The Future Just Arrived: now companies can raise venture capital by selling shares over the Internet to ordinary people like you and me. This book is a useful primer, with especial advice for entrepreneurs and business-owners, as well as investors. As of May 16 2016, this is the definitive book on US equity crowdfunding for startups i.e. selling shares in your company over the Internet. The process started several years ago with Title III of the JOBS Act and has morphed over time to the final rules on Regulation Crowdfunding from the SEC. This book, updated several times over the last few years, was the very first book on Equity Crowdfunding in the USA and was the #1 book on Amazon in its category for over a year, previously titled "CrowdFund Your Startup!" (see that title for many reviews). Raising venture capital has become easier, with the passage of the JOBS Act. It's new, it's different, and it's big! Selling shares in your startup through equity crowdfunding is a big deal. It's going to totally change the whole way venture capital is raised. This book is for entrepreneurs and business owners to quickly understand what they need to know and where to find it. It's more than collecting the cash; you need to set up a real company with real customers and real cash flow. And sell shares in it. This book covers what you need to do to make crowdfunding your startup a success, in a concise and clear way. Investors will benefit from understanding the entrepreneur's viewpoint. The book has 5 sections: 1.How Equity Crowdfunding Works. After a quick explanation of how crowdfunding came to be, the book looks at how crowdfunding fits into the field of venture capital. Then it addresses how Regulation Crowdfunding has changed things, with a detailed commentary on the 12 most important changes. The chapter ends with suggestions for where crowdfunding would be best used, and perhaps not so well suited. 2.Setting up a Company Worth Funding. You have to get the dogs to eat the dog food (i.e. will customers buy?), and you have to do it better than the competition. Investors expect you to make money. You can't wait forever; you have to lift off quickly. And you need to get the boring stuff, like legal documents and company status, right. 3.Raising the cash. Making the company attractive to investors - means understanding how crowdfunding works for them. Then readers are taken through the critical part of putting a value on the company and pricing its shares. Get this wrong and you will work for years for nothing, or you won't get funded. Then you have to build trust, reach investors and collect the money! 4.You have the cash - now what? Well, now you have the money, you have to perform and build all that value your promised! You are going to have to spend a lot of time talking to investors. Since few companies raise all they need the first round, you have to spend time looking for investors for the second round. And then, critically, for your investors, you will have to reach the liquidity event, when investors can cash out. 5.The Future of Equity Crowdfunding. It could all go horribly wrong (but we don't think so) and you need to be ready to answer criticisms. Here the book helps you figure out what to say. The book then speculates on the bright future for equity crowdfunding. Rupert Hart is uniquely positioned to write this book, with experience in venture finance and running, startups. He worked with Hermann Hauser, founder of ARM, the company that designs the chips for the iPhone. He worked with IDEO on new ventures. He helped set up E*TRADE UK. He has run several startups. He is the author of "Recession Storming: Thriving in Downturns" which was #1 in books to do with "Recession" on Amazon.com for 4 years. He has appeared in the International Herald Tribune and BBC TV's Business Breakfast. He holds an MBA from INSEAD, one of the world's top business schools.
About the Author: Rupert Hart worked with Hermann Hauser, founder of ARM Holdings, the $9bn company that designs the chips for the iPhone. He worked closely with Hermann to grow a small startup into the UK part of E*Trade, which revolutionized stock investing for many people around the world; the start-up was later sold to E*Trade for over $200m. He worked with famed product development company IDEO on new ventures. He has worked at Bain & Co on valuations of companies. He has run and advised several startups, and was "Entrepreneur in Residence" at several incubators. He set up a large network of over 2000 Digital Entrepreneurs. He worked with angel investing groups including International Angel Investors. He has taught micro IPO seminars on 504 and Reg A direct public offerings. He consulted at Amadeus Capital, a high-tech VC firm, and has helped entrepreneurs with their funding through RocketVC.com. Rupert has appeared in the International Herald Tribune, The Daily Mail, and BBC TV's "Business Breakfast" program. He holds an MBA from INSEAD, one of the world's top business schools, where he started the "Entrepreneurial Drinking Club." Rupert is currently Director at ExperiVentures Inc. and works in Silicon Valley. He is the author of "Recession Storming: Thriving in Downturns through Superior Marketing, Pricing and Product Strategies" which was #1 in books on "Recession" on Amazon.com for 4 years. In his spare time he makes large sculptures for the leading-edge Burning Man Arts Festival. He can be reached at Rupert@RupertHart.com.