Unlocking the global trillion-dollar crowdfunding market

Now here is the one percent you do want to hear about!

The world is on the precipice of creating a trillion-dollar crowdfunding market. In Australia, the ASSOB has offered a crowdfunding investment portal since 2005. In the UK, equity crowdfunding is already in progress, with investment platforms such as Crowdcube andSeedups. And in the Netherlands, crowdfunding is ramping up with Symbid.

The crowdfunding components of the American JOBS Act and the Italian Decreto Crescita are now in the process of finalizing the attendant regulation before securities crowdfunding goes live.  Industry associations are popping up everywhere, including in India, Europe, Canada, and the U.S. (CFIRA, CfPA).

If you want to get an idea where things are headed, look at the travel list of the leading crowdfunding advisory team, Crowfund Capital Advisors. Recently, they’ve visited Colombia, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Turkey, Sweden, and Dubai, with upcoming visits to Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Sydney. They’ve also secured a relationship with the World Bank to study crowdfunding as a way to unlock innovation in developing countries.

Continue reading at http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/24/crowdfunding-market/.

2nd Edition of The Crowdfunding Revolution available!

Two years from our self-published 1st Edition, we are excited to announce the launch of the 2nd Edition of The Crowdfunding Revolution with our publisher, McGraw-Hill!

It's been quite a journey that's taken us so many places, from the blogosphere to the White House.  This is a book, wrought not just from our hearts & souls, but from the synthesis of a wide spectrum of research across many disciplines, such as sociology, venture finance, economics, entrepreneurism, and social networking.  And as much so, from our interactions with leaders, users, researchers and political figures active throughout the crowdfunding space.

It is our incredible honor to participate in what is only the beginning of a powerful revolution in finance; one which will play a defining role in unlocking the potentials of achievement for the human race.  As we look around us, the entire international finance & economics scene is in flames, an inevitable outcome from a system which has no soul.  But the revolution in crowdfunding brings us a natural and culturally organic alternative.

It is perhaps, one of the most powerful developments in our modern-day socio-economics, and promises both to transform the capital formation landscape and to offer an avenue for a creative and intellectual re-birth.  Crowdfunding is after all, an expression of our collective human will, and ties together true forms of human economic activity such as contribution, participation and co-creation, along with our current system of capital.  The World is waking up quickly to crowdfunding; tomorrow's crowdfunding won't necessarily look like today's.  We hope that you find our contributions valuable.  And look forward to co-creating our future with you.

Sincerely,
Kevin Lawton & Dan Marom

Pics from the JOBS Act signing at the Rose Garden

For all of you who wonder if it's still possible to make a difference in the World.  And in memory of my mother, who gave up so much so that I could be here.

The 'next Facebook' will be a crowdfunding platform

The leading social network service is ... Facebook.
The leading micro-blogging service is ... Twitter.
What's the 800 lb gorilla in online services for startups? ... There isn't one.

There is no one place 'everybody' goes online for startups.  And thus:

• You can't access a 3rd party app market and related APIs.
• There is no 'search' for startups.
• There is no central ecosystem for all the related players (office rentals, IP lawyers, accountants, benefits companies, employees, ...)
• There is no way to apply deep quantitative models and trend analytics to startups.
• And of course, as a consequence, much of the startup market remains opaque and difficult to access.

And yet, think about how huge the small business ecosystem is.  American "informal investors" put approximately $51 billion into early companies in 2010 alone (business angels, only $9.4 billion of that).  But it's the size of the entire ecosystem around small companies that really drives the value of being a "Facebook of startups" -- and that's going to be an order of magnitude bigger.

So what happens when across the global scene (or some fraction of it), trillions of dollars worth of ecosystem start focusing its time on one (or a few) winners in the online startup space?  And when players access related apps from a marketplace, find employees, employers, lawyers, administrative services, office space, designers, etc?  Investors will find a rich ecosystem equally valuable and transformational, given that large data sets of info will enable trend analytics and custom deal potential identification.  Do you suppose that will make a 'Facebook' of the space valuable?

I've had a conversation with a number of VCs about a crowdfunding platform being the next major investment potential.  Mostly they just politely change the subject, or even roll their eyes.  Reminds me of trying to get funded in the 90's for a virtualization startup (doh!).  Well, I'm going all-in on perhaps my biggest ever trend call.  The next Facebook-sized investment opportunity in software startups, is a crowdfunding platform.  And it's going to have an app market & APIs.  Roll your eyes all you want, sheople.  It's about to get interesting...

P.S. It's worth noting the momentum picking up in regulatory changes for crowdfunding.

Congressional hearing on crowdfunding, White House blog post on crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is really picking up steam in the U.S.:

• Hearing #2 in a House of Representatives subcommittee (this time specifically about crowdfunding!) is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 15.  Btw, you can request that C-SPAN covers this hearing, by calling them the day before at 202-737-3220.
• In a recent blog post from the White House Office of Science and Technology, point#1 makes the case for allowing crowdfunding as part of the Startup America initiative.

This is a great time to get the word out about the petition for crowdfunding at StartupExemption.com.  It's important to show support while this is a hot topic.

I keep track of related events in a dedicated page.

Kevin at Maker Faire (Bay Area) moderating crowdfunding panel

I'll be at Maker Faire (Bay Area / San Mateo) moderating the crowdfunding panel on Saturday May 21 (3pm).  Drop me a note if you want to meet up

Kevin at Crowdsortium Symposium

I'll be at the 1st Crowdsortium Symposium (Google HQ, Mountain View) on May 19-20.  Drop me a note if you want to meet up.