Early Investing Podcast

Tom "TK" Kuegler is our guest on this episode. After founding and selling several compoanies TK cofounded Wasabi Ventures, a VC firm dedicated to funding comanies at the earliest possible point. We talk about how theydecide on what ventures to fund, theimportance of being hoinest and direct with young entrepreneur, the need for more lifestyle businesses in the start up world and much more.

Betamore is a 2 and a half year old Technology Incubator, co-working space and education center located in Baltimore, Maryland. In it’s short life Betamore has become a cornerstone of technology innovation in the area and has  already seen one of it’s incubated companies Zerofox a social media security firm, leave the incubator and  thrive in the wild.   Jen has an extensive background in the technology startup world as well as being an expert in regional economic development. She took on the role of CEO at Betamore The BetaCity event which will feature demos from 20 startups and VC pitches from 8 companies is set for October 1, 2015.  For this event they have partnered with Plank Industries, the private investment firm controlled by UnderArmor CEO Kevin Plank.   BetaCity will take place at the brand new City Garage, a part of the ambitious Under Armor Headquarters campus that is now being developed in the Port Covington area of South Baltimore.     If you are interested in being in the pulse of the Baltimore

Manolis Sfinarolakis was inspired by the promise of the JOBS Act to quit his job at the Hartford Insurance and launch an internet TV series focused on helping companies raise capital via Crowd Funding. In addition he launched the Virtual Crowdfunding Summit which will be held onloine for 3 weeks starting November 30th and will feature over 100 Presentations from a wide array of professionals for all aspects of Crowdfunding. 

You know, everybody wants a patch of land they can call their own and Jason Fritton is no exception. As one of the founders of the real estate funding site Patch of Land Jason has been one of the pioneers in this new land rush. On this episode he gives us some insight on how they are doing as a company and how easy it is for you to invest in a wide variety of real estate opportunities with expectations for a nice rate of return and relatively low risk. While most of our focus here on the early investing podcast is on equity investing in startup companies and all the risks and rewards that go with that territory, today we are getting real. We are getting back to the land…

Jeff Bekaries and Megan Johnson started Spark Market to enable businesses to take advantage of the state of Georgia’s intrastate crowdfunding law… Then they had a better idea. We learn about what the future oif SparkMarket will be and how it will take them beyond their Georgia roots in this episode. Jeff and Megan talk about what the Georgia law enabled them to do and we discuss the laws on the books in several other states as well. 

On this episode I speak with Jeff Lynn of Seedrs.com. Based in London, which has emerged as a worldwide leader in Crowdfunding, they have helped fund over 200 companies so far! They have a different way of determining who is allowed to invest in the UK. It's not just Net Worth. Listen now and learn more about a place where Equity Crowdfunding is being done very, very well.

As the equity crowdfunding industry awaits SEC action on the JOBS Act Title III regulations, many states are taking their own actions. The rules vary widely from state to state and on this episode I interview Brando Smith of Localstake. They are based in Indiana and are actively providing a funding platform for Indiana based ventures that is open to investors in that state and ALSO to residents of 27 other states. 

Kelly Keenan Troupbour Angel investor, board member of the Baltimore Angels and founder of SeeJaneInvest.com  See Jane Invest is a website with a mission to help women become investors and entrepreneurs. She has been published in the Huffington Post and was recently featured in Fast Company magazine. 

Crowdfund 101 is a web site dedicated to making your crowd funding campaign a success by getting you to focus on the basics first. Hence the name crowdfund 101. Joseph Hogue started the site and newsletter last year and it is growing rapidly. http://crowd101.com

Mike was a key employee in a high-flying internet era technology company called PSI Net which gave him the ability and opportunity to become an angel investor and mentor to startups in Maryland DC and Northern Virginia. Startup Maryland is a regional initiative launched out of the Startup America Partnership.  Driven from within the startup community, and led by/for entrepreneurs, Startup Maryland is peer-driven and focused on high-growth ventures. We have a great conversation and talk a lot about the annual Pitch across Maryland competition. This year the Pitch Across Maryland Bus made 30 stops in 15 days all around the state of Maryland saw presentations from scores of investors. You can read more about the finalists here.

On this episode I speak with Alejandro Cremades, one of the founders of Onevest, an online platform that connects Angel Investors with exciting companies in the Earliest stages of growth. Onevest was formed in Julky oif 2014 withthe merger of Rock the Post and CoFounder's Lab and in addition to the investment platform, the new company still carries on the mission of CoFounder's Lab as well, which was to connect people who are looking for other people to help them realize their start up dreams.

Dan Miller and his brother Ben Miller started Fundrise to give ordinary citizens the opportunity to invest directly in commercial real estate in their own neighborhoods. They were the first company to successfully execute a Real Estate Crowdfunding campaign that took advantage of Regulation A.  Is this the future of Commercial Real Estate Development? Let’s find out.

David Khorram is the founder of Crowd Funding Planning, a leading service for promoting a crowd funding campaign. On this episode, David tells us how he leverages Google’s tools and services to find opportunities and we discuss the psychology of the crowd, their first equity crowd funding project and how to make sure that your campaign gets fully funded. 

It takes more than a great idea and an enthusiastic founder to get investors to take your startup seriously.  The Startup Garage takes fledgling companies through a series of 7 milestones to prepare them to approach potential investors. On this episode, founder Tyler Jensen explains how they help entrepreneurs prepare to get their show on the road.   In addition to their paid services, there are a lot of free resources at the website, including a series of eBooks on seeking financing from friends and family, Angel Investors and via Crowdfunding. It’s solid information from a team that has helped raise over $200 Million for new ventures.

Have you seen the Startup parody videos produced by Vooza.com? Well, you really should. If youhave had any contact at all with the world of Startups and Technology compoanies you will recofnixe the characters and situations in these short comedic videos. On this episode I interview both Matthew Stillman, the CEO of the fictitious Vooza and Matt Ruby the Standup comedian and Tech startup veteran behind Vooza and we try to get to the bottom of all this. This episode might not make you rich, but it will make you laugh.  

Our Crowd is already a tremendous crowdfunding success story, and the story has only just begun. Previously, Jon Medved was a Venture Capitalist who focused on the booming startup scene in Israel. With OurCrowd he has created a way for accredited investors to get into one of the hottest startup markets in the world without learning Hebrew.  We cover a lot of ground in this high energy exchange and you may very well want to join the crowd at OurCrowd after you listen to Jon. 

There are a lot of private equitry deals out there. A LOT. Dealflow.com has taken on the enormous task of tracking all these deals down and making this data available to you, the savvy individual investor. Steven has been building financial information businesses for years and this latest one has the potential to be another winner. We had a great conversation and Stgeve explains how the brand new dealflow.com may just revolutioize the world of private equity placements.

Being an entrepreneur can be very lonely, but it doesn't have to be that way. Founder Dating gives company founders a platform to find co-founders, advisors, advice and much more. They connect people ina very specific way and Jessica Alter the founder and CEO will share with us her thoughts on what it is to build a very specific type of online community.

Baltimore based Restaurant Delivery Service Order Up caught our attention in August when they announced a substantial investment form a triop of regional Tech luminaries including Steve Case's Revolution Ventures. While we had heard of Order Up previously, they didn't seem to be that big a deal as their service, so far, only covered a small area in the city of Baltimore. Little did we know that they are operating in many other markets around the country, have been profitable for some time and weren't even sure that they wanted or needed outside investment. We asked Co-founder and CEO Chris Jeffery to fill us in on his entrepreneurial journey and he delivered. 

In this episode we hear from Heather Schwartz Lopes a co-founder of EarlyShares.com They provide accredited investors with a direct connection to well vetted direct investment opportunities. Heather's background is in big financial institutions and she brings the discipline and structure from that world into this exciting new venture. Based in Miami, Early Shares is off to a great start in their first year of operation.