The Big Problem Equity Crowdfunding Platforms Face

The Big Problem Equity Crowdfunding Platforms Face
Posted on January 7, 2014 by Michael Ibberson Updated January 7, 2014


Equity crowdfunding platforms encounter several challenges. The SEC knows this better than most, but there are more than just regulations standing in the way of this industry. While investors and project creators must tread carefully when raising capital, the many portals online face several obstacles of their own.

Once such challenge has been called the “Due Diligence Dilemma.” In the US, most equity crowdfunding platforms have a very low project acceptance rate — anywhere from 1-5% — meaning that portals must perform a substantial amount of due diligence in order to approve only a handful of applicants per few hundred. While this, in itself, poses a great amount of work, the real trouble may lie in the illusion of safety that results.

Portals with very low acceptance rates appear as the smarter investment compared to those with lenient filters. If investors believe that portals have done the due diligence for them, they may feel less inclined to conduct research themselves. Although this will not be a concern for seasoned investors, it’s a problem for those entering the market for the first time. If start-ups on a portal fail, investors may blame the website for their losses, generating poor publicity, which, in crowdfunding, is a huge deal.

On the flip side of things, portals may find difficulties raising awareness for certain campaigns since many start-ups try to hide from the public while in a volatile state. Although this would inevitably lead to the campaign’s failure, it’s still a situation portals and crowdfunders must both consider before moving forward. Determining the readiness of a given project will be important as competition between platforms increases.

Since reputation plays such an important part in a portal’s success, attracting investors who will put these worries to rest is paramount. Finding the balance between a healthy start-up and investor population is not so easy, however. Without a large population of investors, crowdfunders see no chance of success, and without enough lucrative projects, investors look elsewhere. As equity-crowdfunding portals scan more and more traffic to achieve this balance, things may get overwhelming. How they handle their due diligence under such circumstances will become a leading factor for industry success.

Location:Sycamore Dr,Lancaster,United States

Five points to review before publishing your next blog post

Five points to review before publishing your next blog post

Mickey Baines Jun 9, 2014 How To





Mickey Baines is the President & Founding Partner at Fourth Dimension Partners, a higher education consulting practice. In addition, he appears regularly as an on-air guest for QVC and co-hosts a local TV show in central Pennsylvania. You can tweet Mickey @4DPartners.





If you know me, or been on my site, then you know I am a believer in blogs as a tool to build your expertise, increase your leads and cultivate your prospective clients. Yet, I learned about blogging the hard way – on my own through trial and error. It took me a while to find my writing style, even longer to compose posts that were truly worthy of my readers’ time and finally, to infuse the right keywords naturally to begin improving my site’s optimization.


#462943209 / gettyimages.com
So, before you publish your next post, do yourself a favor and make sure you’ve done these five things:

1. Content: Have you written a post that answers questions your prospective clients actually have. The point of a blog is to create content that interests your prospects. So, you need to identify topics that help you keep them on your site. You don’t have to look hard. Just look at the questions prospective clients ask most often. You can also consider the questions your current clients ask – especially those that come during the on-boarding phase of your work.

That may generate an idea that eases a prospect’s mind – a prospect that is nearing the purchasing decision phase of your development process (I prefer to call it the buyer’s journey – with appropriate given to Hubspot (link to www.hubspot.com) for the term). Once you have a topic that your prospects will find interesting, be sure to provide content that shares your view and analysis of the topic, and find a way to differentiate yourself and your point-of-view in a that makes your post stand out from others.

2. Title: Don’t worry about the title until you’ve written the post. Don’t get me wrong – the title is critical in your post’s success, but wait until you’ve finished the post before deciding on a title. You may find that the topic becomes modified as you continue to write, or find a keyword that organically emerges from your post. Once you’ve finished the post, then take a good amount of time reading and re-reading the post and consider titles that draw readers in. What have you written about? Have you given advice (5 tips to improve your blog), analyzed a piece of news (What Google’s Panda 4.0 release means for your website), etc. I generally put together a draft title to use as I begin a post. But I do this because I may begin writing multiple posts at a time, and it may be a month or two before I come back to re-write the draft into a final piece and get it ready to be published. Having a draft title helps keep me focused on the content’s purpose as well as finding the draft when I need it. (FYI – I use the Evernote app (link to www.evernote.com) to keep all of my draft posts.)

3. Keywords: Don’t force any keywords while you write the post. Wait until you’ve finished, then identify one or two keywords you’ve already identified for your site that fit most naturally with the post’s content. Can you find a spot or two where they fit? Once you get them inserted, be sure to have someone else read it. Make sure the inserted keywords seem natural and not forced. If it appears forced, your readers will catch it, and so will Google.

4. Call-to-action: As your reader finishes your post, what do you want her to do next? How can you keep her engaged? Do you have an offer for a download, webinar, or if appropriate, a free or discounted product for purchase that may be connected to the topic? Do you have any links that can connect your readers to other related posts? The goal is to keep them interested and on your site.

5. Review and review again: To be honest, this is my weakest point. But you need to review your work, and read the post at least two more times before you post. Of course, look for spelling and basic grammatical errors, but also look for the flow in your piece to make sure it makes sense and reads well.

Check the length of your post. If it’s fewer than 400 words, look to see if you can expand on the topic. In so few words, have you offered any insight or information that your reader can’t find 100 other places. And if they can, keep in mind that those other places probably have more thorough and useful information than you do. Have a colleague or co-worker read it to be sure they get your point and find the content and title interesting and worthy of the time your prospect will invest.

Also ensure your post isn’t too long – under 1,000 words. Your readers will typically only give you 3-7 minutes of time – unless of course, you are a brilliant writer that can very naturally engage readers for a longer period of time.

What did I miss? Share your ideas and additional tactics to consider before you publish your posts.

Location:Sycamore Dr,Lancaster,United States

3 Types of Small Business Content to Share on Social Media

3 Types of Small Business Content to Share on Social Media

Tiffany Winbush Jun 17, 2014



Having a solid social media strategy for your small business is important. But even if you’ve spent countless of hours perfecting your strategy, none of that matters if you don’t share the right content with your followers. Content that’s going to grab their attention, encourage them to come back for more of it and share it religiously with their network.

When you’re creating content for your social media profiles, think in terms of shared, owned and fun content. Using a combination of these three will make sure your profiles are interesting. You’ve heard of the 80/20 rule, right? Well, let’s take a look at the 75%, 20% and 5% rule.

Seventy-five percent of the information you share on social media should be from external sources. Remember that social media isn’t just about broadcasting how awesome your company is. Instead, it’s about providing valuable information to your audience. Sharing content from other sources, proves to your followers that you’re committed to providing them with that valuable information, even if you’re not the source.

The next 20% of your content sharing, can be information about your company or original content that you’ve created. You own this content. For instance, if you’re a public relations consultant and you publish a company blog with tips on gaining media coverage, these are helpful tips that can help your followers. Out of courtesy, give a heads up that you’re the source of the information being sharing.

And because we should never be too serious, the last 5% of the content you share should be fun! Think of cat memes or anything else light hearted. Things that are going to give people a laugh will help make sure your social media feed doesn’t get stale. But make sure it’s not offensive to anyone, that’s not going to help you grow your presence.

Now that you know how much you should produce, it’s time to catch the attention of your social media followers with these three types of content:



Images

Most of the social media sites encourage photo sharing because research has proven that visuals increase social media engagement. You don’t have to be proficient in Photoshop in order to create great visuals. Downloading apps such as PS Express or Pic Collage, can take a simple image from your smartphone and add filters to it or allow you to create a collage of multiple photos.

Videos

The most popular tools to create videos are vine and Instagram video. Each are simple enough to use. The differences between Vine and Instagram video are relatively small, but you’ll need to decide what works best for you. For example, an Instagram video is 15 seconds while vine videos are only six seconds. A major factor in deciding which to use is how much time you’ll need to get your message across.

Quotes

You’ve probably noticed tons of quotes being shared in your social media feed. People love quotes because of the inspiration they provide. Sure you can easily share a text quote, but consider going one step farther and turning your quotes into images. The InstaQuote app lets you create text pictures that can be shared on any social media network. If you’re unsure of what to share, repurpose your favorite quote. You can also take original quotes from yourself or staff and turn it into an image.

Are you ready to get started with sharing content that will grab your followers attention? Start with one of the suggestions above to see engagement with your social media followers increase.

Tagged as: Content, Small Business, Social Media


About the Author


Tiffany Winbush is the Social Media Manager for Hiscox USA Insurance, responsible for driving social media engagement and publishing the Hiscox Small Business blog. Tiffany lives in NYC with her tech entrepreneur husband and one year-old daughter. She is passionate about empowering women and girls and volunteers regularly with the over 100 year-old public service organization Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Tweet Tiffany at @TiffanyPR or connect with Tiffany on her blog, Women Making Moves.
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Location:Sycamore Dr,Lancaster,United States

So You Wanna Be An Artist Or Writer Or Publicist?

So You Wanna Be An Artist Or Writer Or Publicist?

By indie rapper Kosha Dillz (@koshadillz).

This is an interesting twist. The same advice you give to an artist (rappers, singer, band), you can also give to a writer and/or publicist. I think there are 7 things you must prepare for in basic level, and I think this article can spin off into many responses. There are probably way more things to write about with this topic, but these 7 are very key for anyone who is embarking on a life long journey.
I believe music is an art, just as much as journalism and being a publicist. To make it into a job will take a lot of cojones and patience, and you might want to reconsider heading this route. But since I'm sure you will not reconsider it, let's give it a whirl.

1. Make good music that you can perform x represent great music.
Since being part of the music world is so much of an in-person experience, try making amazing music, that you can play. If you make amazing opera music, you might be in a different work than us, but maybe it can work out provided you find the right feel. Writers and publicists who touch topics that aren't what their brand is…will have them judged by their audience. Basically be involved with the best of the best in the brand you are trying to deliver. If you want that 200,000 email industry contact bullshit for $49, you will deal with clientele that associates with, and it doesn't win you "fans".

2. Have a dope music video / column that delivers your brand.
Music videos are the way to be in 2014. A video can describe a person so much. Let me fix that, a music video will describe you to the person as their first impression because it's the easiest way to get to know you in 3 minutes. Audible Treats does a great podcast of their artists that is well put together, and since we trust the brand, we download it. Writers should start a column. I used to write for Ruby Horney and did interviews with people in a "fill in the blank" form. I always asked silly questions and made people fill in the blanks.

3. Be prepared to be rejected.
Have you ever tried Tele-marketing? It's great practice for the music business. Imagine being rejected a lot by people for whatever reason. No …NO….not interested…I'm not into that kind of music….no. This goes for rappers, writers and publicists. You don't know when a no will turn into the yes.

4. Be prepared to be underpaid.
A lot of people consider music business a hobby. What this does is compare a real writer to a "blogger". It considers someone like MC Supernatural who gets paid tons of cash to perform with his freestyle shows to a random person who is drunk and "freestyles too." Just because you drive a car doesn't mean you are a race car driver, but sometimes all people need is the car. For this reason, you will be underpaid provided you don't stick to your worth.

5. Don't have a backup plan.
Anyone who ever is a part time artist or a part time writer/publicist will never fully understand how to have a full time job as an artist. I have never met a part time doctor, or a part time dentist. They put in years of work for nearly slavery (4 years college, 4 years med school, 3 years residency min, 1 year fellowships). But the pay off is great after all the years of hardwork. Notice how this time is spent working with other people.

6. Document and publish you.
Artists def have to put their life out on the line just like writers and publicists do, because we all know that it isn't always objective reasons for the way things get done. Kevin Lyman recently spoke at the ASCAP conference about ways to introduce music to someone. For him specifically, you'll want to chat about fishing and not your music. For me and people like Diamond Media 360, you'll want to chat about collegiate wrestling. Writers and publicists do the same thing. You can't only pitch music. People want to work with you because of you. At least in my experience…I think.

7. You must go out.
Kinda hard to say. You stress over time, but we all have the same amount. Go out and meet other people. You have to get clients. You have to get things to write about. You need inspiration. You need to show other people support. The internet has made everyone lazy. Stop texting and start calling. Stop sitting in the back and get in the front. Some of my biggest successes, like beaching a video game character in NBA 2k, happened because of me being out at an event. Every article I write is because I am out somewhere and get inspired to write.

Well. I think this is all a good place to start. Recently I was street performing on Hollywood BLVD and was discovered by a Vlogger named Roman Atwood, Vitaly, and Kevin Brueck. Performing for four people has gotten me over 365,000 views in the past few weeks, and inspired me to start my own 30 day vlog challenge.
Subscribe to my 30 day vlog challenge on YouTube.

Related articles

10 Ways To Push A Project 5 Days Before It Comes Out

10 Reminders For SXSW Before You Enter The Abyss

8 Ways Musicians Can Gain Media Coverage Indirectly [Kosha Dillz]

Location:Hempland Rd,Mountville,United States

8 Ways To Publicize Your Music Career Without Making Music

8 Ways To Publicize Your Music Career Without Making Music

By indie rapper Kosha Dillz (@koshadillz).

I have been seeing some things come about in recent weeks that show me how to increase your level of publicity without having to do anything with music. As always, I try to think outside the box in terms of marketing, so let's try and put our heads together on how we can take our career to the next level without the music. The industry folk like to say it's all about the music…but is it really?

1. Lose 20 - 30 pounds
Not for nothing, but next press release you will have a picture that people will look at and say damn, you're doing great. You look good. When people think you are attractive, this is a great thing

2. Travel for 8 months to a foreign country to get away

During this time you can update your fan base with pictures of beauty and keep people in suspense about when you are coming back. Maybe you'll even tell them you are never coming back. When you do, you'll be a new person with new experiences and totally different material. The band Tennis sailed on a boat for 9 months and wrote an album.

3. Video blog aka Vlog

I recently started street performing and came across a group of guys named Kevin Brueck and Roman Atwood and Vitaly. They all have millions of subscribers from YouTube and inspired me to start blogging. Although I haven't released a ton of material musically, I have created already 20 blogs on my YouTube channel and see a constant increase in fans who subscribe to me. It's still me being creative but not much more than just having fun.

4. Run a Fundraiser

I feel like so many people are concerned with what they can get for releasing good music. In all reality, I think if you get people to come out for a good cause or be passionate about a cause, this will not only be good for what you strive but everyone wins. You use your social influence to encourage your followers to support what you support, and you gain followers from the organization and their friends who don't know about your music. In the end, everyone wins, and great karma is continuously spread

5. Develop a passion and share it with the world

Lots of my friends and fans are into spiritual things even though they might not live in some religious manner. For instance, reading a passage of Torah or maybe commenting on interesting articles about politics, life, education or even books and movies. A artist named K Flay does book reviews, while MegaRan is always commenting on gaming. Athough it has nothing to do with music, all it takes is a showing that you are passionate about something else besides the pursuit of your music career. People want to know you are real, instead of "hey check out my new song."

6. Get off drugs

This has obviously done wonders for your career. In the short span of time Andy Dick was off everything, he skyrocketed on Dancing with the Stars. Obviously it has done wonders for people like Ozzy Osborn and more.

7. Drastic Change of Appearance

I didn't know who Against Me! was until their lead singer had a sex change. Not only will this do wonders for the band, but now reaches out to a whole different group of people based on her new courage to become public with her sex change When Matisyahu shaved his beard, it was the "beard heard around the world." People couldn't stop talking about it. Now there is huge debate on weather these artists are "this" or "that." The end result is that the people are still talking.

8. Collaborate with others

Yesterday I did this video about How to Prank and also did a blog with him and they have over 10 k views already combined. Dennis is a passionate person and now I have lots of FaceTime with his fans.

I know it's working because my YouTube subscriptions are going up and people are watching it. All I did was show up for a friend and help him film his videos.

Well that's about it. I should now use this time to think about the music I should be writing. But look at me. I'm writing an article. I can mix master and record this "article song" with a mere spell check and you guys will now listen to my music//brand when you get around to it. Fact is, if you are reading my article, you are already listening to my music in a way as It has brought you value in the same way.

Drop a comment below in the comment section and let me know what things we should add?

PS.
Oh yeah, check out my latest vlog, of me rapping with Macklemore backstage and my new music video What's Going on Upstairs.

PSS.
If you want to enter my contest as well on my Jammer FM page, you can win a customized rap song for your company if you sign in. Pretty awesome!

Location:Hempland Rd,Mountville,United States

Break The Rules!

Prime Loops News (PrimeLoops.com)

Break The Rules!

There are a few things in music production that we all know – because we’ve been told, on forums and in magazines, by professionals and amateurs alike – that you just shouldn’t do. It’s all about getting the best possible mixdown, right? But sometimes, abusing the production tools at your disposal can yield some very interesting and worthwhile results. So let’s consider a few tips that might show you how to break the rules and get away with it.

A little received wisdom can be a dangerous thing. I was teaching a student recently who had put a compressor on every channel as a matter of course. When I asked why, he said he just thought it was what you were supposed to do. He didn’t really have a clear idea of what he wanted those compressors to do, and in fact many of them were not helping the mixdown at all. It was a good reminder that while “what you’re supposed to do” can sometimes be helpful, you should use your ears above all!

Read a forum and you’d think that digital clipping was the sin of all sins – harsh, cold, pointless and all the rest of it. It sometimes is – but not always. This author has used it extensively over the years, and if you load up a decent wave editor (Audition is very good for this) you can clip samples in a very controllable manner. Lopping the top 2 or 3 dB off a wave or sample can be a great way of adding a bit more punch to a sound, and the brutal levelling that a digital editor produces means that your transients will still be relatively intact; you’ll often get a more transparent result than using a compressor. Plugins like GClip offer a similar functionality from within your DAW too. This isn’t something that’s advisable on a master output, but can sound great on drums and percussion.

Low-fidelity sounds are another contentious issue. Many people insist on using 24-bit audio at every possible juncture, but this is not always necessary, or even desirable. So for a start, get a bit-reduction plugin and try it on some of your sounds. The classic dance records of the early-mid 90′s were all made with 12-bit samplers like the Akai S950, and no-one’s going to criticise them for a lack of audio fidelity when they sound so fat, gritty and full of vibes. Obviously choice of sound here is important – an 8-bit sine sub will be distractingly noisy and full of harmonics (you can filter those out though); while a background pad may gain an interesting hiss and flutter; especially if you then put other effects like phasers on there.

Similarly, unorthodox choice of sample source and quality can lead your music to some unexpected places. Sampling film DVDs is a well-rehearsed trick, but if you’ve still got a VHS player, dig out some old tapes and get some hissy analogue goodness from there. (Cassettes recorded from the radio back in the day work well here too). Or even take samples off youtube – they’ll be low-grade, digital mp3 rubbish no doubt, but if the rest of your track is well produced then a couple of low quality samples won’t cancel out all your hard work; they’ll just add some extra textures into the mix.

Don’t forget to misuse your plugins too – there’s a world of fun to be had when you shove a standard effect to the very edge of what it’s supposed to do. Noise gates are a good example. Turn the threshold up to the point where the sound is just about triggering the gate, and turn down the hold and release, (maybe distort the sound beforehand to cut out some of the dynamic range) and you’ll be left with a clicky, glitchy mess which you can bounce down, filter and make cool rhythms with. Or if you’ve got a reverb plugin that will accept impulse response files, why not try loading a vocal or percussion loop into it instead, to see what happens?

In general, “the rules” are there for a good reason, although you may find that through the medium of forums and blogs they get somewhat twisted through a ‘Chinese Whispers’ kind of process – however they are frequently a good guide to getting a tidy mixdown. But if we all followed the same rules, we’d all be making the same-sounding music! So next time you’re about to load up that plugin in the same way that you always do, try doing the opposite instead. You might just be surprised at the results….

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Location:Lincoln Hwy E,Lancaster,United States

13 Extremely Scary Things About the Music Industry Today…

13 Extremely Scary Things About the Music Industry Today…
Friday, June 13, 2014
by Paul Resnikoff

The music industry: it’s scary all year round! And with that, here are 13 extremely scary things about our modern-day, post-apocalyptic biz…



(1) There are now three major labels.
So if you need radio play, a chart position, or broad-scale distribution, just give one of them a call.

(2) Any one of these labels can delay, cripple, or destroy your digital startup, overnight.
That goes for the richest, like Google Play and Spotify, all the way down to the deceased, like Imeem. Because if you need a license for your startup, the memo is clear: be prepared to pay millions upfront and offer sizable ownership shares, all without the guarantee that every signed artist will participate (just ask Spotify).

And, those terms are renewable every few years.

(3) 80 percent of commercially-played music is unreported or misreported…
…according to estimates from TuneSat.

(4) 85% of indie digital revenue comes from iTunes.
…and 95% from iTunes, Spotify and Amazon MP3, according to stats from AIM.

(5) 90% of new album sales come from 2% of releases.
…according to Nielsen Soundscan.

(6) 90% of a ticket price goes to artist fees.
…according to Live Nation.

(7) 90% of SoundExchange revenues come from Pandora or Sirius XM Radio.
…and both are trying to get out of those payments entirely, or legislate them downward.

Here are the calculations.

(8) The new Megaupload is 90% done.
…and probably more, according to Kim Dotcom.

(9) 99.9% of DIY artists aren’t making minimum wage.
…just ask TuneCore.

(10) Artists are still being told to sell t-shirts.
Like, just last week.

(11) Streaming is the future. Yet very few artists know what streaming pays them, if they’re getting paid at all.
(12) Or, if they do know, it’s very, very scary.
(13) The biggest, richest DIY artist doesn’t want to pay other DIY performers to play with her.
Though of course, she eventually handed out treats for everyone.

Trick or treat!

Location:Sycamore Dr,Lancaster,United States

How to Create a Convincing Crowdfunding Campaign Five Crowdfunding Tips for Every Campaign

A successful crowdfunding campaign is multi-faceted: there are many delicate components that must be carefully tended in order for them to all work together. In the past, we’ve discussed these components, but now it’s time to look into the ways in which a business can improve their crowdfunding cash flow after they’ve launched a campaign. Before continuing, please review the following archived articles — in case you missed them the first time!

Use Social Media Crowdfunding to Revitalize Your Campaign
The Crowdfunding Checklist
How to Create a Convincing Crowdfunding Campaign
Five Crowdfunding Tips for Every Campaign
#1) Establish Different Levels for Contribution

Leveling your campaign’s incentives is a great way to attract donations. By giving away large perks to the most munificent supporters, you may encourage others to follow-suit without stopping the smaller contributors from pitching-in. Consider a ladder: those who wish to climb to the top have put in the most effort and will receive accordingly; those who wish to only stand a few feet taller can still do so, but will less commendation. With various incentives available, there is going to be an option for everybody.



#2) Incorporate Unique Perks

In conjunction with tip #1, you should chose original perks as a way to boost your crowdfunding cash flow. With unique perks specific to your proposal, donors will see more reason to contribute. Although the smallest perk may not be as valuable as the “top-prize”, it should still be enticing enough to make small funders feel it is worth it to contribute. By giving away all of the best perks only to the large donors, you will in-turn reject those giving anything less, which is one of the worst worst things you can do. So, think about this carefully and do the research. Determine what will get people involved at all rungs of the ladder.



#3) Film a Video

When you first launched your campaign, you developed a story (a background) to gain supporters. Take this one step further and film a video. Since a video combines both audio and visual components, it is that much more powerful. A video is an excellent way to engage with an audience, using images, music, commentary, and much more. In addition, videos are pervasive and can go viral over night. Put the effort into filming a professional video and you will notice a huge difference in your crowdfunding cash flow.

Location:Sycamore Dr,Lancaster,United States

Danny Kelman of Crowdboarders Speaks on Social Investing

Danny Kelman of Crowdboarders Speaks on Social Investing
Posted on March 31, 2014 by Michael Ibberson Updated March 31, 2014
Michael Ibberson Of CrowdClan speaks with Danny Kelman, CEO of CrowdBoarders, to talk about his latest venture and how he plans to integrate a social networking platform directly with crowdfunding.

Michael Ibberson of CrowdClan.com: Social networking and crowdfunding are two of the same. CrowdBoarders’ combination of the two is a particularly interesting idea. Right now, CrowdBoarders offers a variety of neat features: Could you highlight a few major benefits in becoming a Crowdboarder? How can a crowdfunder extent these benefits to their campaigns?



Danny Kelman of CrowdBoarders.com: Firstly in our mind crowdfunding and social networking couldn’t be further apart, one of the main differentiators we have seen from people raising the money they are looking for and failing isn’t based on the merit of the idea but their own networks. People have friends on facebook and followers on twitter, but could you tell me the average of one of your twitter followers last four investments, what industries they were in and where they spend the majority of their time looking for investment opportunities? No of course not. This is where CrowdBoarders comes in, crowdfunders who want to be fully immersed in a network of visibility and endless capabilities become crowdboarders, the rest simply remain on their first generation platforms.

Michael Ibberson: As CrowdBoarders is currently invite only, what stand-out qualities do you look for in an applicant?

Danny Kelman: This is only because we are pre-launch, we are inviting people who want to create crowdboards first so people will have things to look at when the site is live. Once we launch anyone will be able to become a CrowdBoarder.

Michael Ibberson: CrowdBoarders advertises “no time deadlines.” As well, you allow members to post investment opportunities for free. What inspired these decisions and what has been the audience’s general reception? They seem to set you apart from a lot of other portals.

Danny Kelman: Raising money for free doesn’t exist in todays world, because currently crowdfunding companies are building their businesses off of a financial model, not a technology one. We have analyzed a lot of markets and their migration from offline businesses to online one in particular being ticket sales, you wouldn’t dream of charging an artist or concert promoter a % of their ticket sales so why an entrepreneur with their idea.

We have found the most open way to generate revenue to build our network is to charge those investing a small processing fee instead of taking a massive portion off of the person raising funds. This way it all ads up the same but this way the person creating the CrowdBoard receives what they are looking for and the person investing knows exactly how much of their money is actually being invested and how much is being paid in fees. So someone building a crowdboard to raise $100,000 would actually receive $100,000 instead of $95,000 and someone investing $50 wuld invest $50 and pay $6 in processing fees. We have always found an honest and up front approach to business is always key in building success.

We didn’t want to focus on raising money quickly; we are focused on raising money correctly. If you have a great idea who says it has to raise money within a month, maybe your industry isn’t ready for it but it is the next great idea of next year. CrowdBoarders isn’t trying to copy the traditional model of crowdfunding, in fact you will see everything done on our site differently and we believe for the better and this is what our patents protect.

The general perception of the audiences we have been speaking too, and the conventions we have been doing is normally “oh, of course” we have made some very simple changes to the way people can raise money online and from the feedback we are receiving I think people see it as the same way we do. People are very confused about this industry I always get asked questions about sites and what they specialize in, it has been our vision to bring them all into one network with all sorts of fundraising from loans to equity, charity and reward happening in one place putting crowdboarders at the center of the action being able to be apart of everything that is going on. The constraints and limitations of crowdfunding have been lifted with crowdboarders we have built a site where people have freedom.

Location:Sycamore Dr,Lancaster,United States

The Future of Content Through Crowdfunding and Journalism

The Future of Content Through Crowdfunding and Journalism
Posted on March 4, 2014 by RoyMorejon Updated March 4, 2014
Crowdfunding has been around for quite a few years. This grass-roots method of raising capital for a new business, restaurant or even church mission has proven very effective. Businesses as diverse as fashion designers, gamers and manufacturers of computer hardware have amassed the money they need to open their doors using crowdfunding.
One of the newer sectors of the business world to take advantage of this tactic is journalism. Freelance journalists are using crowdfunding to raise the money they need to follow a story without the editorial constraints involved with working for a newspaper, news service or news magazine.



Crowdfunding the content

Crowdfunding offers increased opportunities for freelancers, but it’s not just solo journalists who are asking you to foot the bill for their next great story. Writers who work for organizations that can’t–or won’t–spring for expenses for an overseas assignment or lengthy investigative research have turned to kickstarter programs to help them follow their hunches.

One recent example is Kim-Mai Cutler, who works for AOL’s “Tech Crunch.” She wants to fly to Vietnam to find the creator of the
“Flappy Bird” app that was recently pulled off of the market by Apple. There’s obviously a story behind the sudden move against the popular app, but it’s one that’s all, but impossible to learn via telephone interviews. That’s where you (and crowdfunding) come in. Cutler has turned to Crowd Tilt to help her raise the $3,000 necessary for her trip. To date, she’s raised over $5,000 with ten days remaining on the campaign.

Letting the readers pick the story

Another angle to crowdfunding and journalism is being tried by a handful of online news publications. Traditionally, news outlets, website and magazines have paid to produce a story and then sold it, either as a physical magazine or newspaper or, more recently, as a single article on sites like Amazon.com. Now, a few forward-thinking freelance journalists are bypassing editors and even news outlets and pitching their stories directly to the readers. Platforms like Uncoverage and Kickstarter make it possible for individual readers to help pay for an article before it is written. Kickstarter alone recently hit the one billion dollar mark in funding. Clearly, people are reacting positively to crowdfunding appeals.

Whether the news-reading public embraces sponsoring news stories before they are written remains to be seen. After all, the concept turns our traditional view of the separation of editorial and commerce in news reporting on its ear. Is that a good thing? Only time will tell.

Location:Sycamore Dr,Lancaster,United States

Types of Loans Available through Debt Crowdfunding

Types of Loans Available through Debt Crowdfunding
Posted on April 18, 2014 by Michael Ibberson Updated April 18, 2014
Debt Crowdfunding

For those familiar only with rewards- and donation-based crowdfunding, the debt crowdfunding process may feel alien. Before listing on a portal, applicants must submit tons of financial and personal information for review. In order to even receive a quote or verify your project’s eligibility, portals must retrieve your credit score and run an identity check, among various other things.

As can be seen, the process is much more complex and requires a great amount of forethought. Repayment periods, interest rates, portal fees, and myriad other details must enter into the equation early on. Those choosing to engage with debt crowdfunding must also be mindful of the economic environment around them. This is particularly true for startups in competitive markets. But putting the specifics aside, crowdfunders should know the types of debt crowdfunding loans available to them.



Types of Debt Crowdfunding Loans

Personal Loans

Different portals offer different loan opportunities. Prosper excels at connecting individuals with personal loans for nearly any occasion, including debt consolidation, home improvement, auto, medical/dental, vacation, baby, engagement, taxes, and more. These loans range from $2,000 to $35,000 with an amortization period of three to five years. The interest rates, processing fees, and loan options will change website-to-website, and even country-to-country, so research the market well before listing.

Business Loans

Similar to the personal loans, business loans come in many different forms. For instance, Assetz Capital, one of the UK’s fastest growing peer-to-peer lenders, allows startups to apply to one of three loans: property development, mortgage, or business. Like most other portal offerings, these loans require security and span the course of one to five years. The amount a business may borrow varies as well. Funding Circle, a leading debt crowdfunding portal in the UK, allows businesses to borrow £5,000 to £1,000,000. The fees are often transparent on such portals and right from the home page businesses can see the common lending rates.

As you ponder which type of loan best suits your project, read our past posts on debt crowdfunding investment opportunities and campaign management.

Location:Sycamore Dr,Lancaster,United States