In the summer of 2012, I was listening to a webinar on crowdfunding presented by then 85 Broads, now Ellevate.com. The presenter, Candace Klein, was one of the driving forces behind the Jumpstart our Business Startups (JOBS) Act passed in April of the same year. Of course, my first concern was for the impact on intellectual property when disclosing a full business plan and product information online.
Continue reading “Practice Safe Crowdfunding, Part II: Picking a Platform”
Even if you’re not a fan of baseball, you’re probably heard about the F.B.I. investigation into the breach of the Houston Astros’ database, allegedly at the hands of staff members of the St. Louis Cardinals. And while sports news doesn’t usually warrant the kind of coverage that is usually afforded to politics or world affairs, this story has considerable implications when we consider baseball as business. Since baseball was first played competitively, teams have been trying to get an edge on their opponents. Whether it’s stealing signs or doctoring balls, teams are often comfortable operating in the gray area of the rules to get ahead.
Continue reading “Data Security Apparently Not “The Cardinal Way””
On May 18th, we had our inaugural Phoenix Female Founders Forum (FFF) and I was so excited I wrote about it the next day! It’s been one month and I wanted to give an update on the group and my experiences.
We have written here extensively about how startups and early-stage businesses face an overwhelming number of tasks to get the ball rolling. The bad news is that those tasks do not go away once your company graduates to becoming a small or medium sized business (SMB).
Myth 9: Books, records, and insurance are for big companies only
Continue reading “Top Startup Myths #9: Bookkeeping is for Big Companies Only”
In today’s global economy, inventions and products easily cross borders. For multinational corporations with intellectual property (IP) at the very foundation of their business, keeping IP secure is essential to survival. This security requires treating the invention as a trade secret or filing patents in specific jurisdictions around the world. Obtaining patent protection in multiple jurisdictions requires patent applications to be translated to and from a variety of languages.
Once you know where you will fundraise, the next step is NOT campaign creation. Instead, you need to start the process of planning your campaign. Planning and executing a crowd-funding campaign takes months, not days.
Continue reading “Practice Safe Crowdfunding, Part III: Build Social Capital”
In the first part of our innovation series, we examined the concept of capturing, leveraging, and growing intangible assets for small and medium sized businesses. We care about innovation as it is at least eighty percent of your company’s value — more if you are a startup.
The final step is to create a pitch. The video is critical as you have a short period of time to capture someone’s attention. Keep it high level and if there is a compelling angle, use it. As we saw in last week’s blog, the success of the G3Box campaign came from tying fundraising for a maternity ward to Mother’s Day and crafting rewards that leveraged compassion for mothers.
Continue reading “Practice Safe Crowdfunding, Part IV: Create a Pitch”
Over the past week, Mary has done quite a bit on crowdfunding, with blogs, webinars, and even a TV appearance. And why wouldn’t we? Crowdfunding is a popular subject right now, with entrepreneurs raising funds for their inventions and products and potato salads. So while we continue to wait for the SEC to release the long-awaited rules for equity crowdfunding, why not check out what she’s written and recorded on the subject?