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Cutting Edge Crowdfunding Site EarlyShares Strikes Deal With Hollywood Studio to Crowdfund Future Movie, Film, TV, Music and Other Entertainment Projects

14 Dec

Fans, Investors, Film Directors and Production Studios Can Register Now at www.EarlyShares.com to Be Able to Preview Upcoming Entertainment Projects in 2013

HOLLYWOOD, CA–(Marketwire – Nov 30, 2012) – EarlyShares (www.EarlyShares.com), America’s premier Equity Based Crowdfunding platform, announced today the formation of a strategic partnership with Five by Five Media, Inc. (www.5x5mediainc.com), the West Hollywood production company with five TV series set to air in 2013 and a slate of 12 feature films. EarlyShares will allow people to invest in entertainment projects, with their favorite actors, and/or subjects at an early stage. EarlyShares and Five by Five Media will be partnering to fulfill the promise of Equity Based Crowdfunding for the creation of premium, entertainment content to be delivered across all platforms, on all devices, everywhere and at any time.

Crowdfunding of entertainment projects started with donation-based sites helping small independent filmmakers. Mainstream studios are now jumping on board with Equity Based Crowdfunding. “Commercially successful entertainment comes from talented people receiving the money they need to execute on great ideas. People who watch are about to become the people who invest and we are talking about millions of them. Crowdfunding will fundamentally change this industry and the perfect partner for us is EarlyShares.com,” says Guy Zajonc, CEO of Five by Five Media. “As soon as the new regulations take effect, a portion, if not all, of our next four film budgets will be funded by people who connect to us on EarlyShares.com. Funding through EarlyShares.com will help take Five by Five Media from a production company to a 21st century studio.”

EarlyShares brings a team of experts in the legal, venture capital and financial fields to make this business model straightforward and cost-effective for studios. “In the past, preparing any business to sell equity was a very cost-prohibitive and complicated process for businesses, regardless of size,” said Stephen Temes, Chairman of EarlyShares. “We believe our Equity Based Crowdfunding platform is an effective method of raising the capital crucial to hire top talent, develop professional content and setup valuable distribution channels. It’s exciting for us to enter the entertainment industry with such an exciting and innovative partner like Five by Five Media.”

Click here for the full version of the PR we did for EarlyShares.com

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When written correctly a press release can literally wind up on hundreds of blogs, newspapers, magazines, and TV media news outlet websites.  Clip here to see the full Marketwire clip report.  This story was picked up by 210 media outlets with a total audience of 83.7 million viewers.

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Top 10 Reasons Why Americans Will Invest in Crowdfunding in 2013

14 Dec

By Robert Hoskins

As 2013 steadily approaches, investors and businesses are reflecting on the developments of the past year and looking to what the new year will bring. Financial industry experts say that there is a trillion dollars sitting in America’s bank and retirement accounts; most of it earning less than 1 percent interest. Meanwhile, the equity markets remain volatile and everyday people are looking toward alternative avenues of investing. Until the JOBS Act was passed, 98 percent of Americans could not legally invest their hard-earned money in a friend, family member or business colleague’s small business in return for an equity position, debt, dividends or revenue sharing opportunities, a.k.a. equity Crowdfunding. That’s set to change in 2013.

Equity- or debt-based Crowdfund investing entails a large number of small cap investors pooling their money to support a startup or existing business. With the advent of social media and the Internet, gathering groups of people together with similar interests has already made donation- and rewards-based Crowdfunding a success. Equity Crowdfunding will build on this success. In fact, the Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA) recently released survey data that showed 41 percent of respondents “had a desire to help companies get capital where they couldn’t before.”

Entrepreneurs will be allowed to use Facebook, Linkedin, Meetup and other social networks to market new business opportunities to their friends, families, business colleagues, and even perfect strangers. Potentially successful businesses can raise funds quickly with Crowdfunding, and the product or service that receives the most funding has a good chance of success.

Will it work? In 2011, equity and rewards/donations-based Crowdfunding initiatives raised more than $1.5 billion worldwide, with some projecting that figure to double this year. Many industry experts are expecting much larger capital inflows (some say as high as $300 billion) to be invested in the equity Crowdfunding industry once America jumps on board.

In my humble opinion, here is why Americans should invest $100 each in their favorite equity Crowdfunding projects as soon the SEC issues its final guidelines at the end of the year.

Top 10 Reasons Why Americans Should Invest in Equity Crowdfunding

  1. Create New Jobs America – It will provide sufficient investment startup capital for hundreds of thousands of new businesses to create millions of new jobs
  2. Anyone Can Start a New Business – Just like the 1990’s, anyone with a napkin and a good business plan can raise up to $1 million without giving up a controlling interest to a venture capitalist; this figure will be higher if accredited investors decide to participate because they do not have an investment cap
  3. Americans Will Steer the Economy – Unlike government stimulus packages that increase everyone’s taxes, Americans will be able to invest their money in the businesses they think will succeed
  4. Americans Will Understand Hobby Investing – Unlike the complicated stock market investments made on Wall Street, investing in small businesses they know personally will be less complicated
  5. Americans Will Fund Products and Services They Want – Most people will invest in things they want and are familiar with, increasing the likelihood that that business will be successful
  6. Shifts the Power of Investing from Wall Street to Everyone – Instead of financial markets being controlled by wealthy investors, micro investing will put the power back into the hands of the general public
  7. Social Investing Will Increase Transparency– Every investment comes with risks, which investors should evaluate, but investing in local businesses or industries people are familiar with, in addition to the safeguards the SEC will require, facilitates discussions between investors and Crowdfunded businesses
  8. Equity Crowdfunding Will Be Affordable – Equity crowdfunding is limited to only $2,000 per year per unaccredited investor, with some platforms allowing minimum investments of only $100 to start
  9. Diverse Crowdfunding Portfolios – Investing $100 in 20 small businesses is a good way to develop a diverse investment portfolio and will be a good primer for larger-scale investments; accredited investors and venture capitals can spread out risks across a variety of industries
  10. Help America Avoid a Second Recession – Freeing up more capital for investing in real-time projects will help put Americans back to work, and it doesn’t cost taxpayers a single penny. In fact, tax revenues could increase should capital gains increase across the board
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