The story of three entrepreneurs: how they play the public

Startups often struggle to raise money, and three of entrepreneurs have repeatedly lobbied the US Congress to legalize public financing investments. They work with the U.S. State Department and the World Bank to get people around the world to focus on the power of the group. Article | Michelle Goodmansherwood (Woodie) Neiss in 2010 to raise money for his new business model, a data research application for smartphone users. Neiss has served as chief executive officer of a successful drug flavoring company,--flavorx. He founded the company with his partner in 1999 and sold it eight years later. His newly budding creation has earned him a chance to take part in an "entrepreneurial weekend show", but because there is no "three-year income" data, banks are not interested in investing in the application. Others, such as angel investors, venture capitalists and private equity investors, have invested millions of of dollars in Flavorx, but there is no willingness to invest in the application. Nor is personal credit: Neiss's credit card overdraft has been slashed in the midst of a recession in Miami's home town. Many entrepreneurs face the dilemma of capital tightening. "I could have raised money, but now I have a reputation but can't raise money, which makes me angry," he said. Neiss recalls. Many people complain but do not act, and Neiss is not such a person. Together with Arizona, State's Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird parochial of global Management), Jason Best and Zak Cassady-dorion and other entrepreneurs who are familiar with financing, Neiss decided to move forward on a measure that would solve his shortage of funds: the public. For him and his friends, the move was crazy. Corporate fundraising still benefits from securities laws enacted before 80, even far earlier than the invention of personal computers, let alone Facebook and Twitter. In particular, many Americans are in the middle of a period of unemployment. The trio sat at the table at best in San Francisco to agree on what they thought would require changes to the securities regulations. As a result, entrepreneurs can raise small investment funds from friends, families and their developed social networks. The plan, as Neiss said, is "go to the SEC, give them a genuine solution to our predicament and show them the solutions, and get them to draft the rules, and then, ' bang ', it's done." "Up to three years later today, Neiss often laugh at their naïve side." They have consulted with experts in the legal and policy fields about their plans, and the answer is that revising the debt bill decades ago would involve a number of dimensions, rather than just a visit to the Securities and Exchange Commission. "' They told me that it was necessary to submit a bill to Congress, ' butAnd then we say, ' Okay, what do we need to do? ' Then we foolishly walked down that road to this point. "Neiss said. Neiss, best and Cassady-dorion spent 1.5 of their time back and forth between their homes in Miami, San Francisco, upstate New York and Washington, trying to persuade Congress to legalize public financing based on equities or debt. Their so-called "exempt start-ups" campaign has spurred a handful of popular fund-raising advocates, business schools and larger start-ups that have been lobbying Congress on a personal basis, encouraging them to sign petitions and communicate with their familiar congressmen. "At that time, people thought we were crazy. "We're even joking about ourselves," said Neiss, who lobbied Congress as a full-time job. "The probability of this happening is only 7%." ' The fact is that it's not only through congressional approval but also bipartisan support, which is very surprising. "Last spring President Obama approved a proposal called" Quick start start-up "(The Jumpstart our Business startups, jobs), and what they did was finally considered right. The three men witnessed the incident at the scene. Today, many financing platforms and supporting providers, such as background audits and brokerage dealers, are waiting for the SEC to implement these rules, which will open a market valued at the University of California, Berkeley, at $4 billion trillion. At the same time, Neiss, best and cassady-dorion the business of investing in public-funded projects. In April 2012, Neiss and best set up a consulting firm called "Public finance advisers" (Crowdfund Capital Advisors, referred to as CCA), which is mainly targeted at American and international entrepreneurs, investors, business groups and government agencies. Best therefore left a lucrative High-tech consulting firm, Cassady-dorion briefly left to set up a gourmet olive oil company, after his profit, he spent three-fourths of his time on CCA projects. Why are they betting on an industry that has not yet survived? We need to complete our unfinished business, "Best said," If there is no passion for it, it is impossible for us to spend two years and invest a lot of money on this project. "The super program from the campus was born in a wonderful afternoon, blue skies, Neiss, Best, Cassady-dorion, and vice chairman of CCA Robertmitchell (also from the Thunderbird Alumni Association) responsible for business development and strategic partnerships. There was ample communication in their offices. The room is bright and spacious with a large viewing window overlooking the University of California, Berkeley campus. Best is the UniversityLi Fung College Entrepreneurship and Technology Center of the settled entrepreneur, is responsible for engineering leadership, this is a project for engineering students. When a CCA leader, client, or partner comes to town, the best office becomes the corporate headquarters. In the hallway outside the office, teachers and students are busy. On the first floor, eight teams are working on the Skydeck Project, a program designed to help student start-ups develop basic customer base and raise money. "These people are very good. "Neiss said. Best adds: "This is one of the top research institutions in the world." "Their enthusiasm is contagious. When they leaned over and held their breath to tell people that investing in the public would be more profitable than jobs, people could not help but get excited when they became a game-changing rule that made Americans profit. They point out that, in 2012, venture capitalists only financed 3,800 of the 27.5 million U.S. companies. "Such funding should not only be applied to the 3,800 companies they are interested in, but the other 99.9% are hungry for money," he said. "Neiss said. They talk about the coming convergence of social networks and social fundraising, and call it Web3.0. "Every social media consultant over the past five or six years has warned companies: you have to have someone who likes you, you have to have fans, you have to have a Twitter account, you have to create a social platform for your brand," Best said, "but I think a lot of companies, especially those with smaller companies, May ask ' Where is the money? ' I've paid so much for it, but where is the return on investment? ' I think that's the time to get your investment back, and with the combination of social networking and social fundraising, you can turn those advocates, fans, Twitter followers into investors and money. The Fung College of Berkeley has announced the establishment of a neiss and best-led academic project. The project aims to create the best practice experience for early startups and investors interested in the public by using CCA's professionalism and the university's ability in data research. "We can test everything here, it's great." "Neiss said. In the process of doing research, CCA has the best start-up engineers, and at close proximity, this is a gold mine. Once the Securities and Exchange Commission's policies have been implemented, the investment will begin, and CCA will provide Berkeley with the data available to the participating public investment platform for its research. "We will have enough data to show how much a dry cleaner is valued at Seattle and Austin," he said. Neiss explained. Cassady-dorion added, "So when an entrepreneur is valuing his company, it's worth referring to the past dry cleaners ' valuations." Investors will look at past data and ask, ' Why is the company valued at 15% higher than the average? 'The potential for fraud in the public is raising concerns. However, a number of restrictions have been incorporated into the new Act, including the qualification of individual investors, and an "all or Nothing (all-or-nothing)" rule requires startups to meet the total target capital before raising money to the public; in fact, The U.S. platform must be explained to the Securities and Exchange Commission on a case-by-case basis. All these measures ensure the safety of the public. The criminals on the internet need everyone to fight to the end. "We will launch an online credit system for investors and entrepreneurs, just like ebay and Amazon." Best predicts that the credit will be with you all your life. "Ken Singer,fung, general manager of the Entrepreneurship and Technology Center, is a late convert." Before studying the SEC's rules, he was concerned about the potential for fraudsters to defraud inexperienced investors. Now, on the contrary, he is not only happy with the plan, but also eager to teach entrepreneurs how to get money from the public in the best way possible. "I see the center as an arbiter," singer said. "I want this center to be a rational voice  people are here to find out at what point it is reasonable to finance the public and not at what point. Singer does have a deep expectation of cooperation between the school and CCA. "Almost all of the active organizations I've seen like CCA have become very personal," he said. "Bring jobs to the world when the founders were asked if they were doing anything else, they all looked at each other and laughed. "What are we not doing?" Neiss joked. "I hope we are not overwhelmed by these things," he said. Mitchell echoed. Since December 2012, they have been doing some major research consultancy projects for the World Bank, White House meetings and global economic forums, even south by Southwest and the Silicon Valley International Innovation Summit, and they are developing a book published by Wiley, a fool who can also invest Online training program. In addition, the company will regularly provide consulting advice on seven new types of platform and services. "These very energetic guys are moving at an amazing pace," he said. "Client Steve Yin said. He is the founder and chief executive of Earlyiq, the company that provides the background and "seemingly correct" inspection services for start-up companies seeking public financing. "Of course, they have a passion for entrepreneurship. And the way they distribute their enthusiasm has led to a change in public financing based on equity. This is in their lives, their meals and their breathing. "When it comes to promoting the concept of public finance, Neiss, best and cassady-dorion do not confine themselves to one place." They are already aware that the public is already in Australia, Britain, France, Italy and some other regionsIt can be a boon in the international sphere. "I was in the middle of an event when the Senate passed the jobs proposal and the President signed it into law," he said. Neiss recalls, "I was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Global Entrepreneurship Seminar in Istanbul, Turkey, and I was on the podium to talk about how this would have a significant impact on the U.S. economy and how much new jobs we would create, and that would be a big deal for the world." Then a student stood up and shouted, ' Jobs is not an American thing! It's a global thing! ' And I thought, wow, that's right! This is not only the problem we are facing. This is a global problem. And we can provide a solution for that. "A World Bank report on how the public has a positive impact on entrepreneurs, investors and development sectors and Governments in developing countries is one of the biggest international projects of CCA." CCA also provides some additional advisory services to Mexican officials and some entrepreneurial associations, as well as to a government agency in Colombia and heads of the Italian coalition government. This year best has lectured in countries such as Qatar, the UAE and South Africa. The U.S. State Department has also summoned them. Last fall, the U.S. State Department called CCA the official partner of its Global Entrepreneurship Program (entrepreneurship), which will provide resources, guidance and a wealth of activities aimed at boosting prosperity and job creation around the world. The State Department's view is that the more stable a country's economy is, the less likely it is to be mired in political chaos. In cooperation with CCA, the U.S. State Department, regardless of Neiss and best, will collaborate with U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to Neiss and best plan public policy. The former State Department senior advisor, Shelly Porges, who recruited CCA as a planned partner, is confident that the investment market will emerge rapidly in developed and developing countries, and that it may even surpass Angel investment as a viable early-stage financing model. "I think it's inevitable that there will be bumps on the road to development," she said. "Every new initiative is going to be like this, but I have no doubt that in the short term, even in the medium and long term, I have a huge success." "For CCA's team, the hard truth is that they spent months and thousands of dollars not in vain," he said. Before the jobs bill was passed, Mitchell doubted the dawn of a US-funded investment. He admits that he was initially pessimistic about the Neiss spending a lot of time lobbying Washington, as a friend. "I will thrill him, say there is no road in hell, he is wasting time," Mitchell said, "the impression that he said that this is the driving force for his progress." "The Jobs bill is not the first cooperation between Neiss and Washington. In 2006 years, when he was Flavorx's chief financial officer, he had to testify before the House Small Business Council for abandoning plans to go public in the face of an expensive and time-consuming Sarbanes-Oxley audit Law (Oxley). Five years later, when Neiss, best and Cassady-dorion went to Washington to exert pressure on Congress to revise the Securities and Exchange Commission to prevent start-ups from gaining access to public-equity regulations, they were not the only ones who did it. But they are the ones who pay the most-as long as their contacts in Washington call and tell them, "When are you going to get here the quickest?" By pushing the "exempt start-ups" campaign, they also received support from pharmaceutical business groups that were strongly opposed to them at the time. Launcht's business is to create a customized platform for universities, nonprofit groups, business incubators and business plan competitions, and Freeman White, co-founder and chief executive of the company, hailed the "exempt start-up" campaign as a lightning rod that would unite the public. "They have dealt with this matter in a professional way and have worked hard for it ever before. "said White. During this period he lived near Philadelphia, and during the period from 2011 to 2012 he had gone to Washington to lobby Congress for more than 10 times. "Then they showed up in Washington. "The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council (SBEC) is an advocacy group with 100,000 members, and Karen Kerrigan, its chairman and chief executive, thinks it is very rare for federal legislation to pass as quickly as the jobs bill. Kerrigan, who had been introduced to key congressional figures while Neiss, best and cassady-dorion were working to legalize the fundraising, was convinced that the process of delivering jobs to the President's table was very smooth. There's no harm in having a team of experts who can often access the halls of Congress. "When small entrepreneurs do their best to do this series of things, they really make it happen," she says. I have no doubt about it. "You can't expect to get things done by writing a letter," Neiss explains. "It's impossible, and again, you can't expect a phone call to solve the problem, which is impossible." When we sit face-to-face, sharing ideas, ideas, and enthusiasm, this will encourage more business cooperation. We like to negotiate with the people who are sitting in front of us. "Neiss, Best and cassady-dorion, as well as the many sponsors they have drawn up with, and a host of lobbying groups called the" public intermediaries Regulatory advocacy group (CIRA) ", have begun to apply these experiences to their work with the SEC. Although the jobs bill requires the SEC to set the rules for outstanding investment by the end of 2012, "This is the first time in history that an industry has been born with an exactStart date. "said the best. At present, however, the draft rules have not yet been submitted by the Agency. Since the Jobs Act was passed more than a year ago, the SEC has repeatedly met with the relevant members of the industry to learn about the investment and to watch some of the latest operational demonstrations of financing platforms. "Must be very focused on this matter. "The SEC has done a lot of work, so we believe the rules will be largely completed by the end of this year," he said. I think if they do not take this matter seriously, they will not be able to meet with us more than 14 times. "At the same time, CCA is also constantly helping companies build infrastructure for investment, which will become very important once the SEC has opened the floodgates," he said. "I fully believe that the public will grow into a strong and powerful behemoth," Neiss said. "All the time, energy and money we put in will be rewarded." "(Translate | Kai Shan)