Crowdsurf Capital

I initially thought of this one as simply the equivalent of sell-side investment banking for crowdfunding. Source companies, due diligence, administrative shepherding, frame and promote. However, I think there may be a very good case down the road for internal development with underpriced asset acquisitions (especially purchasing ecommerce sites - see the wildly low multiples on sites like flippa.com, empireflippers.com, and exchangemarketplace.com), with some refinement, a couple bolt-ons, key hire or two and then sell as a high growth business. Together I think it makes for a small business funding powerhouse.

Look at the absolutely trash companies that get serious funding on crowdfunding sites like startengine.com. No revenue or operating at consistent, unplanned losses, 1 employee, terrible strategy, typos and clear errors in the SEC filings, no proprietary tech = cool $1 mil all the time. 80% funding success. I shit you not. The funny thing is I'm not sure if the typical players that go to Sand Hill Road are better or worse.

That being said, I do think crowdfunding is the way of the future and there are really good businesses that have done great things starting from a crowdfunding seed round. The slushiness only demonstrates the extent of the public supply of support for projects and teams that are working in exciting and/or meaningful areas. The limits on Regulation CF and A+ are actually quite sensible and should protect against the worst of fluctuations here.