Now that we did it, we want to acknowledge those of you who were actively responsible for working with us to make this possible!! There are many others that went to incredible lengths, so a BIG THANKS to them as well. Italics are events along the way and green are people in DC that if we didn’t have behind us, would have fallen apart.
|
Month |
Name |
Group |
Notes |
| Aug, 2010 | Sherwood Neiss, Jason Best & Zak Cassady-Dorion | The Startup Exemption | Faced with the funding void came up with the idea for equity-based crowdfunding then headed to Washington and worked tirelessly even past the signing ceremony at the White House and are still going! |
| October, 2010 | Karen Kerrigan | Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council | Agreed to take up the challenge and stepped up to the plate and hit one home run after another for us by connecting to key players in Washington |
| David Saltzman | Squire, Sanders & Dempsey | First Securities lawyer to vet our framework and provide critical feedback | |
| January, 2011 | CrowdFund Investing framework brought to Washington, DC | ||
| Tom Leonardis & Whoopi Goldberg | Whoopi Goldberg | Initial backers of the idea | |
| Gerald Laporte & Kevin O’Neill | The SEC | Took the time to have our first meeting with the SEC | |
| Prof. Steve Stralser Ph.D. | Thunderbird | Initial and ongoing guidance | |
| Daren Westlake | Crowdcube.com | First equity-based platform in the UK. Shares data & success stories with us | |
| Kathy Korman & Josh Frey | EO | Contacts from Entrepreneurs Organization that started to get the message out | |
| Christina Shapiro & Commissioner Walsh | Mayor Bloomberg’s office | Initial meetings and interest in our framework | |
| February, 2011 | Chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa(Peter Haller, Hudson Hollister & Drew Colliatie) | Oversight & Gov’t Reform Committee | Asked us for initial questions to put in letter to SEC. Letter stirred up our first press in the Wall Street Journal. Called first Hearing on Hill. |
| Rich Sloan | StartupNation.com | Allowing us to post about our framework/solution to the capital crunch/jobs crisis | |
| March, 2011 | Angus Loten | Wall Street Journal | First main street reporter to cover our work |
| Susan Antilla | Bloomberg News | First negative article – that just made us stronger | |
| Paul Spinrad/Jenny Kassan | Sustainable Economies Law Center | Wrote the initial crowdfunding petition to the SEC. Â Provided continual input and guidance. | |
| April, 2011 | Ruth Hedges | FundingRoadmap.com | A huge initial supporter and constant advocate |
| Dana Mauriello | Profounder | First US Crowdfunding platform to express interest in our initiative | |
| Valto Loikkanen | GrowVC | Int’l Crowdfunding platform expresses interest in our initiative | |
| Kevin Lawton | Author, The Crowdfunding Revolution | One of our main sources of guidance & insight from this point forward. An incredibly valuable asset. | |
| Amy Cortese | Localvesting | Provided great quotes and statistics for our testimonies on the impact of investing locally | |
| Michael Shuman | Author & Expert | Another one of our sources for guidance & insight from this point forward | |
| Chad Parks & Gerard Bush | The online 401k & BRPR Group | Fellow entrepreneurs who encouraged us to push forward | |
| Amy Millman Jere Glover | Shared prior experiences to prep us for the path ahead | ||
| May, 2011 | Our first Hearing on Capitol Hill, CrowdFund Investing as a viable business model wins Startup Weekend Miami | ||
| Dany Ramos, David & Doramary Russell, Eddy Borja, Mark, Stacy Cumberbatch | Startup Weekend | The team that rallied around the idea so we can prove to Washington that there’s market demand for CrowdFund Investing | |
| Diana Perez | Diana Perez Design | For great graphic art from Startup Weekend to the Rally | |
| Michael Sauvante | Commonwealth Group | Thought-leader in the Securities space provides experience and advice | |
| Steve Cinelli | PRIMARQ | An early ‘accredited investor crowdfunder’ comes out with support & guidance | |
| June, 2011 | Verne Harnish | The Gazelles | As an entrepreneur thought-leader started to promote our cause and get the message out to his followers |
| Daniel Weinmann, Hernan Efron, Henrique Bastos, Thomas de Lara | Catarse.com | The largest Brazilian Crowdfunding platform comes out in favor of our framework for Brazil | |
| President Obama(Doug Rand) | The White House | Asks us for a summary of what CF is and how it can benefit America’s Entrepreneurs and create jobs | |
| Lucas Sommer, David Sinopoli | Socialated | Set up our social media campaign – hello twitter! | |
| August, 2011 | Jason Best, Zak Cassady-Dorion, Kevin Lawton, Paul Spinrad, Ruth Hedges, Danae Ringelmann, Steve Cinelli, Michael Sauvante, Jennifer Kassan, John Romano, Fred Bryant, Onnie Carr | CrowdFund Investing Thought-Leaders | CrowdFund Investing Thought-Leaders Meeting in San Francisco. Discuss and adjust the CrowdFund Investing Framework and build more support as a industry group |
| September, 2011 | Dana Mauriello, Sherwood Neiss | Profounder & Startup Exemption | The “Crowdfunding Hearing†in the House |
| President Obama | Includes Crowdfunding in the American Jobs Act | ||
| Representative Patrick McHenry, (Ryan MintoKunal Pahwa) | Introduces HR2930 based on our framework | ||
| Dylan Ratigan, Tammy Caputo | Dylan Ratigan Show | Interviews Sherwood to discuss Crowdfunding | |
| Hazel Henderson | Ethical Markets | Another early supporter and advocate to all their followers | |
| Derek Slater | For personally coming out and endorsing our work by writing about it | ||
| October, 2011 | Tom Coleman | State Department | Starts spreading our message in the State Department |
| David Drake, Dara Albright | Soho Loft Capital Creation | Ardent supporters and PR machine from this point forward | |
| Marc Billings | Incubate Miami | Rallying the Miami crew behind CFI | |
| Freeman White | Launcht | An early supporter and advocate. Showed up in Washington more than once and his presence made a difference | |
| Billy Parish | Solar Mosaic | CF Platform that comes out and starts advocating | |
| November, 2011 | The House passes HR2930 407-17! CrowdFund Investing Rally to encourage the Senate not to wait! Fast Company and NPR cover the event. | ||
| Gertrude & Edward Neiss, Ktjen Khong, Andrew, Roger & Sulin Best. Patrick Menasco, Karin `Brandenburg, Marc Wallace, Chris Brookfield, Karen Kerrigan, Josh Frey, Dennis Alloy and many others | Major financial backers for the Rally (and those who love and believed in us without question). Long time friends and supporters that showed up on a miserable, freezing rainy day to hold signs on the Mall | ||
| Todd Anderson | Deal Flow Media | Asks us to Keynote the first Crowdfunding Conference | |
| Ryan Feit | Wharton MBA | Reaches out to help organize the ‘student vote’ | |
| Senator MerkleySenator Bennet, Senator Brown (Andy Green, Brian Appel, Brian Murphy, Marne Marotta, Nat Hoopes) | Introduced 2 Senate versions of the House Bill. Builds upon HR2930 by adding back into the legislation parts of our original framework. | ||
| Bobbie Gossage, Darren Dahl | Inc Magazine | Write an article about our work | |
| December, 2011 | Crowdfunding Hearings in the Senate, We hold a ‘What is Crowdfunding’ briefing for Senate Staffers at Jones Day with the assistance of Karen Kerrigan and Freeman White of Launcht | ||
| Andrew Sherman | Jones Day | Graciously hosts us at their offices for a teach-in with Senate Staffers on Crowdfunding | |
| Brian Tsuchya | Startup Guru | CF Platform that comes out and starts advocating | |
| Mike Chapman, Roy Deloach | DC Strategies | Washington insiders who provide constructive feedback on ‘working in Washington’ | |
| February, 2012 | Ria Ancheta-Adrias | Nat’l Council of Entrep Tech Transfer | Hosts Sherwood & Jason for a Webinar |
| Melissa Mitchell, Matt Ewing | Ephibian.com | Build & launch LegalizeCrowdfunding.org to show the positive impact a change in the law could have. | |
| Barry Gander | Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance | Started the push in Canada for our framework | |
| March, 2012 | 3rd Crowdfunding hearing in the Senate. House passes JOBS Act including the Crowdfunding Bill. Merkley & Bennets bill is merged with Brown’s. It includes compromises that we suggested. The Senate version of CF is amended into the JOBS Act. It passes 77-23. And passes the House again. | ||
| Tim Rowe | Cambridge Innovation Center | Represents the voice of CrowdFund investing at the March US Senate hearing | |
| Mike Piwowar | Senate Banking Committee | Takes 2nd meeting with us to discuss our compromise suggestions between all 3 CF bills to build bipartisan support. | |
| April, 2012 | President Obama | Sherwood, Jason, Zak and Karen attend the bill-signing event at the White House. We help organize a Leadership Group to address concerns of investor protection with the goal of forming the Crowdfunding Coalition to work with the SEC and represent the industry’s interests in both Washington, DC and to the Trade. The Crowdfunding Global ProfessionalAssociation CFGPA is formed for Trade Association and The Crowdfund Investing Regulatory Association CFIRA is formed as a potential SRO. | |
| Dara Albright, Chance Barnett Jason Best, Nick Bhargava, Luan Cox, Candace Klein, David Drake, Carl Esposti, Berkeley Geddes, Kevin Berg Grell, Alon Hillel-Tuch, Ruth Hedges, Brian Meece, Vince Molinari, Michael Norman, DJ Paul, Spencer Taylor, Brian Tsuchiya, Freeman White | The Crowdfunding Leadership Group | The amazing group of crowdfunding portals, experts and advocates that are continuing the relay in the 270-day rule making process with the SEC. These guys and gals are a phenomenal group of spirited, dedicated, and motivated people. Jason and I are beyond happy to be taking on this next phase with such a knowledgeable and experienced group. |
* And special thanks to Professor Michael Moffett from Thunderbird who told us that by suffering through FORAD (the highest level finance class at Thunderbird) we might amount to something. Professor Nancy Maveety Sherwood’s Political Science 101 professor from Tulane who provided the initial primer on how a Bill becomes Law! Alex Jacobs, Chris Brookfield and Marc Wallace for being a sounding board for 10+ years and the entire T-bird group for providing the encouragement to ‘keep o,n keeping on!’ And of course SNN, Todd and Benners because they had to listen to it over and over and over …
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