Introduce yourself!

[Thom]

My name is Thom De Angelis. Yes, that is my real name – just born to “angel” invest I guess.

I do, in fact, come from a financial background, graduating from Kaplan College for Financial Planning and previously working in the field holding several designations. Nothing in my education or career has created passion in me like CrowdFunding! I am a BELIEVER.

Never a big fan of Wall Street, I was always a “maverick” and Main Street investor, using self directed vehicles and alternative investments whenever appropriate. I am presently developing properties in Cabo, Mexico. I hope to also develop some great, mutually beneficial relationships with some of you “Wise” guys and gals.

I found CrowdWise some 3 months ago and completed the free coursework. During that time Brian and I established an “email comradery,” as he puts it, and have come to trust and respect his CF acumen quite highly.Looking forward to flying high on a few unicorns.

Best!

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by  Thom.

[Amanda]

Hello Brian and Thom. I came across this website today, and think it’s a really unique and special resource and community. I am really happy about this site, as I realized I had been receiving emails from “Republic.co” for many months/years, and decided to read more into it today.

I had wanted to get into investing in companies, and didn’t even realize “equity crowdfunding” was a real thing. I had heard of the hype of the JOBS act, but figured it was just a bunch of hype, and it ended with Kickstarter, Indiegogo and gofundme. (Not interesting to me, really). I am very heavily engaged in supporting entrepreneurs through organizing pitch competitions and mentorship programs, so really should have been aware of equity crowdfunding.

Name: Amanda Gant
Current Investments: Residential real estate in Washington, DC (currently 7 mortgages)
Background: Running international startup bootcamps and programs. Currently organizing thelandaccelerator.com at the organization I work for, WRI – which benefits environmentally-forward startups in the developing world.
Hobbies: Surfing (sadly only once a year); Himalayan hiking (hopefully soon I will establish a once a year habit of this, too); yoga, biking, travel, real estate investing. COVID go away so we can get back to our lives!!
Goals on the site: Learn a little something. Probably actually start to invest in companies. A little at first, but maybe even more and more. It seems like it will definitely have to be small at first. I’m thinking $20 in 50 companies this first year (2020), then see if I get more liquidity. Real estate investment takes SO MUCH CASH. The reserves I need to keep present in order to do my next deal really bites down into my ability to invest in other areas.

[John]

Nice to meet you Amanda

[Thom]

You came to the right place, Amanda, given your goals. Happy learning and investing!

[John]

Nice to meet you Thom,

[Scott]

Hello,

My name is Scott Hinkle and I got into the crowdfunding/angel investing ring about one year ago. It was actually another crowdfunding membership site (with well placed ads) that let me know the little guy can finally play the game.

I joined that platform but quickly realized that they were more about getting signups and promoting their other offerings vs. providing reasonably vetted opportunities and real guidance to their membership. They are also very controlling, having to moderate every step of the communication process and really making it difficult to network.

That’s when I created my own platform and started seeking out others as well. That’s how I found this platform.

A summary about me:

• Name: Scott Hinkle
• Investor and Founder
• Region: West Coast
• Investments: 44+
• Background/Expertise: IT – I started way back in the 90’s with an ISP, moved onto an MSP (Managed Services Provider), and am now in compliance (HIPAA, NIST, etc.). Photography – I’ve also had a 10-year stint of traveling the country, selling my photography at various art shows.
• What I like to do in my free time: Sail – My general rule-of-thumb is to take at least one major vacation each year, if not two. Many times this results in me renting a monohull or catamaran for a week or two and hitting a tropical destination. SCUBA Diving – I love the water and being under water for long periods is both relaxing and invigorating. This is also why I usually go to some tropical destination. Drones – I love drones. Right now I have three and I don’t think I have enough, LOL. They’re just loads of fun. Crowdfunding/Angel Investing – Sure, we’re here to make money, but I actually find all of this fun and exciting. Hell, I love it so much that I created my own website about it and even became the Virtual Chapter Coordinator for one of the more well-know Angel Investing membership platforms.

The funny thing is, all of these like-to-do’s fit into my ideal vacation: Sailing, anchoring somewhere and going diving, flying one of my drones to capture part of the experience (I can’t fly under water, yet), and catching up with the angel investing community to see what’s new.
Sorry for downing on., Scott

[John]

Nice to meet you Scott

[Lacey]

My name is Lacey, I am not a startup but an aspiring independent musician. But I suck at raising money, so I thought I would give this a shot. Take a look at my profile its 65 complete because I dont really use Twitter, my artist website is not complete yet as I have no music to list as of yet. As well as I’m not an investor which explains the incomplete profile.

There is definitely more to my story that I would be happy to tell you on an individual basis through PM.

I’m hoping maybe someone might be able to lend some support. But as i said please feel free to look at my profile and campaign link 🙂

[John]

Nice to meet you Lacey

[Jason]

Business broker, former practicing attorney (15 years) and legal studies professor here. Looking to put deals together for equity. Open to consulting with founders about their needs. Love to meet potential investors as well. I am using this network to learn how to effectively crowd fund acquisitions of going concern businesses with or without real estate.

[John]

Nice to meet your Jason

[Deepthi]

Hey Everyone! I’m Deepthi- a product techie from Facebook. I’m starting to dip my toes into the exciting world of angel investing, I recently made my first investment. Looking forward to learning from all of you!

[John]

Nice to meet you Deepthi

[John]

Hi Guys, John here. Founder and CEO of Kaya Life. Kaya Life is a Global Wellness Company that produces enhanced CBD sport recovery drinks. My background like Thom is Finance. I’ve worked for Citibank, Macquarie Bank & ANZ Bank, but my passion for entrepreneurship kept calling me, so I started Kaya Life in August 2020.

What is Kaya Life doing to stand apart? Well, it’s the use of our Wellness festival as both a revenue stream and marketing platform for our CBD drinks. Like Red Bull we plan to drive adoption and brand awareness through grass roots events.

I’m here to network, make friends, share ideas and gain traction.

Nice to meet everyone.

John

[Brian]

Welcome, John!

[John]

Nice to meet you Brian

[Ada]

Hi, I’m Ada, coming from a software developer background with extra experiences in product management and user experience. Just came across the crowd founding topic recently and learned about this website from youtube, seems there’s a lot to learn for this new topic. If there’s any other recommended social network group please suggest me, thanks! 😃

[Brian]

Welcome, @adachang !

Andrew Savikas at YieldTalk (https://yieldtalk.com/) has started an excellent Discord server for equity crowdfunding investors.

I’ll find the invite link and let you know here!

Cheers,

Brian

[Feli]

Hi Ada, nice to meet you!

I recently discovered these reddit threads about crowdfunding:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Crowdfunding/

https://www.reddit.com/r/shutupandtakemymoney/

https://www.reddit.com/r/equity_crowdfunding/

And this other one specifically about the startengine platform, which is where I have an account:

https://www.reddit.com/r/StartEngineTrading/

All pretty active, haven’t gotten around to post questions yet, but will do soon 🙂 Hope it helps!

[Brian]

For any accredited investors looking for an amazing community and additional dealflow (with no carry/fees!), I highly recommend checking out RUV (Roll-up Vehicle) Alliance:

https://ruvalliance.notion.site/

Once you apply, you’ll get invited to their Discord server, which is pretty amazing.

Second, I came across this Fantasy Startup investing app, which is really well done, educational, and fun!

https://doriot.com/

[Casey]

That discord is gold!!!!

[Vera]

Hi, I’m Vera, i was an auditor and just switched my career into Valuation. I would like to gain more knowledge on how to value start-up. Hope we can learn together here 😀

[Feli]

Hi everyone! Its great getting to know you.

I’m Feli, I don’t have a financial background nor prior experience investing, but I’m interested in supporting startups in the medical field. Since the jobs act came along I’ve been meaning to get into crowdfunding and just this year I’m finally doing it. I’m only starting to learn about crowdfunding, so if you have any tips on what to watch or read or where to join ,they’ll be appreciated. Communities like this are very valuable!

[Brian]

Hi Feli –

If you are just getting started, I suggest checking out this “Fantasy Startup” investing app. We have no affiliation with them, but based on my limited testing of it so far, it’s pretty great, educational, and fun!

https://doriot.com/

[Casey]

Hey all! This site is great!

Looking forward to learning from you all.
Casey here.
I’m not a professional investor, but I’ve learned most everything by doing. I cut my teeth on technology with a Java 1.1 book in 1998. Now I’m a full stack developer with really broad tech knowledge.

I started investing via Robinhood when I bought two shares of Fitbit’s IPO and lost 50% of my money (only $40). Cheapest lesson I’ve learned because I’ve beaten the S&P 5 years in a row with lower beta.

I’m an interventional radiologist by day and accredited investor as of Jan 2021.

Tried to join a local angel group, but the management fees, carry rates, and annual membership fees were kind of a rip off. So, I made bets on Wefunder and Newchip instead. Funding disruptive innovation to spite them 🙂 Also have a small diversified Reg CF portfolio to test the waters as well.

Who knows if I’ll do well in angel investing or not. If I can get a 10% IRR, meet cool people, fund new ideas, and learn something, I’ll call angel investing a major win. Anything more is icing on the cake.

Region: Midwest
Investments: Few Reg D, many Reg CF. 40 investments total
Background: Physician, interventional radiologist, web developer, system administrator, amateur investor, public health, psychology
Interests: Data analytics, automation technology, education
Hobbies: rock climbing, poison dart frogs, SCUBA diving, travelling, occasional video games, learning, investing

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by  Casey.

[Brian]

Welcome, Casey! And wow!! You have quite the diverse background in terms of background and interests (poison dart frogs, eh?)!

Are you still looking at IPOs on Robinhood, or have you mostly moved to the earlier stage investing? I haven’t actually ventured into any of the IPOs yet on Robinhood, although we (at KingsCrowd) have started offering Analyst Report coverage (free) for IPOs on Robinhood, so I may end up checking out a few of those.

https://kingscrowd.com/companies/ipo-analyst-reports/

I still feel the valuations and deals seem to be better in the Pre-Seed and Seed stages, especially when compared to the public markets. But as you know – diversification is key!

Cheers – Brian