SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurship Education provides this self-paced training exercise as an overview of crowdfunding (also commonly referred to as ‘crowd financing’ or ‘crowd sourced capital’). The highlighted next steps at the conclusion of the program will help you apply what you have learned and engage you in the process of crowdfunding. Read More…  

Some crowdfunding industry leaders are using the lull before the fundraising practice is publicly viable to develop educational material for people who may soon be making their first investments. The Securities and Exchange Commission is currently drafting rules to allow start-ups to sell stakes in their companies to the general public, potentially raising large sums from crowds of small investors. Until now, selling equity stakes has been limited to so-called accredited investors, people who …Read More

In an industry that seems to be growing and changing by the hour—thanks, in part, to the 2012 JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act—a new associations is moving quickly to help crowdfunding professionals, industry partners, investors, and the general public make sense of it all. The Crowdfunding Professional Association announced that it is rolling out a Global Crowdfunding Education Network that will provide online resources including breaking news alerts, legislative …Read More

Crowdfunding is not just about creating jobs, it is about creating jobs for the right people. In April of 2012, President Obama signed the JOBS Act into law, authorizing crowdfunding of equity and debt for the sake of creating jobs. The more time I spend studying crowdfunding and working with the leaders in the crowdfund community, the clearer it becomes that not only will crowdfunding create jobs, it will create …Read More

The message from the industry was clear; We’ve examined the problem domain and we’re ready to go, but we need this important piece of legislation to go into effect. A group of about a dozen industry representatives met with representatives from Capitol Hill, the White House, the Treasury, small business advocacy groups and others to convey their readiness for crowdfunding’s implementation. CfPA PR committee chair Joy Schoffler was also pleased …Read More

Crowdfunding advocates raised the volume today on their call to push the Securities and Exchange Commission to finalize rules needed for business owners to raise equity through crowdfunding. “This is a story about capital,” said Sherwood Neiss, principal of consulting and advisory firm Crowdfund Capital Advisors and a chair of the not-for-profit crowdfunding organization Crowdfunding Professional Association. He was one of about a dozen crowdfunding supporters making their pitch at the National Press Club in …Read More

Crowdfunding has the potential to provide new funding options for small businesses and stimulate job growth, and yet the S.E.C. has stalled on crowdfunding Rulings. Other countries are off and running with equity crowdfunding, such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Why is the U.S. still stuck in first gear and lagging behind the pack? Aren’t we innovators and leaders in entrepreneurship? What’s going on with the …Read More

After today’s press conference at the National Press Club one thing is clear. Crowdfunding industry stakeholders want movement toward implementation of the JOBS Act and they want it soon. SoMoLend CEO Candace Klein spoke to a concern that tumult in the SEC’s leadership could delay crowdfunding’s implementation past Q4 2013. Vincent Molinari of GATE Technologies urged the SEC to allow a vote on Title II and to begin the public …Read More

Leaders from the crowdfunding industry in the U.S. are in Washington D.C. today to apply some gentle pressure on regulators who are now several weeks behind on issuing rules under which the nascent securities market will operate. The group will meet with lawmakers, SEC regulators, and White House officials following Tuesday’s crowdfunding press conference, which took place in Washington D.C. from 10 to 11 AM EST. The crowdfunding experts — …Read More