May 16
In the recent HBR article “The Crowdfunding Road to Hell,” Daniel Isenberg argues persuasively that crowdfunding — specifically equity crowdfunding — cannot work. As an entrepreneur, angel investor, VC, philanthropist, and CEO with 40 years’ experience, I cannot agree.
Read the article by Alan E. Hall
May 02
Switzerland is often ignored by the famous tech blogs Of course, it’s not – yet – in the same league as Silicon Valley or London… or even Berlin.
But as many Swiss tech people descent on that city for NEXT in a few days, I believe Switzerland as a whole (not just Zürich or Geneva) has the ingredients needed to be a key location on the web scene.
Apr 19
19.04.2012 – Wolfgang Klein und sein Team wollen über Crowd Funding 60 Millionen Euro einsammeln, um ein Medikament gegen die unheilbare Augenkrankheit AMD zu finden. Vor allem betroffene Patienten will Klein zu einem Investment in seinen Fonds bewegen, der wie eine Genossenschaft aufgebaut ist: „Wir gehen einen völlig neuen Weg“, sagt Klein. Welche Pläne er hat, wie er zu institutionellen Investoren steht und wieso die Pharmakonzerne sich seiner Meinung nach nicht für die AMD-Forschung interessieren – hier im FINANCE-Talk.
Apr 18
Die milliardenschwere Übernahme von Instgram durch Facebook zeigt das Potenzial einfacher Geschäftsideen im Internet. Doch wie leicht lassen sich diese umsetzen? Zwischen der Schweiz, Deutschland, Grossbritannien und den USA tun sich deutliche Unterschiede auf.
Apr 12
With President Barack Obama signing the JOBS act in the Rose Garden on Thursday, the clock will start ticking for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to come up with rules to regulate the nascent crowd-funding industry.
Under the act, small businesses can raise up to $1 million in equity funding over the Internet through portals and websites that will have to register with the SEC, which has about 270 days from the act’s signing to come up with rules for the industry.
Mar 19
Small businesses complain that they’re starved for capital these days. And there’s a debate raging about a possible solution under consideration by Congress: equity-based crowd funding.
Mar 02
Crowd funding is a game-changer for entrepreneurs the cash-strapped world over. It could be the difference between failure and success for your start-up idea. In the last two years I’ve had considerable exposure to the world of crowdfunding and have been lucky to meet a number of crowd-funding CEO’s and experts. I have seen first hand how effective it can be and not just for raising finance, but for marketing, business administration and in a host of other ways. In the piece below I’ve explored how beneficial crowd-funding could be to your start-up’s future….
Feb 22
The Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship hit the nail on the head. “Startups aren’t everything when it comes to job growth. They’re the only thing.” Other than a good idea, the most critical thing to launching job-producing businesses is capital. Historically, capital to fund the nation’s job creators came from Angels, Private Equity and Venture Capital. But a new downward financing trend is emerging and the results are potentially devastating.
Feb 10
Feb 07
Politicians use crowdfunding daily. It is how they fund their campaigns. They go out to thousands of supporters and say, “Hey give me as much money as you can afford (capped, of course). Collectively it will add up to something substantive so that I can talk about my goals, build my team, market my message and get elected (or re-elected).” Entrepreneurs do the same thing (take an idea, make a proof of concept, build a company, and hire employees to market and grow) but only with accredited investors (aka millionaires). Here’s the ironic part. It is legal for politicians to go to the masses but illegal for entrepreneurs to do the same thing…
