Creator X who makes cooking videos on chocolate art. You think Creator X has a lot of potential to scale up his production, you get so much joy from watching his videos, Creator X has been an integral part of your inspiration in life and you want him to make a giant chocolate art video in the middle of Times Square. Hundreds of other subscribers also support your idea, but Creator X doesn't have enough fundings to execute it. So, you and the other hundred subscribers each donate a fraction of the production cost, and in return, after Creator X uploaded the video on Youtube and receive Adsense money from the video, YOU get to receive a fraction of the revenue. Happy Ending? This is a picture-perfect outcome mapping of the benefits of the scheme. In reality, there are many sites already implementing this fractional ownership concept into content creation, such as Royalty Exchange. Artists are trying out this format as a fundraising campaign, even through methods such as NFTs. Things to consider Because the model is still in its incubation process and frankly not many creators have started producing their content with this funding method, there are questions that arise to test the model. Different types of ads on Adsense generate different values of profits, so how should the investor be paid? To what fraction of "ownership" should the investor get when it comes to "owning the content"? How can creators onboard viewers with the novel idea and gauge enough interest in this ambitious project? Those are questions that I am seriously curious about, and hopefully, will be able to find the answer to after observing more and more changes in the creator economy.

The Future of Content Creation: Sharing Profit With Your Audience

Many years ago, long before co-founding Altar.io, my colleague Paolo quit his job in investment banking, absolutely convinced he wanted to be an entrepreneur. So he set out to build his first startup, a social events marketplace and recently he told me the full story of what happened next: "Like most first-time founders, I made some mistakes along the way. Well, maybe more than some. Including going to investors without enough to persuade them to open their wallets. I specifically remember one conversation in which I presented my idea, in great detail. About 5 minutes into my big speech he turned around and said: "Paolo, I don’t give a sh*t about your idea… I need you to show me some traction." That set the tone for the rest of my quest. I was aiming at 200k for that pre-seed round and only managed to get around 40k. Ultimately, I failed to get investments because I had zero traction. I didn’t have the proof investors needed to see that people wanted my product.” But traction (or lack of it) isn’t the only aspect that angel investors will look at as they decide whether or not your startup is a good bet. So to find out exactly what angel investors look for in entrepreneurs and their startups, Paolo and I sat down with Armando Biondi. Armando is a successful entrepreneur and multiple-time founder. One of his most well-known projects was AdEspresso: a “Facebook ads made easy” tool that was acquired by Hootsuite. Currently, Armando is working on , a lead-scoring service taking its first steps into the market. Besides that, Armando is also an angel investor with over 150 startups in his portfolio. Breadcrumbs.io In our conversation, he shared exactly what he looks for in entrepreneurs and their startups, and delved into what you can expect from an angel investor / entrepreneur relationship. Interview with Angel Investor Armando Biondi Paolo: I wanted to start by asking about specifics. So to start, do you focus on one type of business model or vertical in particular? Most of my investments are in SaaS and B2B. There is some percentage of investments in other markets, let’s say there’s representation across the spectrum. Armando: The vast majority, however, are concentrated in B2B and SaaS which are the business models I know the best. Paolo: Is there a particular stage within SaaS and B2B that is interesting for you as an angel investor? Yes, I normally get excited about companies when they’re doing between $350k and $2M in annualized revenue. Armando: It’s unusual for me to invest in companies doing less than $350k/yr. Then, when it gets to more than 2M/yr it’s more of a VC game at that point. Paolo: Many young entrepreneurs believe that they have to get funding as soon as possible. With that in mind, do you consider investing in pre-revenue startups? Not really and I’ll tell you why. One of the macro trends we’re seeing is that the cost of starting something is the cheapest that it’s ever been. Armando: So, because of that, you have a ton more companies compared to before. So how do we decide which one is more deserving of investment compared to the others? Market traction. Paolo: I wanted to turn the lens onto angel investors for a moment. Do you believe anyone with wealth or a good salary can be a successful angel investor? No-one becomes great without spending many years working at something. Armando: However, being an experienced entrepreneur doesn’t necessarily make you make a good angel investor either. There are things that you need to know and execute on as an entrepreneur that don’t necessarily help you become a great angel investor. You can invest a sizable amount of money, that doesn’t make you a good angel investor. A great investor is someone that can get a decent return from the capital he’s invested. There’s a rule of thumb there, about 5%-ish of the companies started every year will get VC funding. 80%-ish just won’t work out. The remaining 15%-ish will barely return you the money you invested. What makes a conversation interesting is that top 5%-ish that will return you 5-10X or more. The whole name of the game is, how do you minimize investing in the bottom 80%-ish while maximizing investment in the top 5%-ish. Paolo: That's interesting, do you think first-time founders can count in that top 5%? Or maybe the better question, do you invest in first-time founders? If so, how do you spot promising ones vs. bad ones? Are there common traits you see in a good first-time founder? I do invest in first-time founders. And it’s important to note that being a first-time founder doesn’t disqualify you from being a great founder – far from it. Armando: What I look for usually is a founder who’s knowledgeable about the space they’re going into. It’s very rare for a founder to succeed if they don’t know the space. I look for a founder with a unique perspective on an unsolved problem in the space. More importantly, I look for someone uniquely qualified to solve that problem. Thirdly, does he have the hustle to hang in there when things get tough? Because they will get tough without a doubt. So courage, ability to hustle and uniquely qualified to solve a real problem. The last thing we need to look at is whether or not the market is already responding to it positively. So traction is an important part. Paolo: And how do you go about discovering those key traits? You can look at what they did before. Or even ask them; 'what’s one particularly hard challenge they had to solve.' That alone is worth a lot and tells you how they navigate their decision-making process. Armando: Paolo: We’ve already mentioned that many entrepreneurs look for funding as soon as possible. This begs the question, when should a founder approach an angel investor? There’s not really a “wrong” time to approach an angel investor. There are different lifecycles of a company. From early-stage to late stage. Different stages have different requirements in terms of traction and validation. As well as different valuations that you can ask for and different interested angel investors. Armando: So you can start talking to angel investors before you have a product as long as you realize the valuation will have to be relatively low. Because you don’t have anything valuable, besides yourself and your team. (This points back to what to look for in a founder.) Or you can fundraise later. When you have a product out there and some traction. Then you can ask for a higher valuation and a bigger check. So it’s more a question of what’s the sweet spot of the people you want to talk with. There are different types of angel investors for different stages of the startup lifecycle. Some are more valuation sensitive, they’re willing to take more of a risk as long as the valuation is low. Others will need to see more validation in terms of work, validation, go-to-market strategy, traction… and they’ll be willing to go for a bigger valuation for that. It’s not like a right or wrong time. Altar.io Tip It’s never too early to start building relationships with potential stakeholders, whether it’s an advisor, potential hire or investor. For example, I recommend reaching out to investors long before you need their money. Tell them about your idea, get their feedback and ask them what kind of KPIs they would want to see to consider investing. Then, when you’ve hit those KPIs, it’s going to be very difficult for them to say no to investing in you. Paolo: As you said, traction and go-to-market strategy are important. When startups approach you is pure growth the most important thing, or the business model behind that startup? To a certain degree, the two overlap. Most of the time the thing to look for is growth, but growth is dependent on a viable business model. Armando: Paolo: We often talk about the importance of a startup team when it comes to investment decisions. What do you look for in a startup team that will give you the confidence to back them? A team that can deliver the product and generate positive feedback from some customers. I need to see an initial go-to-market approach that is being executed on. Delivering some form of growth. Armando: Paolo: Let’s look at the other end of the spectrum for a moment. What are the most common mistakes founder’s and their teams make when pitching their project? Focusing too much on the product not enough on the . Armando: go-to-market strategy The best product doesn’t necessarily win. A good enough product with a great go-to-market has more chance of success than a great product with a shitty go-to-market. Paolo: Absolutely. We see a lot of founders focusing on making a beautiful, perfect product, instead of focusing on launching and iterating their product. Now let’s dig into the details: which documents do you want to see from a startup before deciding to invest? An investment deck or an executive summary. Armando: Paolo: And how long does it take for you to understand if this is a good investment or not? Usually a few minutes to understand if it’s a no. It takes a little longer to decide if it’s a yes. Armando: Usually, I don’t care too much about who else is involved, like other angel investors or even funds. I bet on the fact that you can tell a story at an early stage and wrap it up in a very nice package that people will believe. I don’t do a lot of due diligence. I look at the team, the founder(s), the product and the go-to-market strategy. I look for the revenue and ask myself can that value become 20, 50, 100 time what it is today. The most important questions are: 1. Can the founder and their team execute on the business vision? 2. What (if anything) can prevent the market from adopting it? Paolo: Now, on the other side of the coin, what are the biggest red flags for you? Confusing descriptions surrounding the problem. Armando: If you cannot articulate the problem you’re trying to solve clearly, how can you articulate the solution clearly? How can you articulate the go-to-market? How do you plan to articulate the business model around it? Paolo: Now I’d like to take a closer look at the working relationship between an angel investor and an entrepreneur. As a founder, how close and committed can I expect an angel investor to be? Personally, the way I invest my time and capital are very different. At this point in my career, I value my time significantly more than I value my money. Therefore it’s easier for me to cut a check and touch base now and then without investing a lot of time. Armando: There are situations when my time is valuable to a company and I take that opportunity to contribute with value. In these moments I am more involved and more like an advisor. For me, however, that always requires some additional vested interest in the company. Again, from my perspective, cash and time are very different commodities. I can make money, I can’t make time. Altar.io Tip It’s important to update your investors regularly. We recommend checking in with your angel investors at least once a month in the form of a meeting, or investors email. Updating them on your startup’s progress not only shows them they made the right choice investing in you, but it also allows them to give you advice moving forward. Paolo: A few days ago we were discussing one of our clients with you, to see if they would be a good fit in terms of investing. In that conversation you mentioned that you usually don’t work with entrepreneurs who request an NDA, can you take a moment to explain why? For me, if you ask for an NDA the conversation is over. There is a level of trust where you need to be willing to give to people playing this game, as a founder. Armando: Also, as an investor, I look at around five pitches a day. So it’s very likely that something you’re pitching me has already come across my desk in one form or another, and is bound to again. If I sign an NDA I’m prevented from investing in a similar company purely because you asked? I’m sorry it makes no sense. Moreover, asking for an NDA implies there is some intrinsic value in the tech you’re building, and these days that’s mostly not true. The companies where there is valuable intellectual property are a fragment of the companies that are built every year. That’s where patents come in. If you can’t get a patent then the value isn’t in the IP. It’s in the go-to-market, growth, expertise, competitive landscape. And while it’s valuable it’s not IP so an NDA is useless. Rui: Armando, thank you for sharing your valuable insights on the angel investor/founder relationship, I just have a few questions to finish off. Firstly, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as an Angel Investor? For big outcomes to happen, timing and market are more important than most people think. Armando: It goes back to the points above about product vs. go-to-market strategy. An ok product with a good enough go-to-market in a growing industry is more likely to do well vs. a great product with a great go-to-market in a shrinking industry. and the market are more important than most people give credit for. Timing Rui: With that in mind, how do you feel about companies that are trying to create a whole new thing? Where it’s impossible to put a competitor benchmark to it. What’s your position? It’s very possible, otherwise we would need to accept that everything valuable has been done, which is very much not true. Armando: It’s entirely possible, but a lot harder. You need to have exceptional founders and an exceptional combination of timing, market, go-to-market. Think about Uber, it never existed before now it’s a $100B+ company. It’s not impossible but it’s harder. Rui: Can you recommend one resource that is invaluable for entrepreneurs? The design aspect, both visuals and UX/UI. You can be significantly more memorable with a good design or for example a good onboarding experience. Those things usually get missed. Armando: Thank You, Armando… …For sitting down with Rui and me to share your insights on the relationship between angel investors and entrepreneurs. It’s clear from our conversation, that one of the most important things that angel investors want to see is traction. So, with that in mind, my best advice is to and go out and get a handful of customers. get your MVP on its feet These early adopters will help you show angel investors that people want your product. And while traction is not the only factor in an angel investors decision, having some should go a long way towards persuading them your startup is a good bet. For more information on funding, check out the FAQs listed below. Good luck & thanks for reading. FAQs Surrounding the Topics Covered in This Conversation What Is an Angel Investor? Angel investors are wealthy individuals who use their own money to back ventures. They invest smaller amounts of money ranging from a few thousand dollars up to a million and are more likely to take bigger risks (like backing new startups without a proven track record). What’s the Difference Between an Angel Investor and Venture Capitalist? Angel Investors use their own money to invest in startups. Venture Capitalists, however, are people – or firms – that invest other peoples money to invest in startups. Venture Capitalists usually come into lay later on in the . series funding stages How Do I Find Angel Investors? Finding angel investors can be a challenging part of your startup journey. Firstly, I would recommend looking for investors who are active in your industry. Talk to other entrepreneurs, see if they know anyone and if they can give you a warm introduction. Failing that, websites such as and can help you find angel investors from a wide array of industries and verticals. AngelList SeedInvest When Should I Approach Angel Investors? It’s never too early to start building relationships with potential stakeholders, whether it’s an advisor, potential hire or investor. For example, I recommend reaching out to investors long before you need their money. Tell them about your idea, get their feedback and ask them what kind of KPIs they would want to see to consider investing. Then, when you’ve hit those KPIs, it’s going to be very difficult for them to say no to investing in you. What do Angel Investors Look for in a Startup team? Investors, like most educated gamblers, bet on the jockey – not the horse. Making you and your team one of the most important assets for successful fundraising. : The main factors angel investors will look for in you and your founding team are Character – Can they trust you and your team? Confidence – If you don’t have confidence in your idea, how can an investor be confident that you’ll be able to execute on it and build a successful product? Coachability – Do you listen? Can you learn quickly and effectively? Will you take advice from someone more experienced than you? These three factors are essential for a successful partnership between you and your angel investors. This article was originally published here by Paolo Dotta.

Bet on the Jockey, Not the Horse: What Angel Investors Look for in Startups [Expert Interview]

Covid-19 has revealed and keeps revealing holes in the economic and healthcare infrastructures worldwide as it spread and invades countries mercilessly. The gap between the rich and poor has become more obvious, especially in well-developed countries. The number of job losses in two weeks exceeded 10 million in the U.S. alone. Imagine what'll happen in the least developed countries -- it's a scary picture. describes the importance of . These are domestic challenges that every country is facing. The World Economic Forum social distancing, before health anxiety and panic-scrolling becoming the new normal In addition to everything going on with the coronavirus, we are caught in the midst of other serious problems. These include the refugee crisis from war-affected zones, more and more people trying to migrate from underdeveloped and corrupted governments in search of a promising life at the shores of Europe, and border restrictions within the EU that challenge the solidarity and reliability of the Union overall. Just like mentioned in one of his lectures, , but no one can escape geography`s revenge. Businesses are under attack, the majority of which are based on having a presence offline, especially restaurants, retail, service, and hospitality. R.D.Kaplan the EU is the most ambitious project Needless to say, even Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prince Charles, Vice President of Iran for Women and Family Affairs Massoumeh Ebtekar, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's wife Begona Gomez, Israel's Ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff, and many others have all contracted Covid-19, despite measures that are being taken to prevent it. A new shares his perspective and concerns about Covid-19, based on the warnings he made five years ago on TED`s stage and his predictions that we weren't ready for and caught us all off guard. TED talk by Bill Gates From Tokyo to Canada, from New Zealand to the United States, and from Australia to Brazil, the world is under shut down. Looking at what is happening across the globe, it simply reminds me of Hollywood sci-fiction movie, but this time, it's reality! Industry Giants have stepped into battle against this invisible enemy. or example: pledged $15 million to COVID-19 response efforts in the U.S. and internationally, donated 10 million masks. Apple pledged more than $800 million to support small businesses and crisis response, along with 2-3 million masks. Google announced that all of its Italian production plants have switched to manufacturing single-use medical overalls for the individual protection of healthcare workers engaged in the fight against the Coronavirus disease. Giorgio Armani teamed up with Lyft to provide work for those in need, donated over $3 million in the UK, and provided scores of services to battle Covid-19. Amazon pledged $20 million in matching funds for Covid-19 response. Facebook provided hundreds of ventilators to help meet demands from the growing coronavirus outbreak. Check out how Ford and GM have joined the club to manufacture ventilators. Tesla here Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundations donated medical equipment to African Union member states. Alibaba Businesses, professionals, gig economy enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and others will have to reshape and thoroughly think over how to survive, despite emergency loans or so-called financial cushions in well-developed countries and what could be done in other parts of the world nearly Half the World Lives on Less than $5.50 a Day . Is the world as we know it in the apocalypse or on the way to becoming dystopian? In , I explored how AI and Blockchain industry leaders are joining forces to fight the pandemic. I shared my fascination with Gitlab's and how his grand strategy on remote work motivated me to further explore his philosophy that resulted in the making of GitLab. my previous article CEO Sid Sijbrandij During social distancing, remotely working online, and picking the brain of successful remote teams, companies and alternative ways of working, the statement of that was made in 2017 caught my attention because it is one of the most relevant today. John Chamber To access the complete report, click here In every crisis, there is an opportunity to make differences. Just like in my article about how I researched , all of the mentioned 300 decks got funded and solved some kind of problem in their respective industries. 300 decks I assume all of them had their business models to experiment with, fail and make required modifications. Yet, one of the great sources of business modeling was developed by Dr. and . The explores how those companies that we aspire to develop the business models that made them what they are today. Stefan Perkmann Berger h i s t e am following article But, wait, how about 10 business models? and , of , helped launch . Adeo Ressi Jonathan Greechan P i o n e e r s Founder Institute over 4,000 companies across more than 185 cities and 6 continents They helped us or those interested in exploring how and where their business ideas could be applied. 10 business models along with advantages and disadvantages for each mode can be found . here There are hundreds of companies that are working semi-remotely or 100% remotely. I admire a number of them and follow them enthusiastically. There are, in fact, not 10, but hundreds of them that utilize a 100% remote work lifestyle, though, so I’ll let readers of this post take a dive deep into , and just share my favorite 10 picks. 100 companies that employ, work and partners 100% online is redefining analytics and helping agencies and SMEs benefit from more precise data by democratizing it, and not depending on developers, Business Intelligence and lots of money. In 2016, , founder and CEO, built a tool that simplifies web analytics independent from developers. Every button click and page visit is automatically tracked. Optimization features help understand what works, what doesn’t work, and how to drive more conversions. Once the channels that acquire the most engaged prospects and result in more conversions are identified, customized reports can be shared with others. 1. Oribi Iris Shoor and developed a tool that automates every step of social advertising to unlock greater performance and creativity. Its technology empowers you to rapidly produce, test and optimize best-performing ads across all social channels. Key features include design performance-driven, on-brand creatives with dynamic creative tools and templates and easy launch campaigns to distribute ads across multiple channels and markets all from one platform, saving time and increasing efficiencies. 2. Smartly Kristo Ovaska h i s t e a m founded by , , and , is an easy-to-use tool to organize your ideas and projects into visual boards. It collects everything in one place, allows for writing notes and to-do lists to a board with simple text editing and task management, supports all common image and file types, and saves texts and links from the web through its Web Clipper. By organizing visually and sharing via Milanote boards, teams can edit together in real-time and then share with others. 3. Milanote , Ollie Campbell Brett Warren Michael Trounce enables experts to deliver knowledge. Business experts can build and distribute powerful applications with software that is intuitive and simple enough for non-IT-experts to understand within minutes, yet powerful enough and enterprise-ready for industries with complex reasoning and demanding use cases. It especially caters to experts in law, finance, tax, and compliance by helping them automate and standardize decision making. This no-code building platform, founded by , , and automates decision-making, helping experts deliver knowledge fast and efficiently. 4. BRYTER Michael Hübl Michael Grupp Micha-Manuel Bues allows professional organizations to organize online events that people love worldwide. Organizers can easily put together exciting events with simple plug and play templates. Attendees use proprietary technology to interact and learn from each other and have meaningful conversations entirely online. The advantages are more frequent meetings, opportunity to engage more members, and little financial cost and time needed. Co-founders nd created a unique way to bring like-minded people worldwide together to accomplish great things. 5. Run the World Xiaoyin Qu a Xuan Jiang backed by a stellar of investment experts and advisors, offers a proven investment strategy for novices. As an online financial advisor, it that takes the hurdles out of investing, while helping to maximize returns at a comfortable risk. It is simple for people who are not part of the financial world but want global diversification and optimal returns, because it allows them to build smart portfolios that make more money and take less risk. 6. Sarwa 's CEO Mark Chahwan , t e a m allows to users to discover trends before they are trending by tracking every topic across the internet to identify growing tendencies. Whether a company, product or industry, it stays ahead of the trends that are constantly changing as the world changes by tracking it and sending monthly email reports. Company Founders made seeing into the future easy by knowing about launched products before the go global, sourcing under-the-radar investments and understanding the marketing tactics of today's viral trends. 7. Glimpse are challenging Google trends with exploding topics with their advanced knowledge. This tool and newsletter that surfaces trending topics before they take off is the go-to resource for SEO and content marketing advice. It analyzes millions of searches, conversations and mentions across the internet, identifying interesting topics prior to their launch. To learn more, check out . 8. Brian Dean and Josh Howarth this website is a SaaS community platform built to showcase expertise. , CEO and Co-founder, and , CTO and Co-founder, provided a way to power expert communities. Users to create branded expert networks that promote thought leadership, increase revenue, and build engagement and trust with audiences. All aspects are available, including strategic planning, custom development, site success and support, and roadmap input, to launch a branded community with tailored features. 9. Zapnito Charles Thiede Jon Beer is a leading equity crowdfunding platform that helps startups raise capital online in a simple, streamlined way. and started company back in 2012 and to this day 300K+ total Investors are registered, 200+ Startups Funded 10. Seedinvest Ryan Feit James Han The meat and potato of the article is about ways of working during the outbreak. For some, this is a great opportunity to dive deep into exploring new skills to educate yourself. 10 new (maybe not new) For others, it is a great opportunity to finally try something new and perhaps discover some unknown talents. And, still for others, it is a great opportunity to enjoy a Netfix series and the benefits provided by your company. Many people have more time now because of shelter-in-place requirements and the need to work remotely. For those looking for new opportunities, consider some of these: 1. Freelancing There must be one talent or skillset that you are good at and there is always a way to market it and monetize it. To get started, find your niche, define your value propositions, brand yourself as an expert in your field, and start getting content in front of new audiences. You can also start by registering on , or even showcasing your services on your , or to catch someone else`s attention. Upwork Fiverr LinkedIn Facebook Instagram 2. Blogging Blogging is not easy to start, and not an instantly rewarding business practice. It is a long-term and painstaking journey, because competition is tough and the amount of content is humongous. Yet, if you are a long-term thinker, ready to learn, and willing to share your knowledge, I can tell 100% that all your investments will pay off. People enjoy learning from industry leaders such as , and . Neil Patel, James Altucher Jon Morrow Jon, in particular, is exemplary. Despite being unable to move from the neck down, he has become one of the top writers online, started multiple successful companies, and now teaches and speaks around the world. 3. Affiliate (Marketing) A lot of successful bloggers combine affiliate marketing with their expertise. One of the great examples that I enjoyed to understand the value of affiliate marketing was delivered by and at , go ahead and access free training to understand and explore more. Gael Breton Mark Webster Authority Hacker 4. Consulting is one of the fashion styling industry expert whose skills are always sought after. Not only does he meet VIPs from Fortune 500 companies to advise on their style, but also lectures online and offline to his students across China, Taiwan, Korea, England, and Malaysia. Giovanni Bordone Consulting can be conducted via Upwork, a webinar, even in person. If you have over 10.000 followers, you can boldly engage in affiliate marketing if you can spare enough time for blogging or outsourcing. 5. Teaching (Online Courses) , , and a bunch of other platforms have opened doors to educate and learn upon demand. Anything can be learned online, but there are two challenges. There are experts who have no idea how to scale their expertise and there are marketers that know the required tools to sell anything imaginable. Imagine combining both. You may strike a deal with freelancers in which they help you to promote your expertise professionally and you deliver valuable content (of course, I am thinking out loud). Udemy Skillshare 6. Podcast I enjoy several podcasts. Last time I shared one of my favorite that has thought-provoking content. This time, whose love towards literature is so energizing, got me stuck with his that I enjoy almost every day. It is not about his knowledge of literature, but his passion and storytelling skills that captivate me to listen to him endlessly. Maybe there is something that you are passionate about that can be shared with others, eventually leading to promising business opportunities? You never know! nerdwriter youtube channel Jacke Wilson Spotify channel 7. Youtube/Douyin (TikTok) Chinese Douyin, known as apps on IoS and Android that is reshaping our lifestyle and the art of telling stories. We all have a story to tell. This is a great medium to be heard, promoted or connect. Tik Tok has a number of similarities with Snapchat, Instagram, and Youtube and yet developed a unique platform about which in my future posts I`ll share in greater detail. TikTok, is one of the most downloaded 8. Service On Demand The on-demand economy works by taking a service, such as meal delivery or handyman repairs, and using technology to connect services with users. It can be done through a website or app. Simply both parties sign up and when in need of a service, they open the app and send a request to connect for service. This has become extremely popular in today’s environment, particularly with food delivery as many restaurants have been forced to temporarily close due to Covid-19. 9. Become a Middleman When 16 years old, started his bot automation company, clients never took him seriously. Frustrated, he hired middlemen. These agencies sold his services on a commission basis, allowing him to reap financial rewards and great trade-offs. Other well-known examples are: , and others. Azamat D23 Warby Parker Casper, 10. Other Resources 100 Starting Points to Make Money in the New Economy is a book written by that provides even more in-depth ideas for you to think about. Click to download your free copy. Chad Grills here Conclusion Today, looking at how Covid-19 is invading countries, paralyzing economies, disturbing work-life balance for billions of people who have to adjust their type of work and livelihoods, there is hope. When everything around us seems to be in a state of chaos and uncertainty there is always a plan B for connecting the dots and for planning for the future. This goes for myself included! I hope this article will help in exploring new opportunities and possibilities online. I must admit that what I have covered here is just the tip of the iceberg. once said that: Benjamin Franklin . Necessity is the mother of all invention This outbreak will hopefully spark your curiosity to find your own online passion to monetize, scale and be successful.

10 Business Models, 10 Companies, 10 New Ways of Working In A Pandemic

You probably heard about equity when your friends talk about the value of their shares issued by a company, or something related to bonds, shares, and stocks. What about crowdfunding? You might think of GoFundMe’s brand of charitable and medical crowdfunding. You may also think of rewards-based crowdfunding platforms like Patreon and Kickstarter in which business people and artists, and with the help of , solicit funds from sponsors in return for a physical product or exclusive and limited offer. marketing agencies like Crowdcreate What if I told you that there’s a totally different form of — one in which business people and startups receive money from backers in exchange, not for products or gifts, but for an equity stake in the company? A crowdfunding campaign in which the backers are the ones you funded? crowdfunding What is Equity-based Crowdfunding? Equity-based crowdfunding got its start later than rewards crowdfunding because crowdfunding itself was illegal in the US until about 3 years ago. This is where the (known as JOBS Act) enters. The JOBS Act changed government securities to legalize equity crowdfunding. The thinking was that enabling new businesses to openly request venture by means of crowdfunding would help spur the economy when all is said in done and startup arrangement specifically. Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act StartEngine StartEngine is one of the biggest venture crowdfunding platforms, utilizing Reg CF and Reg A+ to offer interests in new companies to anybody, for as low as $100 in some cases. The choice is expansive and spans a wide scope of enterprises from clothing to electric vehicles to health care, however, speculators should realize that curation is exceptionally limited, so venture quality can differ generally among accessible contributions. StartEngine also began offering “ ”, known as ICOs recently, which leverage the emerging blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem. In addition to and ICOs and startups, StartEngine currently offers investors the chance to invest in StartEngine itself using a Reg A+ offering. Initial Coin Offerings Usually, investors receive common stock or a convertible note, but the specific security types differ by investment. Instead of through a special-purpose vehicle like a , all of the offerings on the crowdfunding platform appear to be direct investments. Limited Liability Company (LLC) Editor’s Note: Hacker Noon raised its first funding on StartEngine. SeedInvest SeedInvest was founded by Ryan Feit and James Han in 2012. They have been part of the development to change U.S. securities laws take equity crowdfunding into consideration. SeedInvest was the first equity crowdfunding platform to permit regular investors who don’t qualify as accredited investors to invest in companies on their platform, thus giving campaigners a more extensive potential investor base. In the meantime, SeedInvest connects you to other accredited investors as well. SeedInvest is adaptable as far as who can invest in companies on its site, but it is decidedly more exclusive with regards to the organizations that can conduct campaigns on their platform. SeedInvest is for business fundraising only, with consumer-facing and tech businesses comprising most of the platform’s successful campaigns. SeedInvest does broad due diligence on the organizations that apply to utilize their platform, and by their very own estimation, have endorsed only 1% of startups that have applied thus far. Indiegogo Indiegogo is a crowdfunding platform in which clients can raise assets from an individual sponsor for creative projects, as well as launch equity crowdfunding ventures for their business ventures. When launching a fundraising campaign, they can choose from between creative works, community projects, and Tech and Innovation. With equity crowdfunding, your benefactors are actual investors buying a stake in your venture. You can raise up to $1,000,000, but only companies incorporated in the U.S. can use First Democracy VC unlike with Indiegogo’s other funding options. And though you will be cutting your investors in on the activity, you get the chance to monitor and maintain organization control. is a service Indiegogo now offers where you enroll in after you complete your initial rewards crowdfunding campaign, whether your campaign was on Indiegogo or another site. With InDemand, you keep fund-raising for an inconclusive period — and without fixed fundraising goals — after your initial campaign closes. In the event that your initial campaign was an Indiegogo campaign, your unique fundraising page is left up and utilized as a validating factor for your project. Last but not least, Indiegogo offers a service called Marketplace, in which you sell your products online. InDemand MicroVentures Founded in 2009 by Bill Clark and based in Austin, MicroVentures is an equity crowdfunding platform that offers accredited and non-accredited investors the opportunity to put in early-stage organizations. MicroVentures specializes in Regulation Crowdfunding, which is a term that refers to a form of equity crowdfunding that enables everyone to contribute, not just accredited investors. Companies on this platform can also launch raises, though these are constrained to accredited investors only. Moreover, MicroVentures is one of the few equity crowdfunding sites to be an intermediary merchant enrolled by the . Regulation D Rule 506 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) MicroVentures has a reputation as a powerhouse in the equity crowdfunding field since they are regarded as one of the industry’s pioneers. It offered investments in Twitter and Facebook before they opened up to the public. It is a trusted platform it has seen over $100 million in venture sent to an extremely select gathering of organizations. WeFunder Equity crowdfunding is a new kind of business approach, and few companies are ready to fully take advantage of it. Ever since the JOBS Act was passed into law in 2012, Wefunder is one of the few equity crowdfunding platforms that truly opens up the world of investing to everybody. Wefunder gives US corporations and LLCs an equity crowdfunding platform that associates them to almost 150,000 registered investors (as of November 2017). An organization can make a profile with Wefunder for nothing, however when it comes time to begin raising money, a $195 charge must be paid. Wrapping up People presumably relate with destinations like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Patreon — services by which campaigners request assets from the in exchange for rewards and gifts with the attention that crowdfunding has been getting lately. I can say that there is a whole lot more to it. That’s our list, but you still have to do your own research and remember, never invest if you can’t afford to lose. crowdfunding community — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Maximize Your Community Engagement With Crowdcreate. Crowdcreate is ranked by Forbes as the #1 Blockchain Marketing Agency. Companies raise more funds and grow their community larger when working with us. Crowdcreate is a full-service marketing agency that specializes in social media management, community growth, design & branding, influencers, content creation, SEO and more. We have worked with some of the largest crowdfunding ICOs and startups including BitClave, ANKER, and Tencent. We’ve raised over $106.4 million dollars across 45+ projects since 2014; we are a veteran team and one of the original crowdfunding agencies. Check us out here ( https://www.crowdcreate.us ).

Best Equity Crowdfunding Platforms

Billions of dollars in venture capital have poured into direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands over the past ten years, funding hundreds of upstart brands challenging the incumbents in product category. These brands, once by investors, are now raising multi-million dollar rounds pre-launch and recruiting top talent. nearly every ignored There’s no question that there’s hype around the D2C space, but we’ve seen far less interest in the infrastructure that allows these brands to scale. D2C brands uniquely own every step of their production and distribution process — from product design to packaging to marketing to fulfillment. New brands can struggle to put all these pieces together, while established brands face challenges like figuring out how to serve an international audience and maintaining growth in a capital-efficient way. We see a huge opportunity for the rise of tools that better serve these brands, and we’re excited to share our research on companies in this space and areas where we hope to see further development. If you’re working on something in the D2C infrastructure space, please email us at twins@crv.com — we’d love to talk to you! Playbook for New Brands We’ve compiled a list of the tools we see D2C brands using today, based on our conversations with dozens of brands and data from Siftery . Product Design & Development Most brands handle design and development of products in-house, sometimes with heavy input from customers, which Glossier (and more brands are exploring via Instagram Stories and surveys). The development process typically involves finding a factory or manufacturing partner with expertise in the space, and working closely with them. famously does However, we’ve found a few startups that are aiming to use tech in the product development process. and offer this for 3D-printed products, while and do the same for hardware. and all focus on fashion, doing smaller production runs with quick turnaround times. (customers include , and ), and ( ) both work across industries. Voodoo Manufacturing Shapeways Shape Prototype , Kickr Design , Seeed Studios CALA , IndieSource , Nineteenth Amendment Parcel Supply Birchbox, S’well Blue Apron PCH International Walker and Company, Fitbit, Blaze Manufacturing Many brands find manufacturers through their personal networks or referrals, but there are also established marketplaces that connect companies with domestic and international factories — , , , , and are a few examples. Some of the newer players cater to younger brands who are concerned about eco-friendliness, quality control, and social responsibility — ( , ), , , and (fashion-specific) are a few examples. MFG.com Kompass Alibaba IndiaMart ThomasNet Anvyl LOLA, Hims, S’well Native Sourcify Maker’s Row Sewport Financing There’s a number of firms that focus on consumer brands, many of which combine an investment with incubation or branding, advertising, or other support. is a major player in this space — the company offers as well as financing options, as is is a newer firm that focuses on brands doing $1M+ in annual revenue. CircleUp credit equity Indie.vc . Assembled Brands Other funds include , , , , and invest exclusively in food and beverage. , , and (beauty-focused) all serve as accelerators that combine funding with agency-like support. Outroll Ventures Unilever Ventures Touchdown Ventures Beechwood Capital Simon Capital , Elizabeth Street , VTF Capital *. AccelFoods , First Beverage Group , Distill Ventures Bullish The Brandery SKU , XRC Labs , Sephora Accelerate and remain a popular way to fund an initial production run, as well as equity crowdfunding platforms like , , , and . Along with traditional credit options like small business loans (also offered via startups like , , and ), there are also a few new credit options catered directly to D2C brands. These include , (working capital), and (marketing funding). does the same via merchant cash advances and loans. Kickstarter Indiegogo SeedInvest Crowdfunder Republic Wefunder Fundbox SnapCap Kickfurther CircleUp Credit Advisors Dwight Funding Clearbanc Shopify Capital Inventory Management Inventory management and forecasting are crucial for young brands that are short on cash and storage space. Forecasting is complicated by the fact that these brands can have “viral” moments that are difficult to predict and lead to long waitlists. Like most other software categories, there are existing inventory management solutions (Netsuite, Workday, SAP, etc.). However, the pricing, features, and implementation often don’t work for early-stage, high growth companies. A few startup platforms that cater to D2C brands — ( , ) and ( ). Other options that are popular amongst e-commerce more broadly are , , , , , , and . Fuse Inventory Glossier, LOLA, MeUndies Snowe Stitch Labs Brooklinen, Thinx TradeGecko Finale Lightspeed Retail Ops Unleashed Veeqo Brightpearl Branding Many brands do this in-house, especially if they have a designer on the team or can easily consult with an expert. , and are a few of the more popular tools for managing brand assets, and some also include tools or design space for generating these assets. It’s also common to hire a freelancer on a platform like , , , , , and . Canva , Brandfolder , Bynder , Outfit , OpenBrand Frontify 99Designs , DesignCrowd Dribbble Behance Upwork Toptal Fiverr A number of design agencies have risen to fame for their work with top D2C brands — ( )and ( ) are two of the most popular. Others include ( ) ( ) ( ), ( ), ( ), ( ), and ( . Red Antler Casper, Allbirds, Keeps, Brandless Gin Lane Hims, Sweetgreen, Harry’s, Stadium Goods Pentagram Buffy, Tender Greens, The Wing , Condensed Pair Eyewear, Num Num, Keepers , Partners & Spade Allbirds, Flamingo, Warby Parker , M. Gemi Collins Heyday, Nourish, Archer Farms Motto Even, Keetsa, Crown & Buckle Circus Maximus Roman, Bombfell High Tide Warby Parker, Casper, LOLA) Marketing Like traditional e-commerce companies, many D2C brands devote most of their marketing dollars to Facebook, Instagram, and Google. There is a sea of marketing software tools for new brands to manage this spend. To get a sense of what both early and late-stage brands are using, we used to check out the marketing stack for the top 15 most well-funded D2C brands, as well as the 29 brands who raised a VC seed round last year. We’ve included below platforms that were used by five or more brands out of this group. Siftery Most of the brands we surveyed used at least one option in each of the sub-categories above, making it by far the most complex area of the stack we examined. Seed-stage brands were more likely to experiment with similarly early-stage marketing platforms (perhaps because they are the most hungry to acquire customers!)—particularly in categories that go beyond the basics like referrals, re-targeting, and conversion. We know many brands are also using tools to schedule and post content to social media, which wouldn’t show up in a Siftery stack. Examples include (Instagram scheduler), (Twitter scheduler) as well as cross-platform schedulers and — which we’ve included in the “Customer Success” map below as they also support customer service. Later Tweetdeck Sprout Social Buffer Customer Success Similar to marketing, many of the customer success platforms built for traditional e-commerce seem to be working for D2C brands. Unlike marketing, however, we found most D2C brands used a fairly tight set of customer success solutions — most commonly a live chat tool ( and were the top two), an email/ticketing system ( and —which all also offer social support) and a social-focused service platform ( and ) Olark Zendesk Zendesk , Kustomer , Gorgias , Conversocial Sprout . We’ve also included customer review systems in the “Customer Success” category — though they could arguably be considered “Marketing” tools as well. and were by far the most-used platforms in this category. Yotpo Okendo Commerce & Payments Almost all of the seed-stage D2C brands we surveyed used either or as their commerce platform, while later-stage brands commonly used to process payments. About half of the 43 brands we looked at also used one or more of the following: and is another newer option that handles checkout, analytics, and fraud protection. Shopify Magento Stripe Google Wallet , Paypal , Apple Pay , Amazon Payments . Bolt Payments Outside of the core payment processing functionality, almost all of the subscription-based D2C brands we looked at used for their billing, and several of the later-stage brands used a fraud protection solution like and Brands with higher-priced items also often implements solutions to allow customers to pay over time — with platforms like , , and . ReCharge Payments Riskified Signifiyd . Affirm Klarna Quadpay Fulfillment, Shipping, & Returns We’ve discussed Inventory Management above, so in this category we‘ve focused on packaging, shipping and fulfillment, and returns. In packaging, arguably the most well-known brand is ( ) but many earlier-stage brands that struggle with Lumi’s prices and minimums turn to and also have quite a bit of traction in this space. Lumi Parachute, MeUndies, Rockets of Awesome Packlane . Arka Pakible On the shipping side, ( ), , and are three of the most popular options, though some brands ship directly via USPS or FedEx. helps companies offer same-day delivery. , , , , , and are other popular 3PL and fulfillment options for D2C brands and e-commerce more broadly. Shippo MeUndies, Ipsy, Hims ShipStation ShipBob Darkstore Flexe ShipHero RubyHas Quiet Logistics ID Logistics Dotcom Distribution , Fosdick and are focused on international shipping, which remains a huge problem for brands of all sizes. Brands use platforms like and to help customers track orders. On the returns side, and (sometimes used together!) are the two most popular options we found, with and as other common options. Passport Shipping , Flow , FlavorCloud Arrive , Newgistics , AfterShip , Narvar Returnly Happy Returns ReturnMagic Narvar Brick & Mortar Space As we’ve , D2C brands are increasingly experimenting with physical retail space — usually via pop-ups or by renting shelf space in their early days, and then setting up permanent stores further down the line. The last few years has seen the birth of many startups that aim to help brands tackle this without having to hire a broker or realtor. written about before In the shelf or display space category, some of the biggest contenders are (with an online marketplace and three stores in NYC), (focused on consumer hardware) (in Edmonton and Minneapolis), (Plano, TX), (NoHo in NYC), and (SF). On the short-term or pop-up side, and all offer solutions. assists with longer-term retail placements alongside (formerly thisopenspace), a CRV portfolio company that also helps smaller brands find short-term and shelf space. Bulletin b8ta Fourpost Neighborhood Goods Showfields Re:Store Storefront , AppearHere , Go-PopUp Leap Uppercase (customers include and ), also helps D2C brands with retail — but with a focus on connecting companies to vendors and service providers who can manage store operations. This includes maintenance, events, dry cleaning, and other custom services that brands may not have the time or expertise to set up themselves. Worksmith Outdoor Voices, Casper, Bonobos, Stance What’s Left To Build? There are several areas where we see considerable room for improvement on existing solutions, as well as other categories that have yet to be tackled. Here are just a few areas of opportunity we are particularly excited about: CACs continue to rise on Instagram and Facebook — though consumers remain excited to try new brands, it’s hard to cut through the noise on social feeds. Many brands are turning to cross-promotions with other brands to lower acquisition costs, and sites like have popped up to aggregate brands. We’ve also seen new entrants focus on dominating specific product categories (e.g. in beauty) or distribution via friend referrals (e.g. ). We’re excited to see more scalable, software-based solutions for brands to reach the right customer. Discovery. Newfound Supergreat MASSE It’s surprising how hard it is for brands large and small to ship internationally — just take a look at the variety of products on ! Because D2C brands advertise heavily on social media, where content can be shared globally (even if ads target a domestic audience), it’s especially important to be able to serve these potential customers. We’re very excited about starting to tackle this problem, and are looking forward to seeing these solutions expand to more brands. International Shipping. Grabr Passport , FlavorCloud , Flow We continue to see D2C brands struggle to finance their inventory, particularly given that they often can’t negotiate favorable payment terms with manufacturers early on. This results in many companies raising more venture funding (and taking more dilution) than they need to scale. , , , and have been making progress in providing working capital to brands, and we’re interested in watching how this space evolves. Financing. Clearbanc Assembled Brands Dwight Funding CircleUp As shown by the many categories above, brands have to piece together and manage a huge amount of different resources just to get a first product out the door. This can be especially overwhelming for small teams running on limited capital, who don’t have partnerships or contracts with larger retailers. It will likely take more time and capital in the space, but we’d be excited to see something closer to an end-to-end solution (even just for one category!) that simplifies brand operations. is one example — as well as serving as a subscription platform for brands like , , and , they also offer fulfillment, customer service, and business intelligence. Resource Aggregation. OceanX Ladder Cora Seed Thanks for reading! If you’re working on something in this space, please email us at twins@crv.com — we’d love to hear from you! Like this post? to help more people see our story, and share it with your friends! Clap for it Interested in reading more content from us? You can subscribe to our weekly newsletter, , for more insights on millennial and Gen Z trends: Accelerated https://accelerated.carrd.co/ Thank you to Saar Gur for his help with this post.

D2C 2.0: The Rise of Infrastructure

Capital Formation — the killer app for blockchain?

Imagine being able to own .1% of a Picasso or a fourth of an Uber cab that you split with three of your friends. Currently, such things would be burdensome at best or just nearly impossible. However, security tokens offerings (STOs) are providing a path to fractional ownership by enabling the tokenization of virtually anything we can think of. Such offerings have been sweeping the cryptocurrency space, providing a regulated alternative to ICOs. Since security tokens are backed by underlying assets or profits, investors gain access to equity, voting rights, and dividends. In theory, this should allow anyone to invest into anything, opening the doors for unlimited opportunities never seen before. Yet in practice, there are quite a few obstacles one needs to be aware of before getting lost in the hype. Limited Access As ICOs became popular fundraising channels, utility tokens emerged. Many projects claimed that these tokens were an integral part of their products, however, most of them didn’t do much but help them raise capital. Since ICOs were never classified as securities, they managed to get around the regulations that are attached to most financial assets. While the regulations of STOs provide for safer waters, they also build a fence around the pool in the form of accreditation requirements. While Title III of the 2016 JOBS Act opened up equity crowd funding to retail investors, that access is still like a crack in a wall (for better or worse) compared to the freedom provided by most ICOs. Long Lockups Periods ICOs created an environment of evangelist hodlers that held coins through thick and thin and speculators that would make quick (and pretty sizable) profits by dumping their tokens as soon as they hit the market. This has been a rinse and repeat practice for many ICO investors. However, with STOs this isn’t the case. Investors can be subject to long lockup periods where they are unable to get rid of their assets. Such periods not only tie up capital, but also greatly increase exposure to price fluctuations and long-term success of the underlying asset. Limited Upside for Speculators Investors participating in ICOs are primarily moon hunters. Unfazed by the gains in the tradtional crypto market, they hunt for the unicorns that would 10–50x their potential profit. Doing so for ICOs that live on speculation (and not much else) is one thing. However, since the asset underlying STOs has a net asset value, it may act as an anchor on price. While assets like art and real estate tend to retain value and grow over time, realizing gains from such assets requires a much greater amount of what most ICO investors don’t have; patience. Exchange Limitations While STOs aim at turn illiquid assets liquid, ironically, they also reduce the availability for exchange or trade. Being subject to many secondary-trading restrictions, the ability to sell off assets is far more difficult than getting rid of shares on an exchange. Nevertheless, licensed security exchange token platforms are coming and there are a few things we should look out for: Coinbase bought Keystone Capital to become a regulated broker dealer Goldman Sachs backed Circle acquires equity crowdfunding platforms Seed Invest GSR capital funds Overstock.com’s tZERO with $400 million and the Boston Stock Exchange partners with tZERO to launch a regulated security token exchange Malta Stock Exchange signs a memorandum of understanding with finance to launch a security tokens trading platform Nasdaq is looking to Gatecrash Ultimately, there is no denying that STOs will lead the path to a tokenized world. Yet like with anything, it is always a good idea to know exactly what you are getting into. While over time regulations are likely to become more relaxed, when that will be no one knows. Before diving head first into anything make sure to do your own research and have a coherent plan for getting in as well as out. Daniel Elias is the Marketing Lead at Jibrel Network . Jibrel provides currencies, equities, commodities and other financial assets as standard ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. The opinions expressed in this post are his own and do not reflect the official policy or position of Jibrel Network.

Are STOs All They’re Cracked Up To Be?

The future is bright for the disruption of finance. A lot of people may not find it a big deal when they hear that it is now possible to use Bitcoin as a form of payment for investing in US securities issued using the new exemptions Regulation Crowdfunding or Regulation A+ that allow companies to raise capital from the general public. After all, haven’t people been using Bitcoin to buy everything from pizza to tokens in an ICO for years now? However, these people may be missing something of vital importance: these two regulations require investments to be placed into escrow managed by a qualified intermediary. In layman’s terms, this means you need a bank that is willing to receive the Bitcoin payment and hold it in trust until the transaction meets the regulatory requirements and is then disbursed to the company selling the securities. A few words from some of the entrepreneurs now accepting Bitcoin on StartEngine Let’s look into this a little further. Until now, there were no banks who were willing to act as a custodian of digital assets. , which is a Nevada-based trust company (which is a bank), agreed to be the first institution of its kind to permit the custody of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. Prime Trust’s CEO Scott Purcell is an innovator and a banker with the ambition to be the regulated plumbing for enabling transactions in the crowdfunding and ICO world. In fact, Prime Trust recently for a new stable coin, in which Prime Trust will be responsible for holding the capital backing the new stable coin called USD Anchor. Prime Trust announced a partnership with IBM Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, is now accepted for Regulation Crowdfunding. So why is it a big deal that a bank wants to hold cryptocurrencies in trust? Simple. One of biggest hurdles for any company handling Bitcoin is the risk that the handler can be hacked, in which case the investor loses all of their money. Think of Mt Gox and ” that were hacked. They had no custodian of the assets and no insurance, so when they were hacked, the Bitcoin was gone. End of story. the dozens of websites or “exchanges With Prime Trust, the game has changed. The investor can rest assured that their Bitcoin in trust is FDIC-insured because it is received into the bank’s custody and then eventually converted into US dollars. This is the first time a bank is guaranteeing the safety of Bitcoins. No one has ever done that. A few words from some of the entrepreneurs now accepting Bitcoin on StartEngine Yes, the so-called exchanges have been saying, and will say, they are keeping Bitcoin safe in cold storage, but ultimately they are not a bank. There is no FDIC insurance, which insures deposits of up to $250,000 in a single bank (if an investor wanted to deposit more than that amount, it would have to be split among more than one bank). Prime Trust has innovated and broken the necessary barrier to growing the cryptocurrency marketplace by providing this investor protection. Let’s explore the benefits of this new solution. Regulation Crowdfunding is one of the most promising forms of raising capital for companies in the United States. It can be used for ICOs or more traditional crowdfunding structures. (full disclosure: I am the co-founder & CEO at StartEngine) shows a nascent marketplace helping hundreds and soon to be thousands of companies raise capital for their businesses. The StartEngine Index The regulation as published by the SEC requires the funding portal, such as WeFunder, StartEngine or SeedInvest, to use a qualified intermediary or bank to hold the investor funds in escrow until the company raising capital on that portal has successfully met its minimum investment. Until today, none of the funding portals have been able to legally accept Bitcoin as a form of payment because no escrow was able to take it. A few words from some of the entrepreneurs now accepting Bitcoin on StartEngine This is no longer the case now that Prime Trust is accepting Bitcoin. Funding portals like StartEngine have now announced their support for Bitcoin, which will mean companies can raise capital through Bitcoin on a funding portal and raise up to $1.07M per year. This amount may not seem big, but it is significant because it is legal. A company can now sell tokens to the general public accepting Bitcoin in return and can simultaneously raise capital using Regulation D 506(c) to sell above the $1.07M limit to accredited investors. Voilà. ICOs are being brought out of the shadows into a regulated marketplace thanks to the JOBS Act and to innovators like Prime Trust. It is clear by now that cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications are going to revolutionize finance, as well as other industries, but it is also obvious that this must be, and can only be, done by following the established regulations and laws in the United States. With Bitcoin now an accepted payment for Regulation Crowdfunding, the JOBS Act and the blockchain community continue to come closer together. The future is bright for a total disruption of the finance industry. Thanks for reading. If you liked what you read, please give it a clap and follow me on Medium.

You Can Now Use Bitcoin to Invest in Securities for Real

An in-depth look into 3 security token issuances Security tokens have been hyped up a lot in the past few months. A lot of the writing you might read here on Hacker Noon and Medium describes them as having these amazing properties that are ripe to disrupt the multi-trillion dollar securities markets. Some of the more influential articles (for background) have been: ’s two articles: and Stephen McKeon Traditional Asset Tokenization The Security Token Thesis ’s Anthony Pompliano Official Guide to Tokenized Securities ’ article: Howard Marks The ICO Is Dead. Long Live the ICO 2.0 I’d agree that they definitely have the to do be extremely disruptive, but instead of focusing on what happen, I’d like to walk us through three different security token issuances that have actually been filed / are very close to being filed to give us a better sense of where security tokens are today. potential could Regulation D: PropertyCoin : Rule 506 under Regulation D is the most common way to privately raise money without the burdensome disclosure and audit requirements of a public offering. These offerings are restricted to accredited investors, are not allowed to be publicly advertised, and the securities issued are trading-restricted. A Quick Primer on Regulation D Learn more. PropertyCoin is one of the earlier self-purported security tokens. The company is using a Regulation D offering (probably 506c) to issue ‘PropertyCoins’ to invest in distressed real estate to flip and/or loan money to property investors pursuing similar types of projects. This falls into the category of non- companies raising money via security tokens. blockchain You can find the U.S. Prospectus . It’s worth a read through, even for non-lawyer types, because Dentons actually does a very good job at describing exactly what the problems are for Regulation D offerings like these still, especially in the extensive risk factors section that they had to draft for this offering. I’ve picked out a few parts of this offering of note to discuss: here 1. Non-existent voting and management rights: Almost all of the offerings I have seen share this quality, and this is not a result of being a Regulation D offering. Rather, in the name of creating a trendy security token and following the spirit of the ICO wave, many companies have opted to strip all of the typical governance and control rights that an equity issuance would have, even for minority investors. For PropertyCoin, the language is just that: Property Coins shall have no voting rights nor shall purchasers thereof be entitled to participate in the control or management of the Token Issuer or take an active part in the business of the Token Issuer for any purpose, nor will anything be construed to confer on the purchasers any right to vote… More cynical investors might have insisted on getting consent or supermajority rights that allow minority investors to protect themselves against amendments that could basically render their investment worthless in the case where management chooses to abuse their control rights. Of course, there are many cases where private companies also don’t offer any of these rights as well, but those investors don’t also generally agree to: 2. No rights to distributions and/or ownership of equity: Again, this is not because it is a Regulation D offering. In the same way as above, a lot of trendy security token offerings special cash flow streams that are more like a royalties than equity ownership, while the founders retain 100% legal ownership and control of the underlying company. design In the case of PropertyCoin, it is similar: no distribution rights and the parent company owns 100% of the equity. They make it quite explicit that the only way that investors will make money is through capital gains — if they either sell the token to someone else or to the company in a buyback. PropertyCoins have no distribution or dividend rights. Any return of capital to purchasers thereof will occur through open market purchases or repurchases of PropertyCoins by the Token Issuer… Additionally, in liquidation, there are no claims to any of the underlying assets because token holders don’t actually own any equity. There’s only this clause that says that in the case of liquidation, that token holders would be returned some proceeds on a pari-passu basis. However, what is unclear is what the split would be between the 100% equity owner of the LP and these token holders; that split is probably whatever management wants. The problem I have with these first two points is that there is nothing intrinsic about a security token that means that common shareholders rights should denied. I would argue that security tokens — after all, they are supposed to mimic securities — should retain all of these attributes. The tokenization should instead make managing governance and ownership more transparent and potentially increase ease of trading and liquidity if token-based markets for private securities develop. At the end of the day, what is also important to understand here is that the SEC does not protect consumers from shitty, creatively structured investments. Its role is to make sure that investors are well-informed and that there is . SEC regulation of security tokens does not necessarily make investments any more attractive. (Okay, maybe marginally so compared to a lot of straight up scam ICOs we’ve seen in the past year). adequate disclosure so that investors can know that they are making shitty investments 3. Transfer Restrictions with Uncertain Liquidity Securities issued in Regulation D offerings are subject to transfer restrictions. In the case of a 506c filing, the initial offering is restricted to accredited investors and resale after that is restricted for a 6–12 month holding period. PropertyCoins may not be resold or otherwise transferred: (i) by U.S. persons until after the first anniversary of the issuance of PropertyCoins and then not to any U.S. person unless they sell or transfer their PropertyCoins pursuant to an exemption from registration under the Securities Act of 1933. The exemption that is generally used in the resale of these tokens is which requires the holding period as described above, but then basically allows unrestricted resale of the securities past that point once the ‘restricted’ classification is lifted by the issuer. Rule 144 There seems to be this unspoken bet for Regulation D-based security tokens that it is through this Rule 144 lifting of restricted classifications that will allow security tokens to form into liquid secondary markets for private securities. This means that companies can just use Regulation D and churn out securities that basically act like publically-traded (or highly liquid privately-traded) ones after 6–12 months. There are a number of companies out there already that do this for private securities (and some are planning on doing this for security tokens as well) like and , but generally, they are limited to accredited investors. The companies working on security token protocols like and seem to be making the bet that adequate KYC and trading controls built into the token will convince the SEC to allow for this on cryptoexchanges or decentralized exchanges. Nasdaq Private Market SharesPost Harbor Polymath How will the SEC ultimately respond to this? I have no idea. S-1 Filing: Praetorian Group : An S-1 Filing is what you hear about when a company does their IPO (initial public offering). It is generally a that costs millions in both one-time IPO costs and annual recurring costs, but the securities can be publicly traded on exchanges in the way that we generally understand stocks to be. A Quick Primer on S-1 Filings very expensive process Yes, someone actually tried to do an S-1 filing for a security token. is another real estate company that has filed for a $75M public offering to issue PAX tokens to buy real estate and then, for some reason, also create a wallet and corresponding debit card so investors use the PAX tokens as currency. You can read the . Praetorian Group official S-1 Filing here There’s not much to say about the offering itself. There’s no detail as to what the PAX tokens are other than them being either ERC-20 tokens or NEO tokens, and that there’s some right to a percentage of net profits to be distributed as management pleases, paid through token buybacks (What?). On an Annual basis, all Company PAX Token Holders shall be entitled to their share of our net profit, (revenue minus expenses off the real estate holdings) that the Company will distribute, in its sole and absolute discretion. This will be paid in PAX tokens purchased on the secondary exchange when the Company achieves profitability. Most of the lawyers who are much more familiar with these filings have basically laughed at the filing and say that not only it doesn’t not make a lot of sense, but that it is also missing a section required for S-1 filings, and would never be approved by the SEC. You can read and . Bloomberg’s take on the offering some other commentary I’ve found I do want to make one last point here though. There is nothing that is preventing anyone from trying to register a security token as a publicly traded security through an S-1 filing, other than it costs a lot of money to do it properly, no CFO has the incentive to take such a massive risk with one of the most important (and potentially expensive) events of a company without obvious benefit, and there is no assurance that the SEC will approve it. Before an S-1 filing makes sense, I think we need to work towards showing what the actual advantages of a security-token based filing are compared to just being a publicly traded security on an exchange. The benefits aren’t really the liquidty or capital when you’re at the S-1 filing stage — as security tokens for smaller private offerings would confer. Instead, it’s potentially the transparency, easier auditing and blockchain-based management of the share register and governance rights that might actually decrease those yearly recurring costs of being a public company where a security token might actually be attractive. Regulation CF / A+: Gab.ai : Regulation CF (Crowdfunding) is a special private offering type that allows companies to raise up to $1.07M in a year on a SEC-registered platform. Investors are subject to investment limits based on their income / net worth. There are light financial and information disclosure requirements. A Quick Primer on Regulation CF Learn more. Regulation A+ is often referred to as a mini-IPO. A company can raise up to $50M; it can both ‘test the waters’ and publicly advertise the offering. Up to 30% of the securities can be traded on SEC-registered exchanges in the first year, and all unaffiliated securities after that. There are heavier disclosure requirements, including an offering document and yearly reporting to the SEC. The example below had estimated offering costs of $200K — 300K. A Quick Primer on Regulation A+: Learn more. Gab.ai is a social network platform that is currently popular amongst libertarians and alt-right extremists of various kinds. Gab.ai first did a common-share based Regulation CF offering back in August 2017. While their product is not really blockchain-based in any way, they are the first company to file a Regulation A+ offering as of June 22, 2018 using an ERC-20 security token (GAB). You can find their Regulation A+ filing with the SEC . here I’ve picked out a few parts of this offering of note to discuss. In many ways, despite the underlying business, I think this is the closest I’ve seen to what I would consider a proper security token offering: 1. Equivalent Economic Rights The GAB security token is structured in a way that makes it very similar to a Class B share, where the economic rights are equivalent to a Class A share but without voting rights. This is not to say that every Regulation A+ offering will be structured this way, but this is a breath of fresh air compared to the other filings we’ve discussed. In this Offering, we are offering to investors Class B Non-Voting Common Stock designated as “GAB Tokens”, which will be issued through Ethereum-based ERC-20 smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. The holders of our GAB Tokens, together with the holders of our Class A Common Stock, will be entitled to receive pro rata dividends, if any, declared by our board of directors out of legally available funds. Upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding-up, the holders of our GAB Tokens, together with the holders of our Class A Common Stock, are entitled to share ratably in all assets that are legally available for distribution. For purposes of clarity, in connection with any dividends, liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the Company, each GAB Token shall be entitled to receive the same dividend or distribution to which each share of Class A Common Stock is entitled to receive. 2. Trading on exchanges allowed Regulation A+ offerings are different from Regulation D ones in that they allow 30% of the offering to be sold on secondary markets in the first year. But even with the regulations allowing this, the problem is that there aren’t any exchanges that exist that are compatible with these types of security tokens yet. No existing exchanges are not SEC-registered, but (and is waiting for approval) and . , where these types of securities normally trade, are not token-compatible, and it doesn’t seem like they have any plans to go in the security token direction. cryptocurrency Coinbase has just registered with the SEC as a broker-dealer for securities like these tZERO is claiming that they will be launching a compliant security token exchange OTC Markets We will definitely have a number of compatible registered exchanges up and running in the near future, now it’s more a matter of having more companies opt to use Regulation A+ as their method of fundraising. A few takeaways We are still wading in highly uncertain, developing territory, and it’s all very exciting. I think we’re still working through a few fundamental bumps, but in the next 12–18 months, we’ll definitely see this market mature more. But as of right now: . So, buyer beware and please review the terms of what you’re investing in. Crappy offerings will probably outnumber the good ones for a while, but there will be really great companies with proper offerings and we need to publicize them as what is possible to encourage further growth and innovation in the space. Security tokens are still riding on the ICO-wave of easy capital and are littered with unsavoury investment terms There seem to be two major directions emerging that right now that people seem to be betting on: Regulation D or Regulation A+. I am generally more skeptical about the former because of some of the reasons I’ve discussed above, and believe that Regulation CF and A+ offerings are well-designed for fundraising with the kinds of engaged communities that the best crypto-projects attract. This has some implications on which type of platforms will win in the space— / vs. / / , essentially — since building platforms for Regulation D is quite different from CF/A+. The jury is still out on the best issuance type to use for private offerings. Harbor Polymath StartEngine SeedInvest Republic We’re still at a point where we’re trying to navigate how to conduct the most basic offering given the existing state of SEC regulations, but I hope that we’ll also spend more time focusing on how we can create offerings that actually benefit from the beyond supposed liquidity in areas like transparency, governance, reporting, etc. Legal, technological and legislative innovation is still required to create more benefits of security tokens and more interesting investment structures. blockchain If we are able to show those benefits, we might actually be able to convince the SEC to allow for more interesting, blockchain-secured structures that are because of the transparency and security that blockchain-based securities allow, like splitting up tokens into more granular assets under the same class of tokens, interesting cash flow and royalty structures that are secured against IP, hard assets or other cash flows via the blockchain, or who knows what kind of interesting financial engineering we can do? only viable Thank you for reading. A few last things: Please do not take any of this as legal advice. Any corrections in my limited understanding of U.S. Securities Law would be much appreciated. I am not a lawyer. I’m especially curious to hear from more optimistic advocates of where we are with security tokens. This was a much more opinionated piece than my usual writing, so please share your opinions and thoughts. It’s not my job to pick out the good and the bad amongst the many security token offerings, but I think it will be important to look as many examples as possible to build a few best practices and standards around this. I would love to learn about more offerings that may have come across your radar. As I usually do, you will see an addendum for any further thoughts from discussions that follow from this. Always open to feedback otherwise.

Stories, News & Mentions about SEEDINVEST

Seedinvest’s Stories on HackerNoon

Seedinvest's News & Mentions