Tag: crowdsourcing

The New 20% Deduction in Crowdfunding Transactions

On By crowdfundattnyIn Crowdfunding, Crowdfunding Laws, Crowdfunding Real Estate, Tax, Tax Reform, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Taxes and Income - iStock-172441475 - small.jpg

Co-Authored By: Steve Poulathas & Mark Roderick

The new tax law added section 199A to the Internal Revenue Code, providing for a 20% deduction against some kinds of business income. Section 199A immediately assumes a place among the most complicated provisions in the Code, which is saying something.

I’m going to summarize just one piece of section 199A: how the deduction works for income recognized through a limited liability company or other pass-through entity. That means I’m not going to talk about lots of important things, including:

  • Dividends from REITS
  • Income from service businesses
  • Dividends from certain publicly-traded partnerships
  • Dividends from certain cooperatives
  • Non-U.S. income
  • Short taxable years
  • Limitations based on net capital gains

Where the Deduction Does and Doesn’t Help

Section 199A allows a deduction against an individual investor’s share of the taxable income generated by the entity. The calculation is done on an entity-by-entity basis.

That means you can’t use a deduction from one entity against income from a different entity. It also means that the deduction is valuable only if the entity itself is generating taxable income.

That’s important because most Crowdfunding investments and ICOs, whether for real estate projects or startups, don’t generate taxable income. Most real estate projects produce losses in the early years because of depreciation deductions, while most startups generate losses in the early years because, well, because they’re startups.

The section 199A deduction also doesn’t apply to income from capital gains, interest income, or dividends income. It applies only to ordinary business income, including rental income*. Thus, when the real estate project is sold or the startup achieves its exit, section 199A doesn’t provide any relief.

Finally, the deduction is available only to individuals and other pass-through entities, not to C corporations.

*Earlier drafts of section 199A didn’t include rental income. At the last minute rental income was included and Senator Bob Corker, who happens to own a lot of rental property, switched his vote from No to Yes. Go figure.

The Calculation

General Rule

The general rule is that the investor is entitled to deduct 20% of his income from the pass-through entity. Simple.

Deduction Limits

Alas, the 20% deduction is subject to limitations, which I refer to as the Deduction Limits. Specifically, the investor’s nominal 20% deduction cannot exceed the greater of:

  • The investor’s share of 50% of the wages paid by the entity; or
  • The sum of:
    • The investor’s share of 25% of the wages paid by the entity; plus
    • The investor’s share of 2.5% of the cost of the entity’s depreciable property.

Each of those clauses is subject to special rules and defined terms. For purposes of this summary, I’ll point out three things:

  • The term “wages” means W-2 wages, to employees. It doesn’t include amounts paid to independent contractors and reported on a Form 1099.
  • The cost of the entity’s depreciable property means just that: the cost of the property, not its tax basis, which is reduced by depreciation deductions.
  • Land is not depreciable property.
  • Once an asset reaches the end of its depreciable useful life or 10 years, whichever is later, you stop counting it. That means the “regular” useful life, not the accelerated life used to actually depreciate it.

Exception Based on Income

The nominal deduction and the Deduction Limits are not the end of the story.

If the investor’s personal taxable income is less than $157,500 ($315,000 for a married couple filing a joint return), then the Deduction Limits don’t apply and he can just deduct the flat 20%. And if his personal taxable income is less than $207,500 ($415,000 on a joint return) then the Deduction Limits are, in effect, phased out, depending on where in the spectrum his taxable income falls.

Those dollar limits are indexed for inflation.

ABC, LLC and XYZ, LLC

Bill Smith owns equity interests in two limited liability companies: a 3% interest in ABC, LLC; and a 2% interest in XYZ, LLC. Both generate taxable income. Bill’s share of the taxable income of ABC is $100 and his share of the taxable income of XYZ is $150.

ABC owns an older apartment building, while XYZ owns a string of restaurants.

Like most real estate companies, ABC doesn’t pay any wages as such. Instead, it pays a related management company, Manager, LLC, $500 per year as an independent contractor. All of its personal property has been fully depreciated. Its depreciable real estate, including all the additions and renovations over the years, cost $20,000.

Restaurants pay lots of wages but don’t have much in the way of depreciable assets (I’m assuming XYZ leases its premises). XYZ paid $3,000 of wages and has $1,000 of depreciable assets, but half those assets are older than 10 years and beyond their depreciable useful life, leaving only $500.

Bill and his wife file a joint return and have taxable income of $365,000.

Bill’s Deductions

Calculation With Deduction Limits

Bill’s income from ABC was $100, so his maximum possible deduction is $20. The Deduction Limit is the greater of:

  • 3% of 50% of $0 = $0

OR

  • The sum of:
    • 3% of 25% of $0 = 0; plus
    • 3% of 2.5% of $20,000 = $15 = $15

Thus, ignoring his personal taxable income for the moment, Bill may deduct $15, not $20, against his $100 of income from ABC.

NOTE: If ABC ditches the management agreement and pays its own employees directly, it increases Bill’s deduction by 3% of 25% of $500, or $3.75.

Bill’s income from XYZ was $150, so his maximum possible deduction is $30. The Deduction Limit is the greater of:

  • 2% of 50% of $3,000 = $30

OR

  • The sum of:
    • 2% of 25% of $3,000 = 15; plus
    • 2% of 2.5% of $500 = $0.25 = $15.25

Thus, even ignoring his personal taxable income, Bill may deduct the whole $30 against his $150 of income from XYZ.

Calculation Based on Personal Taxable Income

Bill’s personal taxable income doesn’t affect the calculation for XYZ, because he was allowed the full 20% deduction even taking the Deduction Limits into account.

For ABC, Bill’s nominal 20% deduction was $20, but under the Deduction Limits it was reduced by $5, to $15.

If Bill and his wife had taxable income of $315,000 or less, they could ignore the Deduction Limits entirely and deduct the full $20. If they had taxable income of $415,000 or more, they would be limited to the $15. Because their taxable income is $365,000, halfway between $315,000 and $415,000, they are subject, in effect, to half the Deduction Limits, and can deduct $17.50 (and if their income were a quarter of the way they would be subject to a quarter of the Deduction Limits, etc.).

***

Because most real estate projects and startups generate losses in the early years, the effect of section 199A on the Crowdfunding and ICO markets might be muted. Nevertheless, I expect some changes:

  • Many real estate sponsors will at least explore doing away with management agreements in favor of employing staff on a project-by-project basis.
  • Every company anticipating taxable income should analyze whether investors will be entitled to a deduction.
  • Because lower-income investors aren’t subject to the Deduction Limits, maybe Title III offerings and Regulation A offerings to non-accredited investors become more attractive, relatively speaking.
  • I expect platforms and issuers to advertise “Eligible for 20% Deduction!” Maybe even with numbers.
  • The allocation of total cost between building and land, already important for depreciation, is now even more important, increasing employment for appraisers.
  • Now every business needs to keep track of wages and the cost of property, and report each investor’s share on Form K-1. So the cost of accounting will go up.

As for filing your tax return on a postcard? It better be a really big postcard.

Why Delaware?

On By crowdfundattnyIn Crowdfunding, Crowdfunding Portals, Delaware, Delaware CrowdfundingLeave a comment

Why are most Crowdfunding entities formed in Delaware? Two reasons.

First, Delaware has very good business laws and a very good system for adjudicating business disputes. Here’s what I mean:

  • Delaware’s business laws – and by that I mean the laws governing limited liability companies and corporations – are very flexible. In the hands of a capable corporate lawyer, Delaware’s laws can be used to do just about anything you want to do, i.e., can implement just about any business deal.Delaware_CF State
  • For better or worse, Delaware’s laws are tilted in favor of management. That means those running the show – and those running the show pick where the entity is incorporated – can get more or less what they want. As an example, Delaware allows the manager of a limited liability company to disclaim all fiduciary responsibilities to the members. Most states do not.
  • Delaware has a whole court system devoted to adjudicating disputes among business entities and their owners and managers. In most states, the judge hearing a business dispute in the morning is hearing auto accident cases all afternoon and is probably a former personal injury lawyer herself. First among the country’s business-only courts, Delaware’s Court of Chancery enjoys a deserved reputation for professionalism.

Second, because Delaware entities are used so widely, lawyers across the country are familiar with Delaware law. If two real estate investments are offered on a Crowdfunding portal, one incorporated under Delaware law and the other incorporated under Missouri law, the Delaware company has a head start in attracting investors solely on the basis of familiarity, at least outside Missouri.

There is one important exception. Under Federal Rule 147, an entity raising money through the intrastate Crowdfunding exemption of State X must be incorporated in State X, not in Delaware.

Questions? Let me know.

Improving Legal Documents In Crowdfunding: Capital Calls

On By crowdfundattnyIn Crowdfunding, Legal Documents, UncategorizedLeave a comment

man beggingYou raise $2 million of equity from investors to buy an apartment complex and two years later want to make $500,000 of capital improvements. Where do you get the money?

Traditionally, your Operating Agreement might give you the right to make a “capital call,” asking your existing investors for the additional $500,000. Suppose you had 20 investors, each contributing $100,000 in the beginning. Exercising your right to make capital calls, you would ask each for another $25,000 (20 x $25,000 = $500,000).

If the Operating Agreement includes a capital call feature, then it should also describe the consequences if one or more investors fail to contribute. The simplest approach, which I have seen used in Crowdfunding offerings, provides for simple dilution based on capital contributed. Let’s say 19 investors send $25,000 checks but one does not. The Operating Agreement would provide that his ownership interest is reduced by 1% (100 basis points), the percentage that his failed contribution ($25,000) bears to the total capital contributed ($2,500,000).

A few things to bear in mind using capital calls in Crowdfunding:

  • If I am the Crowdfunding investor, I do not want a capital call. Once I write my initial check, I don’t want to be asked for more money.
  • If I am the sponsor, I don’t want to be obligated to ask my existing investors for additional capital, which is just another way of saying I don’t want to give my existing investors a so-called “preemptive right.” There might be 157 existing investors. It might be much easier to get the $500,000 from a single source, or even a new Crowdfunding round. I want to leave my options open.
  • If we include a capital call, simple dilution is often not the right answer. Suppose the real estate market deteriorates and I desperately need the $500,000 to keep the project afloat. If an investor fails to make good on the capital call, a much higher rate of dilution might be appropriate, 150% or 200%, or even more. I have drafted agreements where the failure to make good on a capital call results in the wholesale forfeiture of an interest.

Crowdfunding is like traditional private placements in many ways, but in other ways it isn’t. When we draft legal documents for Crowdfunding deals we need to figure out which is which.

Questions? Let me know.

Do The Officers Of A Crowdfunding Issuer Have To Register As Broker-Dealers?

On By crowdfundattnyIn Broker-Dealer, Crowdfunding, Crowdfunding Laws, Title II CrowdfundingLeave a comment

thinking woman in jarToday, the most challenging legal question in Title II Crowdfunding is who is required to be a broker-dealer and under what circumstances. The question is most acute for the officers of an issuer, those who direct the issuer’s activities and put the offerings together.

Section 3(a)(4)(A) of the Securities and Exchange Act 1934 generally defines “broker” to mean “any person engaged in the business of effecting transactions in securities for others.” Section 15(a)(1) of the Exchange Act makes it illegal for any “broker. . . .to effect any transactions in, or to induce or attempt to induce the purchase or sale of, any security” unless registered with the SEC.

Simply put, anybody in the business of effecting securities transactions for others must be registered. There is a lot of law around what it means to be “engaged in the business of effecting securities transactions for others.” Based on decided cases and SEC announcements, important factors include:

  • The frequency of the transactions.
  • Whether the individual‘s responsibilities include structuring the transaction, identifying and soliciting potential investors, advising investors on the merits of the investment, participating in the order-taking process, and other services critical to the offering.
  • Whether the individual receives commissions or other transaction-based compensation for her efforts.

Perhaps the most important rule is that the issuer itself – the entity that actually issues the stock – does not have to register as a broker-dealer. The logic is that the issuer is effecting the transaction for itself, not for others.

But what about the President of the issuer, and the Vice President, and all the other employees who send the mailings and put the deal on the website and answer questions from prospective investors? Are they required to register as – or, more accurately, become affiliated with – broker-dealers?

The answer is complicated.

SEC Rule 3a4-1, issued under the Exchange Act, provides a “safe harbor” from registration. Under Rule 3a4-1, an employee of an issuer will not have to register if she is not compensated by commissions, and EITHER:

Her duties are limited to:

  • Preparing any written communication or delivering such communication through the mails or other means that does not involve oral solicitation of a potential purchaser, as long as the content of all such communications are approved by a partner, officer or director of the issuer; or
  • Responding to inquiries of a potential purchaser in a communication initiated by the potential purchaser, as long as her response is limited to providing information contained in an offering statement; or
  • Performing ministerial and clerical work.

OR

  • She performs substantial services other than in connection with offerings; and
  • She has not been a broker-dealer within the preceding 12 months; and
  • She does not participate in more than one offering per year, except for offerings where her duties are limited as described above.

Consider the President of the typical Title II portal offering borrower-dependent notes to accredited investors. Her duties are certainly not limited as described above, and she might participate in – actually direct – dozens of offerings per year. Does that mean she has to register as a broker-dealer?

Not necessarily. Rule 3a4-1 is only a safe harbor. If you satisfy the requirements of Rule 3a4-1 then you are automatically okay, i.e., you don’t have to register. But if you don’t satisfy the requirements of Rule 3a4-1, it doesn’t automatically mean you are required to register. Instead, it means your obligation to register will be determined under the large body of law developed by the SEC and courts over the last 80 years.

Courts and the SEC have identified these primary factors among others:

  • The duties of the employee before she became affiliated with the issuer. Was she a broker-dealer?
  • Whether she was hired for the specific purpose of participating in the offerings.
  • Whether she has substantial duties other than participating in the offerings.
  • How she is paid, and in particular whether she receives commission for raising capital.
  • Whether she intends to remain employed by the portal when the offering is finished.

Within the last couple years, a high-ranking lawyer in the SEC spoke publicly but informally about broker-dealer registration in the context of private funds, an area similar to Crowdfunding in some respects. He expressed concern at the way that some funds market interests to investors and suggested that some in-house marketing personnel might be required to register. At the same time, he suggested that an “investor relations” group within a private fund – individuals who spend some of their time soliciting investors – wouldn’t necessarily be required to register if the individuals spend the majority of their time on activities that do not involve solicitation. On one point he was quite clear: the SEC believes that if an individual receives commissions for capital raised, he or she should probably be registered.

Whether an officer or other employee of a Crowdfunding issuer must register as a broker-dealer will be highly sensitive to the facts; change the facts a little and you might get a different answer. With that caveat, I offer these general guidelines:

  • If an employee receives commissions, he has to register no matter what.
  • If an employee performs solely clerical functions, he does not have to register.
  • If an employee participates in only a handful of offerings, he does not have to register.
  • If an employee spends only a small portion of his time soliciting investors, he does not have to register.
  • If an employee advises investors on the merits of an investment, he’s walking close to the line. Describing facts, especially facts that are already available in an offering document or online, in response to an investor inquiry, doesn’t count as advising investors on the merits of an investment.

Here are two corollaries to those guidelines.

  • As long as he’s not paying himself commissions, the Founder and CEO of an issuer that is a bona fide operating company (not merely a shell to raise money) doesn’t have to register.
  • If the CEO hires Janet to solicit investors, and that’s all Janet does, and she speaks regularly with investors over the phone and helps them decide between Project A and Project B, the SEC is probably going to want Janet to be registered.

Of course, the most conservative approach for Crowdfunding issuers to run every transaction through a licensed broker-dealer. However, that adds cost and most issuers are trying to keep costs down.

This area is ripe for guidance from the SEC, and maybe even a new exemption for bona fide employees of small issuers. Stay tuned.

NOTE: I want to give a shout-out to Rich Weintraub, Esq. of Weintraub Law Group in San Diego. He and I had several very stimulating and thought-provoking conversations on this topic. If there are mistakes in the post, they’re all mine.

Questions? Let me know.

Crowdfunding And Fiduciary Obligations

On By crowdfundattnyIn Crowdfunding, Crowdfunding Laws, Fiduciary Obligations, JOBS ActLeave a comment

The term “fiduciary obligations” sends a chill down the spine of corporate lawyers – although some may object to using the word “spine” and “corporate lawyer” in the same sentence.

A person with a fiduciary obligation has a special legal duty. A trustee has a fiduciary obligation to the beneficiaries of the trust. The executor of an estate has a fiduciary obligation to the beneficiaries of the estate. The fiduciary obligation is not an obligation to always be successful, or always be right, but rather an obligation to try your best, or something close to that. A trustee who fails to anticipate the stock market crash of 2008 has not breached her fiduciary obligation. A trustee who fails to read published reports of a company’s impending bankruptcy before buying its stock probably has.

A person with a fiduciary obligation is required to be loyal, to look out for the interests of those under her care, to put their interests before her own.

By law and longstanding principle, the directors of a corporation have a fiduciary obligation to the corporation and its shareholders. In the classic case, a director of a corporation in the energy business took for his own benefit the opportunity to develop certain oil wells. Foul! cried the court. He has breached his fiduciary obligation by failing to pass the opportunity along to the corporation, to which he is a fiduciary.

Modern corporate statutes allow the fiduciary obligations of directors to be modified, but not eliminated, even if all the shareholders would sign off. If the corporation is publicly-traded, the exchange likely imposes obligations on the director (and the President, and the CEO, etc.) in addition to the fiduciary obligations imposed by state corporate law.

Which takes us to Crowdfunding. crowd funding word cloud

Most deals in the Crowdfunding space are done in a Delaware limited liability company. The Delaware Limited Liability Company Act allows a manager – the equivalent of a director in a corporation – to eliminate his fiduciary obligation altogether. If I’m representing the sponsor of the deal then of course I want to protect my client as fully as possible. And yet, I’m not sure that’s the best answer for the industry overall.

The U.S. public capital markets thrive mainly because investors trust them, just as the U.S. consumer products industry thrives because people feel safe shopping (that’s why securities laws and consumer-protection laws, as aggravating as they can be, actually help business). My client’s investors may or may not pay attention to the fiduciary duty sections of his LLC Agreement, but I wonder whether the Crowdfunding market as a whole can scale if those running the show regularly operate at a lower level of legal responsibility than the managers of public companies. Will it drive investors away?

Part of my brain says that it will, and yet, over the last 25 years or so, as corporate laws have become more indulgent toward management and executive pay has skyrocketed, lots of people have wondered when investors will say “Enough!” It hasn’t happened so far.

Questions? Let me know.

Videos In Crowdfunding

On By crowdfundattnyIn Crowdfunding, Videos in CrowdfundingLeave a comment

In this post, I wondered when we would see videos in Crowdfunding.

The video above was sent to me by Carolyn Collins of HUB International Northeast, a benefits consultant. Her company sells a health insurance product packaged as a “private exchange,” complementing the government exchanges operated under Obamacare.

In just over two minutes, the video explains:

  • What’s wrong with the current health insurance market
  • How the private exchange operates
  • Why the private exchange is the best of both worlds for employers

Take a look, and ask yourself at the end whether you’d like to know more (you will).

Of course, I’m not trying to sell health insurance. But if a video can explain our crazy health insurance system and offer an alternative in two minutes, then an effective video on equity Crowdfunding should be easy!

Questions? Let me know.

Improving Legal Documents In Crowdfunding: Model White Label Contract

On By crowdfundattnyIn Crowdfunding, Legal DocumentsLeave a comment

I see a lot of contracts between would-be Crowdfunding portals and “white label” portal software providers. It would help the industry, in my opinion, if everyone used or at least started with the same agreement. So I’ve drafted a model agreement, accessible as a Microsoft Word document here.

An agreement for a white label platform is a software license agreement. I’ve drafted more software license agreements than I can count, representing both licensors and licensees. That gives me a very good feel for what’s important, what’s not so important, and what’s fair.

My model agreement is designed to be a very fair document. It protects what’s important to the white label provider, and also protects what’s important to the would-be portal licensing the platform. It is also designed to be a comprehensive document, meaning it covers what’s important without overkill. I hope it’s easy to read and understand, as legal contracts go. And it’s completely flexible in terms of what the customer gets and how much the customer pays.

Multi-million-dollar portal businesses are being created based on the relationship created by this contract. It’s not a back-of-the-napkin kind of thing.

Because there could be special situations that the model agreement doesn’t cover, white label providers and their customers should have this model agreement reviewed by their own lawyers. Also, I haven’t provided a Service Level Agreement, because response times might vary significantly among white label providers.

But using one standard agreement should make things easier for everyone. Fewer transaction costs, less friction, greater certainty, faster to market. That’s what the industry needs.

Questions? Let me know.

SEC Subcommittee Reports On Accredited Investor Definition

On By crowdfundattnyIn Accredited Investor, Crowdfunding, Crowdfunding Laws, Dodd-Frank Act, Entrepreneurs, JOBS ActLeave a comment

The Dodd-Frank Act instructs the SEC to evaluate the definition of “accredited investor” and, if it sees fit, to modify the definition “as the Commission may deem appropriate for the protection of investors, in the public interest, and in light of the economy.”

As regular readers of this blog know, I’ve been optimistic that the SEC would not take this opportunity to kill Title II Crowdfunding and every other kind of Rule 506(c) private placement (which includes most angel investing as well) by creating an onerous new definition. The report issued recently by a SEC subcommittee, while surprising in some respects, doesn’t dent my optimism.

The subcommittee report makes two important, though obvious, points:

  • The Committee does not believe that the current definition as it pertains to natural persons effectively serves this function in all instances.
  • The current definition’s financial thresholds serve as an imperfect proxy for sophistication, access to information, and ability to withstand losses.

The existing definition is imperfect, yes. The question is, what to do about it?

Although the report does not provide a clear answer to that question, the good news, from my perspective, is that the report does not suggest merely indexing the current thresholds ($200,000 of income, $1 million of net worth) to inflation, which would disqualify most accredited investors and send the private placement market into a tailspin. Instead, the report seeks a standard that will address both financial sophistication and the ability to withstand loss.

The report suggests two specific measures of financial sophistication: the series 7 securities license and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Following the lead of the United Kingdom, the report also suggests that those with proven investment experience – for example, a member of an angel investing group – might qualify. Finally, the report suggests, as others have before, that the SEC could develop an examination for the purpose of qualifying investors.

Declining a suggestion from several quarters, the report does not include lawyers or accountants as investors who should be deemed to have financial sophistication.

The reports veers a little off track, in my opinion, when it speculates that, in conjunction with changing the definition of accredited investor, the SEC could limit the amount invested by each investor – following the 10% limit of Regulation A+, for example. That kind of limitation would be new to Rule 506 offerings.

In my Model State Crowdfunding law, I use a definition of accredited investors that includes lawyers, accountants, and anyone with the license from FINRA, as long as the lawyer, accountant, or license-holder has income of at least $75,000. Recognizing the imperfection of any definition, I think that strikes about the right balance. Bolt on an SEC-administered examination option and we’re right there with the subcommittee report.

All in all, it’s good to see the SEC, once again, thinking through the issues carefully. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Questions? Let me know.

Crowdfunding Meets P2P Lending in San Francisco

On By crowdfundattnyIn Crowdfunding, Crowdfunding Speaking Engagements, JOBS Act, P2P Lending, Speaking EngagementsLeave a comment

Golden Gate_purchased

For me, the CFGE Crowdfund Banking and Lending Summit in San Francisco was both eye-opening and provocative.

Andrea Downs and her team assembled a terrific group of speakers, including:

  • Richard Swart of Berkeley, who described the past, present, and future of equity Crowdfunding around the world with his normal clarity and depth of data.
  • Ron Suber of Prosper, who demonstrated in 45 minutes how he’s brought Prosper back from a near-death experience to create a $1+ billion business.
  • Nikul Patel of Lending Tree, who described the business model behind P2P lending better than I’ve ever heard it described.
  • John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who put modern Crowdfunding into a historical framework reaching back to Henry Ford and beyond, asking “Why doesn’t government just get the hell out of the way?”

To say I was honored to be among that group of speakers is an understatement.

I spend a lot of time thinking where equity Crowdfunding is headed. You couldn’t sit through this conference without wondering where equity Crowdfunding and P2P lending are going to intersect. We’ll explore that further in future posts, maybe even get some experts to chime in, but if you’re a Title II portal it sure does seem there are lessons in the P2P model.

I was thinking about that in a bar on Thursday evening when Travis Ishikawa crushed a three run shot to send the Giants to the World Series, and again on Saturday, while I pedaled a bicycle in blazing sunlight across the Golden Gate bridge and through Sausalito, Mill Valley, and Tiburon. There are worse places to think.

Thanks to Andrea Downs and her CFGE team for a great event.

Questions? Let me know.

CFGE Crowdfund Bank And Lending Summit in San Francisco

On By crowdfundattnyIn Crowdfunding, Crowdfunding Portals, Crowdfunding Real Estate, Crowdfunding Speaking Engagements, Entrepreneurs, Equity Crowdfunding, Investing, Investor, JOBS ActLeave a comment

Roderick CFGE

Since Labor Day, I’ve spoken at half a dozen events: for entrepreneurs, for intellectual property lawyers, for finance professionals, for digital marketing groups. This week I’ll be speaking at one of the premier Crowdfunding events in country, the CFGE Crowdfund Banking and Lending Summit on the 16th and 17th in San Francisco.

The conference features some of the leaders in the industry, including:

  • Richard Swart, Director of Research for Innovation in Entrepreneur and Social Finance, Colman Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership at UC Berkeley.
  • Ron Suber, the President of Prosper.
  • Jason Fritton, the Founder and CEO of Patch of Land.
  • Tom Lockard, the Vice President for Real Estate Investment and Institutional Sales of Fundrise.
  • Nikul Patel, the Chief Lending Officer of LendingTree.
  • Jesse Clem, the Co-Founder of LOQUIDITY, LLC.
  • Joy Schoffler, the CEO of Leverage PR.

Whether you’re new to Crowdfunding or an industry veteran, I’d strongly suggest you attend. I’m always amazed how much more there is to learn.

To register, click here. Make sure to use my promo code and receive a 25% discount! Promo code: Roderick

And while you’re there, please stop by and say hello. Crowdfunding and skiing – those are my two favorite topics.

Questions? Let me know.