“You know, it was only last year you were here looking at deals.”
Was it nostalgia?
A divine message?
But the voice hit me while I walked up to the same community pool to watch my kids’ swim meet.
I reflected for a moment and realized this was true. I was looking at my first deal on WeFunder in this exact same spot a year ago. And now, here I was, invested in five projects on the platform. Along with a few potentials I found through networking.
Now, disclaimer: I don’t have absolutely fantastic results to show for it. And my results aren’t typical. None of them have paid out yet, either. So remember investing takes risks and you should only invest what you’re willing to lose.
But I realized I hit the goal I set over 10 years ago: I was going to invest in private projects I believed in.
A worthy goal
Now, why would I want to do that? Especially when there’s so much risk of losing all the money on a startup?
Private businesses are the only place where valuation works any more. Yes, anything can be manipulated, especially in the age of private equity sucking up local businesses and repackaging them with debt at the cost of service. But it happens a lot slower when you don’t have automated trading desks on Wall Street hopping in and out of a stock thousands of times per second.
And starting with a company at the lowest point possible (that isn’t bankruptcy) leaves a lot more runway for growth.
Plus, larger public companies may have business interests I don’t want to support. This kind of investing gets me closer to neighborhoods and the people actually working to make them better places.
And funds are locked up for a while. So I can’t wring my hands so much over daily up and down movements.
When the world makes room for you
But I can’t take all the credit. The world really did shift to meet my intentions.
I thought I would be locked out of this ecosystem until I could become an accredited investor. Something that takes at least a million dollars in assets or $300k annual income to achieve.
Something I tried and failed to do and took 5 years to claw back from.
There were a lot of conversations that happened in that time. I endured plenty of “no’s” trying to support a friend’s project or jump on the next unicorn because my assets sat at a level far below my knowledge (and the sponsor’s willingness to deal with the paperwork for such a paltry investment).
And then the Securities and Exchange Commission relaxed the rules. All of a sudden, I could invest in any projects through a Regulation CF. And my friends in search of funding for their projects are no longer limited to begging venture capitalists.
And our investments can get more personal to our goals.
An evening of fulfillment
The things we want to see made aren’t getting blocked behind so many gatekeepers any more.
Thinking back on all the investor conferences I attended during that time and wanting to make an impact with my money, I was now living the dream.
No more settling for affirmations. I’m actually doing the work I set out to do.
Listening to that small voice was enough of a victory for the day.
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