What is Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding sites and platforms are a great way for Universities and Colleges to generate extra revenue and market their school’s brand name on a global basis

By Robert Hoskins

What is Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is not a new concept. It has been used for thousands of years to collect small sums of money from the masses to pay for some of the most well known works in the world such as the Statue of Liberty.

The JOBS Act made it legal to use e-commerce sites to build crowdfunding profiles to collect money online from investors and utilize general solicitation  (advertising/marketing/PR) to raise money from the masses for the first time in 80 years. Funding that can be used provide seed investment capital to startups and help existing businesses expand their operations.

What States Have Legalized Equity Crowdfunding?

At the federal level, the final Title III equity crowdfunding rules guidelines have been stalled by the SEC, but at the state level Texas, Michigan, Georgia and 13 other states have passed Intrastate Crowdfunding Exemption rules that allow startups and businesses to raise money by selling equity shares online to raise seed investment capital. Other large states including California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania have proposed legislation, which is working its way through the legislative process.

Map of U.S. States that have approved Intrastate Equity Crowdfunding Exemptions

                                                Source: CrowdfundingLegalHub.com

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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

Indiegogo NFL Football Concussion Prevention System Uses Impact Energy Diffusion Technology to Help Protect Athletes’ Brains from Direct Hits and Reduce Concussions

Just as light is defracted when it hits a prism, the “Preventer” football-helmet, impact-diverting technology spreads kinectic energy and helps diffuse direct shockwaves from hitting the brain

By Robert Hoskins

Jenkintown, Pennsylvania – Calvin Millwood, an American entrepreneur,  has developed an innovative helmet called the “Preventer” that could potentially save hundreds of lives and prevent concussions and life-threatening injuries by reducing the amount of kinetic energy that is transferred to the brain in today’s student-athletes, college and professional NFL football.

Millwood has developed numerous prototypes and invested more than 5 years of his own time and money to bring this football concussion preventing technology to market and has now launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise enough funding to complete the product development, line up a manufacturing plant and fund a marketing campaign that reaches high schools, colleges/universities and NFL teams with tremendous benefits of his new Preventer football helmet.   Coaches who pledge to this campaign will receive a helmet that protects their future players’ health and reduce their school’s liability.

 

Described as a ‘helmet within a helmet,’ the Preventer was created to protect professional athletes, sports enthusiasts and children from dangerous and sometimes fatal concussions. Millwood has created a prototype of the wonder device and is raising money to start production.

“Different football helmets, even the best and the most expensive ones, are made in a way which does not protect the player, and is responsible for the concussions and head injuries from falls and collisions,” Millwood explained. “The aim and vision is to protect the professional players’ heads as well as those of school children, who suffer from brain and head injuries every year.”

The Preventer helmet is stylish, light, and totally prevents the injury and pain and by absorbing the force of the impact. The helmet is constructed with eleven layers of protection that block the force of the collision and absorbs the damaging energy from the instance of violent impact to the head.

Using famed physicist Isaac Newton’s third law as the basis of his research, Millwood has spent the last five years and thousands of dollars of his own funds developing the revolutionary device that would lead to the prevention of concussions.

Millwood’s crowdfunding campaign on the Indiegogo platform will enable him to realize his dream to begin manufacturing The Preventer helmets, and significantly reduce the incidence of injuries from these types of collisions.

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Loquidity to Offer Pre-Vetted Equity Crowdfunding Real Estate Deals as the Midwest’s Economy Bounces Back

Loquidity provides equity investors access to the burgeoning list of real estate opportunities throughout the midwest and central United States via the new equity crowdfunding platform

By Robert Hoskins

Grand Rapids, Michigan – Loquidity.com announced the launch of its digital marketplace for premier real estate assets in the Central and Midwestern United States. The new debt and equity real estate equity crowdfunding platform will enable real estate professionals to publicly advertise their pre-vetted deals. The site will provide accredited investors unparalleled opportunity to shop one of the fastest-growing real estate markets in the country. Loquidity’s launch allows investors to capitalize on the Midwest’s continued economic recovery, including lower unemployment rates and increased manufacturing activity, which is helping drive strong demand for multifamily and commercial property development.

New Midwest Platform to Offer Pre-Vetted Real Estate Deals in the Midwest and Central United States as Region’s Economy Bounces Back

Loquidity launches with a coveted $3.4 million deal, $1.4 million of which is being raised on the platform, for a 72-unit multifamily property in Grand Rapids, Mich. The city was recently named as the best place to own rental property in the U.S, according to All Property Management’s annual survey of 75 U.S. markets.

The platform’s founders are leveraging decades of combined real estate investing experience in the region to curate top-tier opportunities for accredited investors, who can contribute as little as $5,000 per deal. Loquidity will focus on real estate investments in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana and Kansas.

“We understand the real estate markets in this region better than anyone,” said Jesse Clem, the co-founder and CEO of Loquidity with more than 15 years of experience as a senior leader within Fortune 500 corporations. “With a strong jobs market, a rebounding manufacturing sector and a thriving property market, the Midwest is becoming a prime target for real estate investors in the U.S. and internationally. Loquidity specializes in commercial and multifamily properties, which we believe will provide stable, risk-adjusted yields for our investors with significant potential for capital appreciation.”

Real estate sponsors seeking debt or equity financing for their projects can benefit from Loquidity’s growing network of active investors interested in the revitalization of their local communities. The Federal Reserve Banks of Cleveland and Chicago noted in an April report that demand is strong for multifamily housing and commercial property and that key industries in the region are growing steadily.

“A lot of people have overlooked the Midwest when searching for quality real estate assets,” said Loquidity COO Joe Elias, who has more than 15 years’ experience in real estate development in the region. “In reality, our deals represent an incredible value to investors as the employment rate and other economic variables improve. We also anticipate strong interest from native Mid-Westerners who want to help bolster their communities while realizing a financial return.”

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