I love regulated investment crowdfunding and the portals that participate in the space. I’ve got gripes and complaints, but overall, I’m their biggest fan. They are fundamentally essential to the ongoing success of the industry—and its future growth.

Today, I’d like to enumerate some of my favorite things about portals operating under Regulation Crowdfunding:

9 Things I Love About Portals

1. Pre-Screening Investments: We all rely on portals to screen the offerings they host. They all use different criteria, but they are all required to exclude companies associated with “bad actors”—people who have been in trouble with the SEC in the past.

2. Regulatory Compliance: Having run a FINRA-member, SEC-registered broker-dealer, I know how hard it is to comply with the regulations. That is a big reason I don’t run a portal today! I’m grateful that they have made the effort to comply with the rules. These sometimes impose on us minor inconveniences, but the net effect is a safe and

Day 1 (10/22: Tues.) : Advocacy Visits & Pre-event Reception

Day 2 (10/23: Wed.) : Conference and Summit  

Venue: Top of the Town (Top Floor 1400 14th Street North, Arlington, VA) 

“One of the most magnificent views in Washington”

What time is it?

It’s time to talk taxes and crowdfunding and to consider how we might take a concept that has been around for over 100 years and apply it to regulated investment #crowdfunding (#RIC).

First, a brief American history lesson.

The Revenue Act of 1921 authorized the first tax-deferred exchange, allowing investors to exchange securities and non-like-kind property. Over time, changes in tax legislation and interpretation by the courts limited the scope of what eventually became known as “Section 1031” of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to apply only to like-kind property and more specifically, real estate.

For those unfamiliar with 1031 exchanges, they are a tax-deferred exchange of like-kind property used for investment or business purposes. This type of exchange allows investors to defer paying capital gains taxes on the sale of a property by using the proceeds to purchase a similar property.

The key tenets of a 1031 exchange are:

- Only like-kind properties used for inves...more

The saga surrounding the pending acquisition of Twitter and the recent public disclosure of texts between Elon Musk and his network are revealing in a few ways.

1: “Randos” Everywhere: The strategies he and his pals throw around for monetizing and "freeing speech" on social media are totally random or "rando" as he would put it. It reflects the opinion of people operating in the clouds, rather than in the trenches of social media technology or policy. With enough money thrown at the problem, they will likely back into some “right answers” for improving Twitter’s performance -- but it would not be because of any special insight or grit.      

2. The Billionaire Insider’s Club: Elon puts together a syndicate of friends / investors to purchase Twitter and it is a club of people willing to toss in a billion here, a billion there -- because it would "be fun" (Reid Hoffman). Oracle founder Larry Ellison agrees to invest a couple billion af...more

WEconomy is a social, financial movement powered by a revolutionary set of tools that help establish thriving regional economies, available to all residents, fueled by their own local currency.

In addition to Crowdfunding, the WEconomy sets the stage for residents of communities in crisis to enjoy purpose, resilience and prosperity again...all without the need to get in line at a bank or hope for benevolent investors.

Join me on Friday for my closing address and learn what we've been cooking.

Friday, December 31, 2021

Dear friends,

Thank you for another year far surpassing my hopes both personally and professionally.

The CfPA continues to be highly-regarded here and abroad as a generous and vital organization expanding access to capital and opportunity for entrepreneurs, small businesses and investors. Our work in 2021 helped Crowdfunding reach new highs, extended our global voice, and expanded our capacity domestically. We saw over $500M raised using RegCF offerings where even non-accredited investors finally got a piece of the pie. We saw RegA+ offerings land over $2B. For these, and so many other reasons, it continues to be an honor to be a part of a leadership team on the cutting edge of Alternative Finance. CfPA’s reputation continues to be enhanced by the many professionals who freely contribute their time and expertise to advancing the association and the industry. There have been so many noteworthy moments and I look forward to seeing even more debut in ’22.

In 2021...more

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Dear friends,

A vast majority of you reading this letter are part of the Crowdfunding community—whether you know this yet or not, your knowledge, initiative, collaboration...and pocketbook have made our industry touch more lives than you might imagine. We at the Crowdfunding Professional Association thank you for all your imagination, hard work and follow-through, and celebrate with you the continued growth enjoyed by communities everywhere. I want to preface this letter by making certain my fellow volunteers at the CfPA are aware just how fortunate we are to have their gift of time, knowledge and leadership—thank you, again.

At its simplest, Crowdfunding lives at the intersection of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, and even until recently was seen more as a funding method for ventures too risky for conventional capital or for entrepreneurs lacking loan-worthy collateral or relevant experience. But in just six+ years since passage of the JOBS Act, Crowdfu...more