Recap: Crowdfunding Meetup

Last night, Brian Tsuchiya and Steve Reaser presented their second meetup on crowdfunding. One thing is clear… The startup and small business community is excited about crowdfunding and the potential passing of the Entrepreneur’s Access to Capital Act. There were 75 attendees last night following 60 in December. The audience was knowledgeable which led to a very interactive discussion.

Here are some of the topics Brian and Steve covered:

• The broad range of funding tactics currently available to entrepreneur’s
• Crowdfunding history
• The status of pending crowdfunding legislation, which they believe will pass, it is a matter of when and the exact terms
• Examples of recent successful crowdfunding campaigns ranging from politics to artistic projects to for profit businesses
• Tips for crowdfunding in today’s landscape

Brian and Steve suggested two actions steps for entrepreneurs:

• Most importantly is to proactively share your support for crowdfunding with Congress by signing Vim Funding’s petition and contacting your Senator. (Our own Colorado Senator Michael Bennett introduced a crowdfunding bill which is more concerned with avoiding fraud than helping entrepreneurs create jobs).
• If you want to be one of the first to successfully raise funds when (not if) the new legislation passes, The Startup Guru and Vim People is offering a 12-week course that will prepare you for success.

A special thank you to Wendy Norris from tekhne and all of our attendees for supporting startup and small business community.

Here are the visuals from last night’s presentation.