Equity Crowdfunding Platform Commission Revenue Can Fund College & University Incubators and Accelerators

How to Launch an Equity Crowdfunding Site to Provide Sufficient Revenue to Fund Successful College and University Incubator and Accelerator Programs

By Robert Hoskins

Equity Crowdfunding Platform Commission Fees

As deals receive funding, equity crowdfunding sites usually collect a 5% to 10% commission fee.  This funding can be used to setup incubator co-working spaces, which can then start charging monthly rent to begin generating monthly recurring revenue. Once an incubator has been setup, the crowdfunding commission fees can be used to begin building a pool of investment capital to fund a school’s accelerator program.

Most states, however, will not let a equity crowdfunding sites invest in crowdfunding campaigns hosted on their own site unless they are a registered broker dealer with the SEC. 

Schools can, however, setup a separate LLC and begin investing money in startups via the separate entity.

Rules vary by state, so check with a local securities attorney to make sure you understand what the legal guidelines are in your state.

The main point is to note that with the right marketing programs in place, any college or university in the United States can begin build up their own equity crowdfunding investment syndicates and crowdfunding platforms to help fund co-working spaces, incubators and accelerator programs.

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How to Generate More Revenue for Co-Working Startups by Launching a Rewards or Equity Crowdfunding Ecosystem

How Equity Crowdfunding Can Take College and University Co-Working Spaces and Incubators to the Next Level

By Robert Hoskins

Generating More Co-Working Revenue with Crowdfunding

Most major universities and colleges have set up on-campus Entrepreneurship Centers, Innovation Labs or co-working spaces to facilitate an environment that encourages students to use their creative minds to develop innovative ideas and turn them into successful startup businesses.

Joining a co-working space allows students setup an affordable office or working space to rub elbows with like-minded individuals and discover people who have the same set of goals and objectives as they do.  This provides a unique opportunity for new startup founders to cross pollinate each other and fertilize new ideas that sometimes leads to the decision to co-found a business together.

Part of the draw for co-working spaces are community lunch rooms, founder dating events, after-hours cocktail parties, social mixers and Meetup groups, all of which can provide access to great sources of well-educated, but very cost-effective labor pools.

All of these activities serve a useful purpose in allowing co-founders to find talented workers that will be needed to help their new businesses begin harvesting new ideas and business concepts, put them on paper and turn them into a high impact startup ventures.

In addition to people, co-working spaces provide cheap office space, meeting rooms to setup video/teleconferences, board rooms for team meetings, video production facilities to shoot pitch videos, access to data centers and hardware/software laboratories where new ideas can be tested on the latest and greatest smartphones, smartwatches, tracking tags and bracelets, tablets, laptops and wearable technology devices.

For larger audiences, a large auditorium or theater provides the perfect venue for visiting guest speakers, corporate presentations, pitch contests and many other type of large meetings with panel discussions.

Below is an example of what a well-planned co-working floor plan might look like courtesy of the T-Rex facility in Missouri.

(Click on the image to enlarge)

Source: T-Rex Co-Working Facility in Missouri co-locates two venture accelerators, venture capital companies, an SBA-funded resource center, and a training and mentoring organization along with other incubator companies

Co-working spaces have the ability to offer very affordable working spaces for students and local entrepreneurs that want to start a student or family-owned business. Renting out space for $250 to $500 per month and serving 250 entrepreneurs would create potential monthly recurring revenue opportunity worth $62,500 to $125,000 or up to $1.5 million per year.

An average size cubicle is 75 sq. ft. so serving 250 co-workers would require approximately 18,750 sq. ft. to provide very comfortable dedicated working spaces, but many average co-working desks are much smaller.

Increase the facility’s size to accommodate a kitchen/lunch room, conference rooms, rest rooms and one large auditorium and the total space required would be around 25,o00 sq. ft.

Co-Work Space Business Plans

Thinking about opening a co-working space, but need help with writing a good business plan?  We Googled a bunch of business plans and here are three co-working business plans that we thought are worth a look:

• Co-Working in Vermont – A Starter Guide – 30 pages
• Design House Co-Working Business Plan – 80 pages
• FUSE Community Work Hub Co-Working Space Business Plan – 30 pages

If you want more examples, please check out this list of the Top 75 Co-Working Spaces in America.

Rewards or Equity Based Crowdfunding Platform

Once a co-working space has been set up, the next step in the process is to launch a rewards-based or equity-based crowdfunding ecosystem so that members of the co-working space can use the site to raise seed stage investment capital to get their companies up and running.

Learn more about crowdfunding:

• Building a Rewards-based and/or Equity-based Crowdfunding Ecosystem;
• Providing Easy Access to Seed Investment Capital with Crowdfunding;
• Generating More Revenue to Support Co-Working Spaces and Startups;
• Using Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance Incubators and Accelerators;
• Taking Advantage of Investor Syndicates that are Seeking Better Deal Flow;
• Splitting Revenue from Incubator and Accelerator Mentors Consulting Fees;
• Streamlining Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs);
• Cross-Pollinating College Education with Real World Startups; and
• Learning to Build Better Alumni and Local Community Relationships

 

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How University Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) Can Speed Up Operations by Launching Rewards and Equity Crowdfunding Ecosystems

Utilizing Equity Crowdfunding to Facilitate Faster Technology Transfer for Colleges and Universities that Want to Promote Innovation and Entrepreneurship

By Robert Hoskins

Streamlining University Technology Transfers

Most major universities have a Technology Transfer Office (TTO) or Technology Licensing Office (TLO) that provides information via a technology licensing website that details policies, disclosure procedures and staff contact information. However, the bulk of educational sites in the United States focus much more on providing material to researchers within the university and to outside investors.

With a few exceptions, many of them provide little useful information to external audiences regarding how the college or university is doing at stimulating technology transfer and commercialization for technology being developed by the school’s R&D departments. 

Technology transfer is the process of transferring scientific findings from one organization to another for the purpose of further development and commercialization. The process typically includes:

• Identifying new technologies
• Protecting technologies through patents, copyrights and other IP
• Forming development and commercialization strategies such as marketing and licensing to existing private sector companies or creating new startup companies based on the new technology

Equity Crowdfunding can help schools move away from the highly ineffective TTOs, which are notorious for their laborious processes and red tape that tend to put more technology in a dusty warehouse than into a real world business practice. There is a true need to move away from short-term licensing and royalty agreements utilized by most schools and migrate toward long-term equity investment strategy that can generate billions of dollars in revenue versus short-term millions.

Creating an Equity Crowdfunding Ecosystem is an excellent way to provide students, faculty, alumni and the local community with opportunities to begin investing in a college’s or university’s future.

According to an article entitled “Improving University Technology Transfer and Commercialization” by Darrell M. West, universities are only earning around $2.5 billion in licensing fees on a federal investment of approximately $90 billion per year. The article highlights why schools should consider policy and operational changes that would improve their disclosure and rate of return for all of their research and development projects for a wide variety of reasons.

Equity crowdfunding represents the best way to streamline the process of creating new businesses from within a university’s various colleges. Students need to enjoy a superior educational experience while actually going through the process of launching startup business ventures that can give them the power to steer their own career path and create immense circles of wealth for everyone involved.

Most top universities are now setting up Innovation Labs and Entrepreneurship Centers to achieve this goal, but they usually fall short when setting up effective business incubators that provide experienced mentors and accelerator programs that actually provide the millions of dollars needed in seed investment capital to get these startups up and running.  Equity crowdfunding is the best way to find startup funding without taking on too much risk for schools that need a jumpstart.

Learn more about crowdfunding:

• Building a Rewards-based and/or Equity-based Crowdfunding Ecosystem;
• Providing Easy Access to Seed Investment Capital with Crowdfunding;
• Generating More Revenue to Support Co-Working Spaces and Startups;
• Using Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance Incubators and Accelerators;
• Taking Advantage of Investor Syndicates that are Seeking Better Deal Flow;
• Splitting Revenue from Incubator and Accelerator Mentors Consulting Fees;
• Streamlining Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs);
• Cross-Pollinating College Education with Real World Startups; and
• Learning to Build Better Alumni and Local Community Relationships

 

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Utilizing Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns to Cross Pollinate College Education with the Opportunity to Launch Real World Startups and Conduct Equity Fundraising Campaigns

Providing students with a way to contribute their skills to a steady stream of equity crowdfunding campaigns is a great way to gain valuable industry experience and make money

By Robert Hoskins

Real World Benefits of Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns

Depending on the strength of their various colleges, equity crowdfunding programs can help universities begin to leverage the resources from each college and begin to cross pollinate equity crowdfunding campaigns by harnessing the strength of the entire student body.  

Providing students with a way to contribute their skills to a steady stream of equity crowdfunding campaigns would be a great way for them to gain valuable industry experience while earning a college degree.

Instead of working in non-paid internships performing menial tasks, students can invest their time and sweat equity in real world startups by helping startups work their way through the seed investment raising process.  Getting paid with equity shares versus the opportunity to add one line-item bullet point to their resume is a much more attractive option for students worried about paying off their college tuition.

By providing any of the following services below to crowdfunding campaigns, students would benefit from the opportunity to practice their intended field of study as well as enjoy the potential payoff by aggressively seeking risk, innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities.  As a part of the mentoring process students and faculty could setup a management consulting firm that specializes in equity crowdfunding campaigns. 

• Research & Development
  • Recognition for discoveries made at the institution
  • Compliance with federal regulations
  • Attraction and retention of talented faculty
  • Attraction of corporate research sponsors

• Business Administration
  • Accounting/Audits
  • Finance
  • Business Planning
  • Investor Relations

• Computer Science
  • Ecommerce
  • Social Media
  • Programmers/Coders

• Law School
  • Private Placement Memorandums
  • Intellectual Property Protection
  • Copyrights/Patents
  • Legal Contracts
  • Corporate Structures
  • Licensing revenue to support further research and education
  • Technology Transfer Offices

• Mass Communications
  • Advertising
  • Film/Broadcast
  • Journalism
  • Marketing
  • Mass Communications
  • PR
  • Social Media

Learn more about crowdfunding:

• Building a Rewards-based and/or Equity-based Crowdfunding Ecosystem;
• Providing Easy Access to Seed Investment Capital with Crowdfunding;
• Generating More Revenue to Support Co-Working Spaces and Startups;
• Using Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance Incubators and Accelerators;
• Taking Advantage of Investor Syndicates that are Seeking Better Deal Flow;
• Splitting Revenue from Incubator and Accelerator Mentors Consulting Fees;
• Streamlining Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs);
• Cross-Pollinating College Education with Real World Startups; and
• Learning to Build Better Alumni and Local Community Relationships

 

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Think about launching an Equity Crowdfunding Site?

Please fill out this form to get started:

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