Jonathan Sandlund of CrowdCafe Talks about Equity Sites

Jonathan Sandlund of CrowdCafe Talks about Crowdfunding Equity Sites

Where are you from originally?

I originally hail from Zanesville, Ohio. A Buckeye through and through!

What university did you go to?

I attended the The University of Akron Honors College

What is the idea behind your startup?

Well, I’m doing a couple of things. First, I’m developing a crowdfunding concept for local communities via localinvestors.org, looking to connect small businesses with capital in more meaningful ways through. Concurrently, I’m operating thecrowdcafe.com, a source for crowdfunding industry news, research and resources.  

What need does it fulfill?

To keep things simple, I’ll speak only to thecrowdcafe.com. It fulfills a tremendous demand for knowledge and information around the investment crowdfunding industry; an industry still in its nascent, but one that holds enormous implications for our financial markets in the coming years.   

What exactly does it do?

Mainly, it aggregates resources and research for those operating in or interested in the crowdfunding industry. Lately, I’ve also taken to more aggressively pushing for more intelligent data-driven debate, as well common sense regulation, through my Opinion pieces.

Who is it for?

I write mostly for an industry-based audience, those mostly already operating or preparing to operate in the industry.

What was the most challenging aspect of starting up?

I’ll switch back to localinvetors.org, where we’re still validating a number of our assumptions around what will work. The most challenging aspect is the operating with a large degree of regulatory uncertainty. As the JOBS Act is still in the rulemaking process - and the SEC & FINRA have given limited guidance as to their direction - we’re still not sure exactly what we’ll be able to do as a portal.

What is the next step for you and your business?

I’ll switch back to localinvetors.org, where we’re still validating a number of our assumptions around what may work. The most challenging aspect is the operating with a large degree of regulatory uncertainty. As the JOBS Act is still in the rulemaking process - and the SEC & FINRA have given limited guidance as to their direction - we’re still not sure exactly what we’ll be able to do as a portal.

What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?

I’ll defer until I succeed or fail myself ; )

What resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?

The startup blogosphere - Fred Wilson, Steve Blank, Brad Feld, et al. - has been an invaluable resource as it covers every conceivable angle of starting a new company. Steve Blank has a new Udacity e-course on his startup methodology that I’ve found to be a great resource as well.  


Best regards,
Hall T.

The TEN Startup Index -- Measuring the Health of the Startup Community

The Texas Entrepreneur Network Startup Index calculates the state of the early stage business environment by measuring the number of new business filings, the number of funded companies, and the average funding per company during the time period.  The TEN Startup Index is calculated as follows:

TEN Startup Index = Business Filings/1000 + Funded Companies/10 + Average Raise/1000000

Business Filings account for 60% of the score, while the number of funded companies account for 25%, and funding accounts for 15%.  Business filings represent new entities that have been created and comprises the majority of the index.  The number of funded companies and their average comprise the rest.

For Q3, 2012, the TEN Startup Index rose to 43 over the previous quarter of 40 and over the year ago quarter of 42. The third quarter is typically the highest quarter of the year for the index.  

For a list of all the reports for the past year check out  this link.

Best regards,

Hall T.