There are no shortcuts to knowledge, especially knowledge gained from personal experience. Following conventional wisdom and relying on shortcuts can be worse than knowing nothing at all.
— Ben Horowitz, "The Hard Thing about Hard Things"
SeedInvest.com

SeedInvest.com

SeedInvest - Startup Investment Platform

Coming from the financial services business that provided a platform crucial to operating an investment business, the first thing I sought out was to build a platform to facilitate startup capital.  In my research, I found SeedInvest had developed an automated ecosystem that connects entrepreneurs in need of funding to angel investors looking to deploy both investment and intellectual capital.

SeedInvest's curated and vetted opportunities cut out 90% of the work a professional angel investor may have to undergo to find compelling investments.  The entire process from accreditation, due diligence, document approval, to money transfer is automated through their platform.  SeedInvest is a prime example of what it means to rewire a market for simplicity and elegance while adding tremendous value.

The ability for a platform like SeedInvest didn't exist until the JOBS act of 2012 that allowed for public advertisement of investment opportunities to accredited investors.  The rewire opportunity is to create an infrastructure making seed investing an attractive asset class for a high net worth portfolio.

Ryan Feit - SeedInvest CEO on Mad Money


Patchofland.com

Patchofland.com

Patch of Land - Crowdfunded Real Estate Development Deals

One of the early debt based crowdfunding platforms, LendingClub (now worth $8 Billion on the public market), allows individuals to re-finance their credit card debt to a crowd of online investors who are willing to take on the risk for a decent return.  Patch of Land allows for investors to back something much stronger than someones ability to pay their VISA bill.  Each investment on patch of land is backed by property and a personal guarantee form a reputable developer.  With typical income yields of 12-14%, I am proud to be an active investor in the company AND their deals.   

Learn more from Joe Fairless's Podcast: The Best Crowdfunding Crash Course Ever - Featuring myself and Mark Robertson from CrowdDD 


mojolive.com

mojolive.com

Mojolive - Career Management Platform

What if you could get an objective score to rank your career mojo?  By tracking all of your skills, projects, seminars attended, papers, speaking engagements, and accomplishments, the platforms algorithm ranks your overall Mojo and guides your progress.  Employers can screen for viable candidates with skills and activities matching precisely the needs in the organization.  As careers are developed and companies react to the improvement in their professionals and increase the quality of their hires, the concept of work itself is being rewired. 

 


change.org

change.org

Change.org  - Social Action Platform

With over 75 million users in almost 200 countries, change.org has rewired the voice of an individual.

Anyone can start a petition, rally support, and cause companies and even governments to make substantive change.  Once they are on alert, large organizations become more responsible and accountable for their actions.

Visit their VICTORIES page to see individuals accomplishing change that they just couldn't do without a platform like Change.org.

 


kickstarter.com

kickstarter.com

Kickstarter - Crowd-funding Platform

With over 100 projects backed this is more an investment in the community than the company itself.  Kickstarter has rewired the whole nature of initiating a creative project and now businesses.  Prior to the ability to crowdsource demand, you had to build a product, choose the amount of inventory you wanted to produce to create a compelling cost point, and then sell it.  Kickstarter flips the script.  

Companies are launching ideas (formulated with execution plans), marketing to drum up demand, and then pre-sale the product.  THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES for delivery.  The Pebble smart watch raised over $10,000,000 in pre-order sales while they were still DESIGNING the watch.