New BioMetric, Predictive Video Analytics Tool to be Unveiled at SXSW Sports to Enable NFL, NBA, MLB Coaches, Scouts and Recruiters to Shop for New Players 24×7 from Anywhere

Austin-based sports social media network for student athletes to be introduced at press event with ESPN, college/major sports stars and coaches, sportscasters and major league sports executives

 By Robert Hoskins

ScoutsViewSports.com selects SXSW Sports to introduce its new biomechanics, predictive video analytics tool that allows high school, college/university, NFL, NBA and MLB coaches, scouts and recruiters to analyze student athletes’ performance from anywhere in the world.  Endorsed by Fred Akers, former University of Texas Coach and Roberto Clemente, Jr., ESPN TV broadcaster and former baseball player, the new sports social media network is targeting student athletes 13-years-old through pro-level athletes, who can build profiles that catalog their sports career, game performance stats, collegiate standings and much more.

Shark Tank Winner, ScoutsView Sports, Unveils New Biomechanics, Predictive Video Analytics Tool to Help NFL, NBA and MLB Scouts, Recruiters and Coaches Evaluate Student Performance at SXSW in Austin, Texas

Who:

ScoutsViewSports.com, an Austin-based Shark Tank Winner, recently pitched and won an investment from Kevin Harrington, an original Shark Tank Investor, at the Shark Tank Feb. 6^th event held in Austin, Texas.  ScoutsView has an equity investment deal with Mr. Harrington on the table and will receive access to his global TV network distribution, rolodex and the As Seen on TV brand name.

What:

Student athlete social media network that records lifetime achievement, builds a large fan base and provides a huge database of biometrics, predictive video analytic clips where college, university and NFL, NBA, MLB major league scouts can analyze student athletes’ skills, performance and stats from anywhere in the world and shop for players that meet their exact team requirements.

• ScoutsView Sports Social Media Network:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFYrtknxcRs

• Athlete BioMechanics Video Measurement Tool:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1vMvgY1_BE

Where:

Shiner’s Saloon located at 422 Congress Ave. #D, Austin Texas 78701 or call (512) 448-4600, which is located next door to the Driskill Hotel, which is the headquarters for SXSW Sports.

When:

ScoutsView Sports and ESPN’s “Laying Down the Law” program will be at Shiner’s Saloon everyday from 3/7/14 to 3/10/14 from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The team will be interviewing the following list of famous sport celebrities, college and major sports stars and coaches, sportscasters and major league sports executives, plus many more impromptu interviews and unscheduled appearances.

(other sports journalists and reporters are welcome and encouraged to attend and interview guests)

Interview Schedule with Steven Foster, ESPN and Michael Richardson, CEO ScoutsView Sports

Friday, March 7^th from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm:

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

• Fred Akers, former University of Texas Coach
• Dan Akers, son of Fred Akers
• Michael Richards, ScoutsView Sports CEO

Special VIP Guests:

• Cristianne Harder – SXSW Sports Speaker from Notre Dame Athletics
• Clay Walker – SXSW Sports Speaker from USA Today Sports
• Mark Drosos – SXSW Sports Speaker from Loadstone Social Media
• Ryan Baker – SXSW Sports Speaker from Arch Aerial (Drone Cameras)
• Hudson Taylor – SXSW Sports Speaker from Athlete Ally
• Stephania Bell – SXSW Sports Speaker from ESPN News
• Brian Kopp – SXSW Sports Speaker from STATS, Inc.
• John Meyer – SXSW Sports Speaker from Statographics
• Jordan Gremli –SXSW Sports Speaker from Spotify
• Johnny Moore – Former NBA player, San Antonio Spurs

Saturday, March 8^th from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Jeff Beckham – SXSW Sports Organizer, NY Times and Wired Reporter

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Mike Vasquez – SXSW Speaker from Tribal Science

7:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Open, please call (512) 627-6622 to setup ESPN interviews

Sunday, March 9^th from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm

3:00 pm to 4:00 pm – Press Conference with Mike Richardson, ScoutsView CEO

Press members please RSVP at (512) 627-6622 to attend.
Remote reporters can also dial-in and walk through online demo
by calling conference number (213) 493-0358; use PIN: 29804 

4:00 pm to 5:00 pm – Jennifer Welter, first female running back with men’s pro football team

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Open, please call (512) 627-6622 to setup ESPN interview

Monday, March 10^th from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm –  Kai Sato – FieldLevel social network for coaches and Entrepreneur reporter

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Open, please call (512) 627-6622 to setup ESPN interview

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New Equity Investment Fund Setup by Launch Angels to Invest in Women-Led Startups

PayPal shows support for women and the crowdfunding industry by sponsoring the Finding the Bright Spots: Women & Capital Event on March 4th

By Robert Hoskins

Launch Angels, an investment platform focused on equity crowdfunding deals and based in Boston, MA, is now offering two programs programs that will allow investors to begin backing women-focused startups.

New Equity Investment Fund Setup by Launch Angels to Invest in Women-Led Startups

First, Launch Angels and co-sponsor PayPal are hosting Finding the Bright Spots: Women & Capital, a March 4th event on how women entrepreneurs and investors are finding “bright spots” in equity.

Second, Launch Angels is opening its Women-Led Fund to accredited investors. This is the first fund dedicated to searching equity crowdfunding platforms for investments in women-led startups.

Finding the Bright Spots features a panel on funding sources disrupting male-centric models. It will explore how women entrepreneurs and investors are succeeding empowered by crowdfunding, accelerators, angels and venture capital.

Kara Miller, host and executive editor of “Innovation Hub” (which airs on 89.7 WGBH and SiriusX) will moderate. The keynote will be delivered by Michelle Watson, CIO of First Republic Investment Management. Panelists include Daily Grommet CEO Jules Pieri, Techstars Managing Director Katie Rae and ClearSky Data CEO Ellen Rubin. The free event is set for 6:00-8:30 PM at One International Place, Boston, with reservations through EventBrite.

Launch Angels CEO Shereen Shermak will kick off the evening. Shermak observed, “I’m an entrepreneur and angel, so I’ve seen that women are underfunded and under-represented in the C-suite. But trends—including equity crowdfunding—are changing the story. Launch Angels is pleased to be part of that through this event and our Women-Led Fund. Matching angels with women-led and -focused businesses needing capital benefits women, investors and the economy.”

A good example of crowdfunding at work is the event caterer, Mei Mei. This Boston-based company recently expanded their business from a food truck to a restaurant thanks to a crowdfunding campaign. Two members of the sibling management team are female.

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RockthePost Predicts Legalization of General Solicitation Will Change Startup Investing Forever

The SEC general solicitation rule change washes away some limitations on promotion of fundraising campaigns that have been in place for 80 years

By Robert Hoskins

Many changes are going to take place in the startup investment industry as the SEC lifts its ban on general solicitation on Monday, September 23.  With this implementation, the startup ecosystem will see an 80-year-old securities law modified for modern times, allowing private companies – startups in particular – to publicly advertise that they are seeking investments.

Alejandro Cremades launches crowdfunding project as a solution to help save the U.S. economy.

Among the exciting developments, leading startup investing platform RockThePost will unveil the following, in conjunction with Title II of the JOBS Act taking effect on Monday:

1. Prominent featuring of startups publicly announcing investment rounds
2. Investor verification system that shifts the burden off startups
3. Secure transactions where Escrow accounts act as a safe haven for early committed investors
4. Full transparency – third party identity checks and legal business verification, crowdsourced due diligence, bank-level security
5. Smart matching of investors to startup investments that match their preferences

RockThePost CEO, Alejandro Cremades, notes that “our startups have had mixed feelings on general solicitation, but the ones who are planning to take advantage of it are really excited about the exponential exposure from which they can benefit tremendously.”

According to the Center for Venture Research, only 258,000 investors have made an angel investment out of the 8.7 million accredited investor households eligible to invest in the U.S. The general solicitation ban lift will allow startups to publicly fundraise via methods such as equity crowdfunding, harnessing the power of the internet and social media to reach potential investors in all corners of the country. We expect a large jump in angel activity in the coming years as individual investors seek higher returns on investment and feel more comfortable investing in startups.

The nature of startup investing is risky, but to grow the nest egg, investor money has to be put to work. With a financial shift underway in which low yields and high interest rates are prevalent, investors are forced to look beyond traditional investment avenues to reach their financial goals.

A 2013 UBS report, Investment Strategy Guide, recommends that 7 to 11% of any given investment portfolio be allocated to new alternative investments, which includes buying equity in early stage companies (note that only accredited investors may participate in private offerings).

Startup investing involves high risk. However, investing early in startups has the potential of yielding high returns as seen below.

• $1,000 in Facebook in 2005 = $624,500 today
• $1,000 in Airbnb in 2009 = $589,667 today
• $1,000 in Dropbox in 2008 = $391,500 today

RockThePost does believe that openly fundraising in the startup investing world could significantly help startups gain access to capital in an economic environment in which investors are more readily looking for high-return investments.

General solicitation will potentially increase the number of transactions happening between investors and startups. RockThePost expects these changes to drive the U.S. economy as small businesses have created almost 65% of the net new jobs for the past 17 years.

By democratizing access to startup capital for entrepreneurs and bringing startup investment opportunities to a new investor demographic, RockThePost aims to be the go-to destination for both startups and investors.

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More News on the SEC 80-Year Ban on General Solicitation:

• Mary Jo White, SEC Approves JOBS Act Requirement to Lift General Solicitation Ban on Crowdfunding for Accredited Investors

• SEC Issues Call for Crowdfunding Suggestions to Promote Small Business Capital Formation

• BlazeFund Launches New Innovative Equity Crowdfunding Platform

• Front Page PR Offers Broker Dealers General Solicitation Campaigns to Market the Oncoming Wave of Equity Crowdfunding Investment Opportunities to the Next Generation of U.S. Accredited Investors

• Jeff Pulver’s Zula Equity Crowdfunding Campaign Pushes Israel’s OurCrowd into the Worldwide Lead of Broker/Dealer Crowdfunding Deals

• Wowcher Selects BankToTheFuture.com as Equity Crowdfunding platform for Fabfob fundraising campaign

• New Equity Crowdfunding Portal VentureHealth Launches to Provide Life Science Crowdfunding Investment Opportunities for Accredited Investors in United States

• Equity Crowdfunding Investments Surpass $16 Million on MicroVentures Broker/Dealer Crowdfunding Platform

• Ingenious Britain in the UK offers 25% Stake in New Equity Crowdfunding Platform on Crowdcube

Body Boxing Bootcamp Launches Indiegogo Fitness Crowdfunding Campaign to Finance their State-of-the-Art Boot Camp Workout Center for Clients and Personal Trainers in Los Angeles

BBB is offering boxing boot camp personal trainer perks, fitness boot camp gift cards and workout center pre-orders to donors living in Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Park La Brea, West Beverly, West Hollywood, West Los Angeles and Wilshire

By Robert Hoskins

Body Boxing Bootcamp launched a community internet-based fundraising campaign on indiegogo’s crowdfunding platform to help raise money to open a new fitness boot camp workout center located in Los Angeles just west of Hollywood, California.

Body Boxing Bootcamp Launches Indiegogo Fitness Crowdfunding Campaign to Finance their
State-of-the-Art Boot Camp Workout Center for Clients and Personal Trainers in Los Angeles

Crowdfunding is a new way for local community members to pool their money together in order to help local entrepreneurs launch businesses customers would like to see introduced into their cities and towns based on their own personal desire to buy or use the product or service.

For example, there are plenty of traditional gyms in the Hollywood area, but none of them feature the mixture of boxing workout techniques combined with dancing, Thai kickboxing, resistance training (rubber bands and light weight lifting), plyometrics (jumping and quick movement drills), calisthenics (using one’s own body weight), obstacle courses, circuit training, and parachute running.

Customers that would like see the new workout facility open up can log on to and donate money by pre-ordering boot camp training workouts, buying fitness gift cards for friends or purchasing one or signing up to become a personal trainer at:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/body-boxing-boot-camp-seeks-funding-to-open-a-fitness-center-in-los-angeles/x/1907888

In return for a donation, BBB is offering to train anyone that wants to learn how to become a personal trainer and is offering a white paper, DVD, Smartphone wireless app, business plan template and all the necessary equipment to get into the personal trainer boot camp business.

Body Boxing Bootcamp fitness  workouts target:

1. Young singles seeking active lifestyles;
2. Baby boomers preventing the onset of old age;
3. Overweight kids seeking to gain a better self image and self-defense skills;
4. Celebrities, movie stars, rock stars who prefer private workouts when visiting Hollywood; and
5. Anyone that wants to lose weight and get into an active routine that is fun and burns lots of calories.

“Both private personal training and group workout sessions will be offered, but the majority of the boxing boot camps will be done in groups of ten to twenty people,” said Kevin Barringer, Body Boxing Bootcamp’s CEO and head personal trainer.  “When people workout together, over time they become friends. And most friends are competitive and like to push each other to work harder.  This is the secret sauce that makes our classes fun and keeps our clients coming back for more.”

Body Boxing Bootcamp (BBB) needs $375,000 to lease retail space, renovate it and build a specially formatted workout center that will provide plenty of space for indoor workouts that are similar to the outdoor classes that the company offers on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at the nearby Pan Pacific Park.

In addition to its own fitness boxing boot camps, BBB plans to rent out space in the gym to other personal trainers and Meetup boot camp organizers.

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BlazeFund Launches New Innovative Equity Crowdfunding Platform

Entrepreneurs Gain Alternative Online Equity Crowd Funding Platform From BlazeFund For Securing Growth Capital, Investors Gain Access To Uncorrelated Asset Class

By Robert Hoskins

BlazeFund, Inc. launched a new equity-based crowdfunding platform for accredited investors to find a portfolio of potential investment deals through an online marketplace. The user-friendly platform offers a secure environment and ecosystem that simultaneously connects individual and strategic institutional investors with start-up entrepreneurs and growing private companies.

Entrepreneurs Gain Alternative Online Equity Crowd Funding Platform From BlazeFund For Securing Growth Capital, Investors Gain Access To Uncorrelated Asset Class

BlazeFund’s platform focuses on listing ventures in technology, business services and healthcare/life sciences. These companies are beyond the seed stage and have proven business models, products and markets. Most of the venture listings will target a minimum average capital raise of $0.5M.

BlazeFund is the first equity crowd funding portal with multiple international offices located in developing economic regions. As a result, start-ups and growing private companies listed on BlazeFund receive greater exposure for their listings. BlazeFund also assists companies interested in potential cross-border joint ventures.

Aaron Sanders, founder and CEO of BlazeFund, believes that the portal delivers an added value to each of the three groups – entrepreneurs, institutions and investors that are connected to the platform. “Our mission is to help extraordinary entrepreneurs find the capital they need to grow their businesses from our private network of strategic investors. The end goal is to make the overall process more efficient and transparent for both investors and companies,” states Sanders.

BlazeFund’s portal has patent-pending features that reduce investor risk by:

• Providing a two-step investment mechanism that splits the investment exposure of the crowd and links the release of raised capital to a company achieving predetermined milestones.
• Facilitating private-equity/venture-capital style due diligence by the crowd/analysts, enabling potential investors to access independent reviews.

With equity crowd funding growing rapidly and market size projections of $6.3B over the next five years, Sanders believes that, “Investors can easily diversify a small percentage of their portfolios through this new investment class which has the potential to produce significant returns — perhaps multiples of their original investment.”

Mr. Sanders has a BS Chem. E. (Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison) and an MBA (Univ. of Rochester). His expertise is in strategy, operations, business process, CRM and ecommerce solutions. Sanders has been granted a number of US patents and is co-inventor of BlazeFund’s patent-pending innovations.

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• Choose the Right Crowd Funding Platform
• UPDATE: Proposal to allow crowd funding for Wis. businesses
• Crowd-funding: we really are all in this together
• Few Americans Invest in Startups
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• Have You Heard About Crowd-Funding?

CareerFuel Launches Crowdfunding Education Site For Entrepreneurs

On September 23, 2013, entrepreneurs will have a new way to reach accredited investors with private offerings—advertising.

By Robert Hoskins

Stemming from Title II of The JOBS Act and the recent regulations released by the SEC to support it, this is intended to make it easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital for their new businesses and create jobs in the process.

According to CareerFuel it will now be easier then ever before to raise capital for new businesses.

There are approximately 8.6 million accredited investors in the U.S. and they fund 3% of startups/small businesses. During 2012, an estimated 260,160 angels collectively invested $22.9 billion in 67,000 companies. An additional $26.5 billion was invested by venture capitalists in 3,698 companies. Advertising to these wealthy individuals has the potential to significantly expand the market of accredited investor small business capital.

Later this year, it is anticipated that the SEC will release the rules for Title III of The JOBS Act, enabling entrepreneurs to offer securities (debt or equity) to unaccredited investors in exchange for investment in their early-stage companies.

This new fundraising tool known as equity crowdfunding comes with a myriad of regulations that will have to be met. While potentially transformative for entrepreneurs, it is one of many ways available to raise money for new businesses. The primary options today include: personal savings, friends and family, donation crowdfunding, angel investment, venture capital and institutional investment.

To educate entrepreneurs about this exciting option—how it works, whether it is a good fit for their business and how to utilize it—CareerFuel has launched a comprehensive crowdfunding site for entrepreneurs. Free for their use and regularly updated, CareerFuel is the go-to place for the crowdfunding education “issuers” will need.

CareerFuel is one of the only sites that offers job seekers and aspiring entrepreneurs the direction, inspiration and job listings needed to find a job or start a business.

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I-Bankers Direct Hires Silicon Valley Executive to Mine California’s High-Technology Crowdfunding Gold Mine

As Managing Director, Mr. Humphrey Polanen, brings decades of experience as a technology executive, entrepreneur, venture investor and international corporate attorney to I-Bankers Direct management team

 By Robert Hoskins

I-Bankers Direct announced that Humphrey Polanen has joined the company as a managing director. Based in Palo Alto, CA, Mr. Polanen is widely recognized for his decades of experience as a technology executive, entrepreneur, venture investor and international corporate attorney. He currently focuses on building the company’s ecosystem, identifying and evaluating fundraising opportunities for placement on the I-Bankers Direct equity crowdfunding platform (www.ibankers.com), and establishing relationships with associations of high net worth investors and with the venture and angel investor community.

“What they lacked is access to a reliable source of deals. We also know from experience how challenging it can be for small, growing businesses to raise capital. I-Bankers Direct was created to address these needs.”

With 24/7 online access to video presentations, offering documents, management conference calls, company slide decks and other decision-making support, the I-Bankers Direct platform provides accredited individual investors with the ability to evaluate and invest in promising business opportunities, based on their own schedule and from any Internet-connected device.

“We view Silicon Valley as a key region for I-Bankers Direct, both from the standpoint of sourcing investment opportunities for our platform as well as sourcing high-net-worth investors for the transactions,” said Mr. Polanen. “Companies in Silicon Valley received 41% of all U.S. venture investment in 2011 and, on a per capita basis, the area is home to the country’s greatest concentration of wealth and of savvy technology investors. The I-Bankers Direct platform aims to provide access to capital for emerging growth-stage businesses. I am excited that our platform will enable promising entrepreneurial companies led by great teams to build great companies.”

Mr. Polanen currently serves as a director of two public companies, Edgewave Software, which he took public as CEO, and Heritage Commerce Corp., a bank holding company of which he was a co-founder. He is also on the board of several private companies, including uCirrus Corp., a venture-stage company focused on real-time data management, and Punchlime, an accelerator for early-stage companies. Previously, Mr. Polanen founded and was Managing General Partner of Internet Venture Partners, a European venture capital management firm for technology companies. Prior to that, he was General Manager of two divisions of Sun Microsystems, where he led the Internet Commerce Group and the Network Security Division. He also held executive positions at Tandem Computers, where he oversaw corporate ventures and emerging market development. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he started his career as an international corporate lawyer.

Headquartered in Stamford, CT, I-Bankers Direct maintains offices in New York, Palo Alto, and Lugano, Switzerland. Interested accredited investors are invited to visit www.ibankers.com to register as users of the site. Registration is free, quick, and permits investors to receive regular updates regarding investment opportunities as they become available on the platform. Growth-stage companies with an interest in raising capital via the I-Bankers Direct platform can click here to submit a proposal for consideration.

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Related articles:

• I-Bankers Direct Names Humphrey Polanen As Managing Director
• Canada surfs Silicon Valley for immigrant startups, but can it keep them?
• I-Banker Direct Augments Deal Flow for Accredited Investors for Crowdfunding Investment Opportunities
• The Cluster
• Silicon Valley builds spy tools, is horrified when they’re used for spying
• Life sciences VC firm launches ‘crowdfunding’ site for limited crowd
• Jeff Pulver’s Zula Equity Crowdfunding Campaign Pushes Israel’s OurCrowd into the Worldwide Lead of Broker/Dealer Crowdfunding Deals
• Silicon Valley, help! – America’s infrastructure just got a D+
• Zynga’s Mark Pincus Is What’s Wrong With Silicon Valley
• Silicon Valley Study Tour

Wowcher Selects BankToTheFuture.com as Equity Crowdfunding platform for Fabfob fundraising campaign

By Robert Hoskins

BankToTheFuture.com, an equity crowdfunding platform that allows people to invest in start-ups and mature businesses, is providing an investment platform for Fabfob, the latest venture by Wowcher founder, Nick Brummitt, who has chosen crowdfunding over traditional venture capital funding.

If the government was serious about helping SMEs, it would pump cash into companies like BankToFuture.com. BankToFuture.com is a job creating machine

Fabfob is designed to tag valuables such as keys, mobile phones, laptops, cameras, iPods and passports. If these items are lost – and subsequently found – Fabfob gets them back to their rightful owner quickly and safely.

Since the pitch went live, it has already raised over £40k. BankToTheFuture.com provides funding through the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money to support the efforts of entrepreneurial people and organizations.

Simon Dixon, CEO of BankToTheFuture.com, says, “Working with high profile entrepreneurs like the founder of Wowcher, is great news for us. We aim to make crowdfinance less alternative and more a first choice for investors seeking credible businesses and credible businesses seeking finance. It is very exciting that now anybody can invest in such an entrepreneur starting from as little as £50, everybody is now a dragon.”

Brummitt recalls numerous problems while raising finance from banks for Wowcher, the UK’s first daily deal site. He said, “It soon became apparent that banks don’t provide support to those who require it. When I read about Simon Dixon and BankToTheFuture.com about a year ago, I began to follow them with interest. I am impressed with Simon’s vision, truthfulness and experience as an investment banker.

“I did not want to be in the same position as I was with Wowcher, where I create a great product with global appeal only to find I am strangled for cash. Banks are no longer an option. They are just a waste of time and a distraction.”

Seeing the potential of Fabfob, BankToTheFuture.com helped Brummitt develop his skills through The Incubator Course which helps delegates write a business plan, prepare financial forecasts and create a slide show and promotional video. This allowed him to develop a strong pitch for investors.

“Simon is an inspirational character with real vision,” says Brummitt. “He says it how it is, how it has been and how it will be in the future. He showed us an alternative to banks and gave us the confidence to go out there and try it.

“The Incubator Course gave me new skills. It was tough, some didn’t make it through and some realised that they were not quite ready to seek investment, but we all learnt a huge amount. I cannot recommend the course highly enough. It should be on the school curriculum for all business-related courses.”

Brummitt strongly believes that BankToFuture.com will be an answer to the issue of funding. “If the government was serious about helping SMEs, it would pump cash into companies like BankToFuture.com. BankToFuture.com is a job creating machine,” he says.

With the funding raised through BankToFuture.com, Brummitt is confident that he will reach his funding target quickly and get his product to a global market.

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• Bellevate Launches Boutique Crowdfunding Site for Women Entrepreneurs, Startups and Inventors with Great Ideas

Bellevate Launches Boutique Crowdfunding Site for Women Entrepreneurs, Startups and Inventors with Great Ideas

By Robert Hoskins

Bellevate.com launched a new crowdfunding site dedicated to helping women use the internet, and their social media currency to start or expand a business. Crowdfunding represents the next generation of alternative financing tools that allow women with creative ideas to open doors that have never been possible before.

Bellevate uses Dreamfunding^SM,  the next generation of Crowdfunding finance – a hot new way for entrepreneurs to raise funds through small individual contributions. It’s a way for businesses to use the Internet and their established social media networks to find the funding to launch new ideas or expand existing operations.

But, many times women’s ideas and business plans are often lost in the shuffle.

On most crowdfunding sites, businesses looking for funding are all pooled together. One artist is raising funds to write the next great American novel while two-clicks-away another is hoping to fund a movie. Entrepreneurs can easily get lost amidst a sea of others all clamoring for the same thing – money.

The inability to stand out from the masses can be especially harmful for women-owned businesses. According to Forbes magazine, women-owned businesses represent nearly 50% of privately held companies in the U.S., however, three quarters of these businesses are not able to grow their businesses past $50,000 in annual gross revenue.

Biz2Credit, an online matchmaker for entrepreneurs and lenders, found that women-owned companies were 15 percent to 20 percent less likely to be approved for small business loans during the last six months of 2012.

Bellevate.com is a platform that offers women a solution. Bellevate is dedicated to helping women owned start-up companies, new projects, and existing businesses find funding.

Bellevate.com expects to become a location where female entrepreneurs can find encouragement, guidance, and funding.

“Our unique approach to Crowdfunding allows each entrepreneur to be in the spotlight,” said Becca Sanders , spokeswoman for Bellevate.

Sanders continued, “Bellevate is a new word and we want it to represent a concept that everyone understands. Bellevate is a verb. It’s an action.  We want women to have their businesses Bellevated.”

The Bellevate site celebrates the courage it takes to say, “I am ready to launch my idea.”

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Please click here to help us Crowdfund this website’s editorial development

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The State of Equity-Based Crowdfunding…Primed, Capitalized and Waiting on the SEC

Capitol Hill Briefing on the
State of Equity-Based Crowdfunding

Please Join  for a Capitol Hill Briefing on:

WHO:            Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council

WHAT:        The State of Equity-Based Crowdfunding
                       …Primed, Capitalized and Waiting on the SEC

WHERE:     Washington, DC – The Capitol:  HVC 201 A & B

WHEN:        Tuesday, February 19, 2012 from 12:00 p.m – 1:30 p.m.

WHY:           Attend Crowdfunding Panel Discussion 

Moderator: Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO, SBE Council

Panel of Crowdfunding Subject Matter Experts:  

• Sherwood Neiss/Jason Best, Crowdfund Capital Advisors
• Candace Klein, SoMoLend
• Ryan Feit, SeedInvest
• Sara Hanks, CrowdCheck 
• Chris Tyrell, Nehemiah Investments
• Vince Molinari, GATE Technologies
• Kim Wales, Crowdfunding Professionals Association
• Judy Robinett, Entrepreneur, Advisor to Early Stage Companies
• Doug Ellenoff, Ellenoff, Grossman & Schole, LLP
• Chance Barnett, Crowdfunder

RSVP by February 15:   rsvp@sbecouncil.org  Please provide Full Name, Title and Association or Member/Committee Office

Purpose of Crowdfunding Briefing:

At this February 19 briefing, the nation’s principal leaders and experts on equity and debt-based financing will provide an in-depth review of the extensive build out and preparation that has taken place to help entrepreneurs’ access capital through online platforms, while protecting the investors who will finance these enterprises.  The group will touch upon the global advancement of equity-based crowdfunding, the significant challenges entrepreneurs still face in accessing capital and why it is vitally important that the SEC finalize JOBS Act rulemakings.

JOBS Act Background:

President Obama signed the Jump Start Our Businesses Start Up Act (JOBS Act) on April 5, 2012, which among other smart reforms to outdated securities laws, made equity-based crowdfunding legal.  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), however, has missed important deadlines in issuing rules that will govern this promising and transformative marketplace for entrepreneurs.

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