Republicans and Democrats may finally agree on something: Small business owners and entrepreneurs need better and more plentiful opportunities to gain access to capital, grow their businesses, and create more jobs.
Last month, the House voted 407 to 17 to pass passed the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, which seeks to makes it easier for small businesses and entrepreneurs to raise capital through crowdfunding. The new bill would let let small companies sell up to $2 million in equity online. Investors would be allowed to put in as much as $10,000 or 10 percent of their annual income—whichever is less.
In addition to the overwhelming bipartisan support the bill received in the House, the President supports it as well. In a September 8 address to a Joint Session of Congress on jobs and the economy, the President urged Congress to remove the red-tape—and SEC restrictions—that make it difficult, if not illegal, for entrepreneurs to raise funds in public.
"This bill will make it easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital and create jobs," the White House noted in a statement. "The Administration looks forward to continuing to work with the Congress to craft legislation that facilitates capital formation and job growth and provides appropriate investor protections."
Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, a vocal Republican supporter of crowdfunding, addressed the Senate Banking Committee last week, urging members to consider crowdfunding as a viable method for entrepreneurs raise funds. He described crowdfunding as "the grease that keeps the gears in the American economy churning."
Current online investment platforms—such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo—allow people to offer funds for projects, though they do not offer true equity in return. Sites like Microventures do offer equity, but to invest you must be an angel investor. Right now, there's no legal way for unaccredited people to invest in companies for equity.
"Imagine that," Brown said. "The next Steve Jobs being held back by rules from the age of the typewriter. When are we going to give the tools and resources to our job creators? [Crowdfunding] is an innovative way to look outside the box and get up with the times to open up capital markets to new businesses and existing small businesses. It has the potential to be a powerful venture capital model."
Although much large-scale crowdfunding still illegal in the United States, there are several crowdfuning firms overseas already connecting investors with entrepreneurs. Symbid, a Netherlands-based crowdfunding firm, enables entrepreneurs to secure funding from €20,000 up to €2.5 million. Crowdcube, which is based in the U.K., offers a similar service, but with no investment maximum. Entrepreneurs go online, write their pitch, and offer two numbers: the target—which is the total amount of money they wish to raise and invest in the business—and the equity offered.
Critics to the bill argue that devious entrepreneurs will have open range to set up phony companies and lull neophyte investors into dropping them cash. And because there's potential for thousands of daily transactions, there would be little oversight. Brown, though, believes the benefits outweigh any risks.
"Americans are allowed to gamble unlimited amounts at casinos, and can send donations to charities halfway around the world with one tap of a trackpad," wrote Brown in a recent Wired editorial. "Yet, we are legally prevented from making even modest investments in job-creating small businesses."
Carl Esposti, the founder of Crowdsourcing.org, points out another argument: that the investment risks involved are actually lower, since there will be many investors doing due diligence on the investment. Therefore, he says, if 150 or 200 people decide to vote on an entity, the aggregate of the risk assessment might indicate that that entity is not such a bad bet.
"There's an interesting dynamic on whether it actually creates a natural calibration of risk-reward," Esposti says. "From that perspective, it has some really interesting potential."
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The CW’s new head of marketing is… Rick Haskins. The network’s outgoing marketing chief has agreed to stay on in a new, expended role. Haskins, whose full title was EVP Digital, New Technologies, Marketing and Brand Strategy, has been upped to EVP, Marketing and Digital Programs, a new position in which he will continue to report to the CW president Mark Pedowitz.
In his new role, Haskins will continue to spearhead all aspects of the network’s marketing and digital initiatives, as he has done since the network’s inception. Additionally, he will oversee the development and production of original digital entertainment content for The CW’s online, mobile and social media platforms. The CW has created some original content for online and social media in the past, but that will now become a big concerted effort that will include both digital extensions of the network’s series and new standalone programming. Haskins is opening the doors for pitches and is casting a wide net for longform or shortform, scripted or unscripted, weekly or even daily programs. The CW just received a cash infusion through its deals with Netflix and Hulu, with portion of the money earmarked for boosting the network’s development funds. Some of the projects will likely be produced in conjunction with Studio 2.0, the digital division of the CW corporate sibling and major supplier Warner Bros. TV. “We are looking for new talent, people who have had a passion project that would be better suited as a digital, not TV program,” Haskins said. Still, some of the shows that start online could transition to TV.
Haskins joined the CW shortly after the January 2006 announcement of the network’s creation, and he became the first CW employee not associated with its predecessors the WB or UPN. He was brought in by the CW’s entertainment president Dawn Ostroff, who had worked closely with him at Lifetime, where Haskins was EVP/general manager and Ostroff EVP and head of development. When Ostroff early this year decided to leave the CW after the end of the season, Haskins began mulling his own exit and notified the CW brass that he was not planning to re-up his contract, which was up in May. At the time, Haskins agreed to stay on until August and oversee the network’s fall launch while the CW looks for a successor. But when Pedowitz joined the network in early May, he and Haskins got along very well and Pedowitz began to look for ways to keep him on board. “Rick Haskins is hands down one of the best marketing executives in our industry,” Pedowitz said. “Under his creative direction and leadership, his team has shaped a clear, distinct brand for The CW in an incredibly competitive media landscape, and we are thrilled that he will continue to be a part of The CW family for years to come. Rick is also our foremost authority in the digital space, helping us extend The CW’s presence across different digital platforms, so it only makes sense that he oversee our foray into creating and producing original CW content for online, mobile and social media.”
Meanwhile, Haskins was testing the waters in the marketplace and explored a number of job opportunities as he felt ready for a new challenge. In the end, the one Pedowitz presented him with at the CW was “the most exciting I had seen in the marketplace,” Haskins said. At the CW, Haskins, a 28-year marketing veteran, has spearheaded all marketing efforts, including the network’s launch campaign and initial brand image, the headline-making OMFG campaign for Gossip Girl, the recent Catch VD campaign for The Vampire Diaries and the current TV to Talk/Text/Blog/IM About campaign. He also spearheaded the CW’s early adoption of Facebook and Twitter in the network’s marketing.
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