

FundersClub: getting Crowdfunding right - dsugarman
http://alexeymk.com/2012/08/12/fundersclub---getting-crowdfunding-right.html

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qqqqqq
I find it silly to say they've solved the crowdfunding problem when all
they've really done is close off a majority of the crowd, and limited actual
investment to a select few people who can actually meet their bar. What is it
about this project that is actually crowdfunding, rather than a directory for
qualified investors?

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Vivtek
How is restricting investment to qualified investors "crowdfunding"? To me,
this just sounds like appropriation of a sexy word to sound good.

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ph0rque
I assume (and hope) that this will be opened up to all the newly-qualified
investors once the JOBS act takes effect.

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neilk
They said it didn't rely on the JOBS act.

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wmf
It doesn't rely on the JOBS act _now_ , because that's not possible yet. But I
doubt they'll rule out that option in the future.

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lpolovets
It seems premature to say if they are getting it right or not given that the
first investment hasn't even settled yet. Getting enough investors is part of
the equation, but so are working with the investors and the company after the
investment is made.

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silverbax88
I find it fascinating that people think Crowdfunding isn't working, and that
the only way to 'make it work' is to stick with the people who are already
doing it on a big scale.

Crowdfunding will work on two levels: one, because legitimate companies and
investors will find each other, regardless of size, history or
'accreditation'. two, because of retail investors. Some retail investors will
take a bath. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. But that hasn't
stopped stock market investing or real estate investing.

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xenen
Except I don't make over 200k so I can't fund anything. I wouldn't call it
"getting crowdfunding right".

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irollboozers
>"Over time, FundersClub plans to operate liquidity services for private
companies, including employee liquidity program management for private
companies, and eventually a trading platform for private companies that wish
to provide ongoing private market liquidity to their shareholders."

These guys are in it for the long haul, so I hope they have some serious
backing. I'm talking like years and years.

But, comments here are right, this isn't crowdfunding. This is just access to
YC companies by proxy.

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rdl
It does look really exciting -- but I agree, it's too early to say they've
been successful. FC and AngelList both seem worth consideration.

It's insane that everything else about startups has progressed so much over
the past 20 years, but funding (especially the range past early seed
incubator/friends and family/etc. and before Series A) is still so rube
goldberg. (Series A and later is also broken, but the main limiting factor
there is board seats for partners at VC funds, so it's a different problem;
great telepresence might be what fixes that, like the iPad based telepresence
robot.)

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azakai
If they could get rid of the silly "accredited investor" limitation this could
be huge. I guess it's a legal problem though and they are forced to do it?

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frisco
If accreditation is still required I don't see how it's any different than
AngelList. (Besides lacking the distribution and credibility of AngelList.)

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rdudekul
Effective Crowdfunding is a hard problem. I am rooting for FundersClub to
succeed. This will open up doors to solid startups that for whatever reasons
could not get into YCombinator, AngelPad etc.

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dumbfounder
There are also a lot of startups that aren't right for those incubators. For
YC, if you have a family and don't live in SV then that is a massive sacrifice
to move out there, which closes the doors to many. Many others are similar.

Where crowdfunding is most promising (in my mind) is that it removes the SV
edge for startups. You don't need to be in the valley to be funded, you just
need a compelling product/story/team/etc.

Plus, there are also many other startups that have gone beyond the incubator
stage, but are not right or ready for VC. You would traditionally turn to
Angels in that stage, but why not turn to your users, or the general public?

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rprasad
Flagged as inaccurate. It's not crowdfunding, and it's definitely not
crowdfunding done right.

This site is just a directory of accredited investors, who are already allowed
to make investments in non-SEC companies.

