TurboTrails.com Launches Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaign to Fund Its PakPit BBQ Grill, Flat-to-Pack Portable Fire Ring and Hot Rolled Steel Plate BBQ Grills

It’s Foldable Fire Ring and Portable BBQ Grills are Currently on Fire on Kickstarter and have exceeded their crowdfunding goal by 1025% on the very first day as Tailgaters, Backyard BBQers, Car Campers, Glampers, RVers, Boondockers and Other Outdoor Adventurers Buy New BBQ Grills for the 2021 Camping Season

Raleigh, NC – TurboTrails.com announced today that the outdoor adventure gear company has rolled out a brand new bullet proof, portable heavy-duty steel #PakPit #BBQ #Grill and #foldable #firepit #ring that measures a mere 0.56″ thick when all 4 pieces are disassembled, stacked and packed in their rough and tough fireproof traveling bag.

The PakPit, Flat-to-Pack BBQ Grills are on sale NOW on Kickster.com while supplies last for the $75 Earlybird specials at => https://buff.ly/2Qv5gzV.

https://www.facebook.com/TurboTrails/videos/330015061527784/

Its indestructible, hot-rolled steel plates are always an instant hit with tailgaters, campers, RVers, backyard BBQers and outdoor adventurers that are tired of buying cheap thin tin grills from Walmart, Home Depot and Lowes that burn out, rust out and wear out in a single season when used on a regular basis with hot fires that cause rapid rusting and oxidation.

Each of the four pieces of the PakPit are made from hot rolled steel that are 1/8″ thick. They will get hot and even glow red, but they will not melt or degradate. They are guaranteed to last longer than your lifetime. The PakPit will l probably be the last grill you ever have to buy because they are engineered to last.

When the cooking is done. They are easy to take apart, wash and scrub if needed, and stack perfectly on top of each other into a very slim profile that measures around 5/16’s of an inch. Once clean and cool they can be slipped into their travel bag. Their slim flat profile make them very easy to store in cabinets, closets; under RV, boat, car and truck seats or in the bed of trucks, car trunks and trailers. They make the perfect gift for every outdoor adventure guide or camping enthusiast that seems to have everything.

PakPit, flat-to-pack BBQ grills make the perfect firepit for beaches, city parks, state parks and the national forests that allow for dispersed or event camping, but do not have fire pit rings installed. They can be setup in less than 30 seconds. They can burn charcoal, firewood or setup to burn propane during burn bans.

The PakPits’ unique and patented design uses three sides that resemble the pakman video game character that slide together and connect to form a triangular base that lifts the fire off the ground so that it does not leave a burnmark trace on the ground, on wooden or rubberized picnic tables, or metal tailgates when used to grill out for a large group of friends. The round grill top fits perfectly into each piece’s carrying handle to provide a large integrated cooking surface area.

Once the cooking is done, leftover coals can be dumped into a tin cooking pan and completely extinguished with bottled water. We like to lean the hot metal plates against a rock and they will be cool enough to pack up in around 5 minutes. Their travel bags are fireproof so they can be put up while they are still warm without worries.

What is size is right for you?

Most people like to purchase the large 17″ PakPat complete with 26″ stand for backyard BBQs and firepits. It is the perfect solution for backyard BBQs for large parties, birthdays and sport tailgating events and has a 12-burger-at-one-time cooking capacity. People that travel prefer the smaller 13.5″ version unless they are traveling with a large family.

TurboTrails PakPit 17″ BBQ Grill and Firepit

TurboTrails PakPit 13.5 BBQ Grill and Fire Pit

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Kupper Mounts Appoints Jason Morris as New Vice President of Sales to Manage Business Development Opportunities in the United States and International Markets

Kupper Bike Rack Mounts are one of the most affordable, portable, secure, convenient & quick-to-install bike racking systems in the world. They will fit any car, truck or SUV, regardless of country.

Raleigh, North Carolina – Kupper Mounts (https://kuppermounts.com), a next generation bicycle carrier manufacturer, announced today the company has appointed a new Vice President of Sales, Jason Morris, to grow the company’s bicycle accessories sales by signing up  bicycle shops and bike resellers in the United States and international distributors and/or exporters/importers that will sell Kupper Mounts into over 30 global marketplaces.

Kupper Mounts are a next generation bike rack that have very powerful suction cups that make it easy to install a bike carrier on any car, truck, van or SUV in less than two minutes. Kupper Mounts do not require a luggage rack or a trailer hitch for installation, a feature that is very popular with today’s mobile millennial cyclists.

Kupper Bike Rack Mounts are one of the most affordable, portable, secure, convenient & quick-to-install bike racking systems in the world.

Kupper Mounts also store easily in checked-bags for airline travel and solve the common problem of trying to find a bike rack that can be mounted on any rental car or SUV while on biking vacations and adventures. Kupper’s mounts work well with all types of road bikes, mountain bikes, triathlon bikes, cyclo-cross and commuter bikes.

Kupper Mounts Competitive Chart of Bike Racks and Bike Carriers

“After a very successful crowdfunding campaign we were struggling to keep up with the demand from customers who are searching for bike shops and independent bike dealers (IBD) in their local cities and towns that sell our Kupper Mounts,” said Andrew Jarrard, Kupper Mounts CEO and Founder. “As a 25-year-plus retail management veteran, sales rep and regional sales manager for various companies such as Accell Group (Raleigh, Diamondback), Dean, Janus Cycle Group, Merlin and Velosport Imports, Morris brings our team invaluable experience in setting up new independent bike dealer accounts as well as streamlining the operations of our rapidly growing sales & distribution networks.”

“I am very excited to accept my new role in setting up an independent dealer network in the United States for Kupper Mounts and look forward to expanding Kupper’s reach into international markets in Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America,” said Jason Morris, Kupper Mounts’ Vice President of Sales.

Morris continued, “In addition to being an excellent bike carrier, the great thing about Kupper Mounts bike racks is that they can be used as a great marketing tool; an effective Point of Purchase (POP) sales product that will bring more customers inside a bike shop; and, increase sales ticket totals by being able to show a new, high-end, easy to use, high-margin bike accessory that can increase accessory sales by $200 or more for every bike sold. The Kupper Mount’s Bike Rack system can also be used to hang bikes in various locations inside and outside the bike shop increasing display space.

Independent Bike Sales Reps

Kupper Mounts is now signing up new independent sales representatives with experience selling into bike shops and independent bike dealer networks.

Social Media Marketing Promotion

The company is also seeking to sign up social media marketers, influencers and brand advocates that have a special knack for promoting and selling products through social media networks.

Kupper Mounts Sales
Interested parties should call Jason Morris at (813) 616-0702 or send him an email at jason.morris@kuppermounts.com.

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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns.

Crowdfunding PR Rolls Out Title III Equity Crowdfunding 2-Month Prep-Work Programs to Launch More Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns

The crowdfunding prep work program helps entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses amass a large crowd of followers on social media and utilizes PR to generate hundreds of articles on leading newspapers, TV/radio stations, trade publications and leading blogs

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas (May 16, 2016) – Want to learn how to launch a successful Title III crowdfunding campaign on one of top 100 equity crowdfunding sites? To help crowdfunders achieve this elusive goal, Crowdfunding PR (http://crowdfundingPR.wordpress.com) announced a special two-month Crowdfunding Prep Work Program that will significantly improve a crowdfunding campaign’s success rate by amplifying its founder’s social media profiles and by utilizing an effective crowdfunding PR campaign to generate hundreds of stories in the electronic news media prior to the crowdfunding campaign’s launch.

How to Plan a Successful Crowdfunding PR Campaigns, a Step-by-Step Process

One of the biggest challenges that most crowdfunding campaigns face are weak social media credentials and the lack of a large group of social media followers that are needed to support crowdfunding campaigns with donations and/or investments. Building strong, professional Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles and amassing the largest possible group of followers on social media networks is crucial to conducting a successful crowdfunding campaign.

The second biggest task is generating stories on electronic news media outlets and blogs prior to launching a crowdfunding campaign. Not only can a well-orchestrated crowdfunding PR campaign generate hundreds of free, positive trade press articles to support the fundraising effort, but the same targeted, search engine optimized press releases will continue to drive new investors, potential customers and sales/distribution partners to the business long after the crowdfunding campaign ends.

“What many entrepreneurs and startups need to recognize is how important social media is in the world of crowdfunding,” said Robert Hoskins, Crowdfunding PR’s Director of Crowdfunding Campaigns. “The very first thing that an investor/donor does when they read through a crowdfunding profile they like is to look up the company and its team members on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to check out their credentials. Having a strong resume on LinkedIn, lots of likes on Facebook and an army of followers on Twitter is crucial to determining the strength of the team and the likelihood that they have the tenacity and skill set to deliver on their crowdfunding campaign’s promises.”

“Next, most investors/donors will do a Google search to see what they can find online for both the company and its team members,” Hoskins continued. “With a two-month crowdfunding prep-work campaign there will be several pages of search engine results that link to the client’s website pages, their social media posts/profiles and the crowdfunding campaign’s prep pages that will point to their live fundraising campaign on Kickstarter.com, Indiegogo.com, GoFundMe.com or any of the other 2016 Top 100 Global Crowdfunding sites.”

If you would like to speak with a crowdfunding PR, social media and/or marketing expert regarding your crowdfunding campaign please call Robert Hoskins at (512) 627-6622 or fill out the contact form at: https://crowdfundingpr.wordpress.com/about-crowdfunding-pr-campaigns/ to setup a telephone consultation.

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(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

Mr. Hoskins is one of the crowdfunding industry’s foremost crowdfunding advocates and has amassed a huge social media following that is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns. Due to the overwhelming demand from the general public for crowdfunding information, he empowers entrepreneurs with some of the internet’s most affordable ($20) online crowdfunding training classes, which provide insight to startups around the world on a 24 x 7 basis.

Mr. Hoskins adamantly believes that the crowdfunding industry will empower everyone in the United States to rediscover the possibility of living the American dream with a little hard work, a great business idea and the dedication to researching, planning and launching a well-thought-out crowdfunding campaign. He consults on a regular basis with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

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BomBoard’s Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign Offers $1,500 Black Friday Deal to Powerboat, Sailboat, Houseboat & Yacht Owners That Would Like to Purchase the World’s 1st Modular, Personal Watercraft

This Lightweight, 450cc Wave-Jumping Dynamo Can Be Separated Into Four Pieces and Transported Without a Trailer for Only $2,495, Unlike Jet Skis, Waverunners and Sea-Doos, which Cost Up to $12,000 More Due Powersports Dealer Markups 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin – The BomBoard watercraft Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign opens at 12:01 a.m. on “Cyber Monday,” November 30th. The first 100 Early Birds will be able to purchase a BomBoard for only $2,495, a huge savings off the suggested retail price of $3,995. And for members who are signed up for BomBoard’s direct seller program, they will be offered the opportunity to receive the special offer as soon as Black Friday. To automatically receive the VIP Indiegogo pre-opening invite, the crowdfunding campaign URL, and the Black Friday special pricing offer as soon as it becomes available, please signup now at www.bomboard.com/win/.

BomBoard’s Crowdfunding Campaign Offers $1,500 Black Friday Discount to Powerboat, Sailboat, Houseboat & Yacht Owners that Would Like to Purchase the World’s 1st Modular, Personal Watercraft

“The BomBoard’s patented design is revolutionary. Our unique feature to pull it apart, put it in a car, and then put it back together again at the beach or lake allows for newfound freedom for millions to enjoy fun on the water with high-performance, portability, ease-of-use and a small price tag,” said John West, BomBoard’s CEO and Founder. “You can take the BomBoard out on any body of water. It is simple to operate and with speeds up to 45-mph, this craft offers every rider, from beginner to professional, a very exhilarating experience — no boat ramp, $1,500 trailer or $3,000 lift required. It’s the perfect accessory for lake, beach and vacation homeowners, as well as powerboat, sailboat, houseboat, and yacht owners.”

Unlike other traditional jet ski type products that sell through marine boating retail stores, resellers and distributors that mark up the price by 30% to 50%, BomBoard will be selling their products direct through the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign first, and then through a worldwide network of lake house owners, houseboat dwellers, watercraft rental companies, marina owners and professional beach bum/surfing personal watercraft brand advocates (direct sellers) and manufacturer representatives.

 

BomBoard watercraft are not only the world’s lowest priced high-performance watercraft, easy to purchase with a credit card, but the company has also implemented a bonus referral program, where participants can earn $125 for each social media/email referral that buys a BomBoard or a free one if they convert 20 friends into buyers. The company uses a sophisticated CRM system to track referrals via Facebook, Twitter, Email, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media platforms. But you need to get in line as soon as possible because the company has already signed up a network of 2,800 sellers. Join them at www.BomBoard.com/win/.

Sales tracking will begin with the Indiegogo Campaign’s Black Friday Special Promotion Price of $2,495 and will only be available to the first 100 buyers.

The BomBoard’s patented design has already been racking up leading industry awards. In October 2015, the BomBoard Personal Action Watercraft, won the prestigious 2015 NASA Tech Briefs, Create the Future Design Contest for Consumer Products Award and its Founder, and serial entrepreneur, John West, previously won the KPMG, Chicago Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

BomBoard Watercraft Product Specifications:

• $2,495 Black Friday Crowdfunding special (M.S.R.P. – $3,995)
• Stores easily in garages, closets, apartments and boats
• Clean 4-stroke 450cc engine
• 45 mph standing, sitting or kneeling
• Its four modules snap together in less than 60-seconds
• Simple transport in the back of a car or truck
• Only weighs 165 lbs. (heaviest module is 90 lbs.)

# # #

(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

---

Mr. Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

Hoskins is one of the crowdfunding industry’s foremost crowdfunding advocates and has amassed a huge social media following that is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns. Due to the overwhelming demand from the general public for crowdfunding information, he empowers entrepreneurs with some of the internet’s most affordable ($20) online crowdfunding training classes, which provide insight to startups around the world on a 24 x 7 basis.

Hoskins adamantly believes that the crowdfunding industry will empower everyone in the United States to rediscover the possibility of living the American dream with a little hard work, a great business idea and the dedication to researching, planning and launching a well-thought-out crowdfunding campaign. He consults on a regular basis with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

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SEC’s Proposed Amendments to Approve Nationwide Intrastate Crowdfunding and Raise Limit to $5 Million for Small Business

SEC’s Proposed Amendments to Rule 147 and 504 to Facilitate New Intrastate Crowdfunding and the Sale of Regional Securities Offerings

SEC Staff Proposes Amendments to Securities Rules 147 and Reg. D. 504

 By Robert Hoskins

 SEC’s Proposed Actions for Title III Crowdfunding

The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering whether to propose amendments to Securities Act Rule 147 and Rule 504 of Regulation D.  The proposed amendments would be part of the Commission’s efforts to assist smaller companies with capital formation consistent with its investor protection mission.

Proposed Title III Crowdfunding Amendments

Proposed Amendments to Rule 147

The proposed amendments would modernize Rule 147 to permit companies to raise money from investors within their state without concurrently registering the offers and sales at the federal level.  The proposed amendments to Rule 147 would, among other things:

• Eliminate the restriction on offers, while continuing to require that sales be made only to residents of the issuer’s state or territory.
• Refine what it means to be an intrastate offering and ease some of the issuer eligibility requirements in the current rule.
• Limit the availability of the exemption to offerings that are registered in-state or conducted under an exemption from state law registration that limits the amount of securities an issuer may sell to no more than $5 million in a 12-month period and imposes an investment limitation on investors.

Proposed Amendments to Rule 504

The proposed amendments to Rule 504 of Regulation D would increase the aggregate amount of securities that may be offered and sold under Rule 504 in any 12-month period from $1 million to $5 million and disqualify certain bad actors from participation in Rule 504 offerings.  The proposed rules would facilitate capital formation and increase investor protection in such offerings.

 

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Freaker’s Founder Returns to Kickstarter to Launch $250k Crowdfunding Campaign to Fund New Line of Freaker Socks

When millions of people saw Freaker USA founder Zach Crain on ABC’s Shark Tank, the first thing they noticed were his zany antics, his wild beard, and his rambunctious yet business-savvy charm. What they may have missed is his commitment to keeping jobs in the US!

By Robert Hoskins

Wilmington, North Carolina – One of the wildest contestants ever on ABC’s Shark Tank, Zach Crain, founder of Freaker USA is returning to Kickstarter, where his 2011 video was hailed as “the holy grail of Kickstarter videos” by the crowdfunding site itself. Starting New Year’s Day, Freaker USA aims to raise $250,000 on Kickstarter in 40 days to begin production on Freaker Feet, the company’s high-quality line of socks that are 100% designed, sourced, and manufactured in the USA. The 6-minute video pitch is the company’s most outrageously entertaining video production yet.

Freaker Feet, the company’s high-quality line of socks that are 100% designed, sourced, and manufactured in the USA

Freaker USA’s quirky line of ultra-stretchy beverage insulators, called Freakers and also made in the USA, can now be found everywhere from independent gift shops and boutiques to major national retailers. The company is expanding into socks, an import-dominated industry, in order to further support manufacturing in America.

Freaker Feet’s Kickstarter page shows the anatomy of their domestically produced socks, with the names and locations of the American cotton spinners, mills, dyers, and packagers that will create them—and who will ultimately reap economic benefit from the campaign.

“Let’s team up! Let’s go after the sock industry that’s 99% overseas,” says Freaker USA founder Zach Crain. “Socks don’t need to have a 20,000 mile footprint. Let’s bring these jobs home.”

Freaker Feet will have 127 sock designs in total, including officially licensed collegiate, boutique styles, a design for each of the 50 States, and one for almost every football fan.

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How to Make Money and Create Jobs by Teaching Crowdfunding Training Classes in Your City, State or Country

Did you know that 50% of the 48 contiguous United States don’t have one single crowdfunding training class? That means anyone with a marketing degree can make $49 to $399 per student teaching people how to launch crowdfunding campaigns

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas – One thing that amazes me about the crowdfunding industry is the lack of training programs or community outreach programs that are available on a nationwide basis.  There are plenty of crowdfunding professionals that offer training programs, boot camps and workshops in major metropolitan areas, but what about cities with a population of less than 500,000 people?

Teach a Crowdfunding Training Class in Your City or State to Help Small Businesses to Create New Jobs

In most cases, cities with a population of 100,000 or more people usually have a Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Council, SBA, SBDC,  and/or SCORE  offices that are setup specifically to help entrepreneurs and startups write business plans and find venture capital.

What surprises me the most about these organizations is that they don’t offer one single local crowdfunding training class on how to use crowdfunding  campaigns to raise money to get small businesses off the ground. Why is that?

There so many smart people out there that already teach business planning, business development, finance, marketing, etc.  Why not include a crowdfunding training class to teach entrepreneurs how to take advantage of the growing $10 billion crowdfunding industry?

Crowdfunding training classes, boot camps and workshops are charging anywhere from $49 for online classes to $399 for onsite conference training programs? Why not roll out these revenue generating programs to rural  America? Anyone familiar with the co-op business model should be able to quickly understand the concept of working with a whole community to share the cost of launching new businesses together.

 Anyone with a marketing background or public speaking experience should be able to read through the standard crowdfunding educational training program and with a little practice could teach millions of Americans how to launch successful crowdfunding campaigns to raise money to start new businesses.

To get a sense of the void of crowdfunding training classes available throughout the United States, please click on the state links below to see how many states have only one or zero crowdfunding training programs:

United States Crowdfunding Training Programs:

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri

Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

American Territories:

• American Samoa
• Guam
• Puerto Rico
• Virgin Islands

SEC Lifts Ban on General Solicitation; Implements First Phase of JOBS Act for Reg. D, Title II Accredited Investors

SEC Lifts 80-Year Ban on the General Solicitation of Private Placement Equity Investments

By Robert Hoskins

Today, the United States finally inched its way toward the full implementation of the JOBS Act passed in April 2012, required by federal law to be in place by January 2013, but still not fully realized as intended by President Obama and the both houses of the U.S. Congress.

SEC Crowdfunding Call for Comments on November 15, 2013

“We want this new market and the private markets in general to thrive in a safe and efficient manner, and these rules we adopted and proposed are designed to facilitate that objective,” said Mary Jo White, Chairwoman of the SEC. “As we fulfill our mission to facilitate capital formation and maintain fair and efficient markets, the Commission must always focus on strong investor protections.”

Until the general solicitation ban was lifted, hedge funds, VCs, and startups had to quietly raise that money, soliciting by word of mouth and other forms of private communication. Now companies can buy ads, launch PR campaigns, leverage social media and openly announce that they’re seeking investors.

The addition of general solicitation is expected to fuel a new cottage industry of investor matching-making websites that aim to broaden the investment pool to financial stalwarts outside the stanchly protected investment circles of Silicon Valley.

“With general solicitation it will be much easier for investors to find companies they are passionate about supporting,” said Mike Norman of crowdfunding website, WeFunder. The new rule will hopefully open up the capital-starved startup market to the majority of investors. According to WeFunder’s website, only 3% of the US’s 8 million accredited investors are active in the tech startup space.

For example, leading startup investing platform, RockThePost, announced last week that its equity crowdfunding website will provide the following equity crowdfunding investment services:

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

Equity crowdfunding sites such as Angelist, Circleup, Crowdfunder, FundersClub, RockThePost and Wefunder are important the nascent industry because 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.

According to a Forbes article, many states have decided not to wait on the SEC. Kansas, the first state to enact laws requiring the registration of sales of securities to the general public 100 years ago, turned out to be the first in the U.S. to enact an “intrastate” Invest Kansas Exemption law. The state of Georgia passed the Invest Georgia Exemption that provides even more freedom for crowdfunding than the Kansas exemption. North Carolina’s House passed a crowdfunding bill that is expected to move to the full legislature in an updated form and be signed into law next year. The state of Washington is currently teeing up crowdfunding legislation and other states will likely follow suit.

Tanya Prive, a co-founder of RockthePost, points out that “One of the other issues I’ve seen is that there are plenty of startups with a large customer base that they cannot tap into for capital support under existing regulations. These people are the biggest fans and evangelists of the brand, who might be first in line to invest. Once the user base is able to engage with their beloved company in fundraising mode via an investment crowdfunding platform, the company will be able to capitalize on the crowd’s interest in their success and accelerate the fundraising process by converting customers into investors.”

“So although there are strings attached to the ruling, lifting the ban on general solicitation – an 80-year-old rule – will help investors connect with entrepreneurs, and vice versa. The decision also weighs in the favor of entrepreneurs and investors who live outside places like Silicon Valley, where old-school networking and personal connections are how financing deals typically happen,” said Eric Markowitz, crowdfunding reporter for Inc. Magazine. “By lifting the ban, entrepreneurs living outside traditional tech hubs may find it easier to connect with investors, raise money, and grow their start-ups without having to necessarily relocate.”

Although large players like private equity firms Bain Capital and Blackstone Group LP could take advantage of the chance to use television ad campaigns, many lawyers and regulators close to the industry have said that they expect smaller funds with fewer resources to test the new rule first.

“By allowing issuers to solicit to a broader group of potential investors, the SEC has showed its commitment to democratizing the investing process and putting an end to yesterday’s ‘old boy’ investor networks,” said Barry Silbert, founder and chief executive of SecondMarket Inc., a marketplace for private shares.

The next important date to watch for is October 31, 2013, when the 2nd wave of SEC crowdfunding guidelines are expected to be issued for Title III investors that will allow unaccredited investors to participate in private placement investments.

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More News on the SEC’s New General Solicitation Rules:

1. SEC Lifts Ban On General Solicitation, Allowing Startups

2. SEC Approves JOBS Act Requirement to Lift General Solicitation Ban

3. Starting Today, Startups Can Broadcast Their Fundraising From the Rooftops

4. The General Solicitation Ban Lift Can Change Startup Investing Forever

5. Crowdfunding Will Flourish Regardless Of What The SEC Does

6. Game Changer: SEC Lifts General Solicitation Ban

7. Boon for Start-ups: SEC Lifts Ban on General Solicitation

8. SEC lifts longtime advertising ban for hedge funds, others

9. SEC Lifts Ban on General Solicitation in Certain Private Placements

10. S.E.C. Lifts Advertising Ban on Private Investments

11. SEC Votes to Ease 80-Year-Old Ban on Private-Investment Ads

12. SEC Lifts Ban on Hedge Fund Ads

13. SEC Lifts 80-year-Old Ban on Advertisements for Private Investors

14. SEC lifts advertising ban on private investments: How it affects you

15. SEC Votes to Lift Ban on Hedge Fund Advertising