Crowdfunding: is there safety in numbers? If you’re reading this, you’re probably someone who cares deeply about the movement of money. If you’re an entrepreneur, then you probably want that money to move from investors to you. And if you’re an investor, you want that money to grow significantly when (if!) it moves back to you.Well, the world has changed tremendously in the past three years. An investor is no longer just an accredited rich person or venture firm with a huge pool of money. With the advent of crowdfunding, your startup’s cash infusion can come from a large number of “tiny pools of money.” And with this trend, the expectations of investors and entrepreneurs alike have changed profoundly.The US government has added fuel to the crowdfunding fire with the SEC-blessed “Jumpstart Our Business Startups” (JOBS) act that passed in April. In this session, Randy Smerik—a serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and widely sought-after speaker on both sides of the investment table—offers a no-holds-barred look at the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of how crowdfunding really works.
