Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending are enjoying strong momentum in capital markets and the press. Crowdfunding portals create a new channel for capital formation and a pipeline for quick capital movement with unprecedented transparency for investors seeking high returns, and for sponsors seeking funding. In order to raise awareness, educate, and inform the public and capital market participants, a variety of CF events exist to support the industry. The gamut of trade shows, summits, conferences and meetups seem to grow as quickly as the number of new platforms reported to launch online almost daily.
Last month, at a Real Estate Crowdfunding Summit in Austin, TX, I moderated a panel with two other RECF portals, Realty Mogul and Fundrise and real estate attorney Lew Feldman, Co-chair of Goodwin Procter’s Crowdfunding Practice. Despite a late afternoon of the second day of the conference time slot, the room swarmed with people and went well over the allotted time because so many people were asking questions - specific questions related to a variety of scenarios that they had either been involved in, were currently looking at, or have come across. And they wanted answers from the horses’ mouths.
I learned a lot from moderating the panel because I had the opportunity to direct questions to the panelists that opened up constructive dialogue, in a forum where everyone in the room felt comfortable firing questions at us. They weren’t curious about how the platforms worked generally. They were looking for answers to their personal, specific questions and scenarios for how a portal could be the funding option they could turn to. In speaking with the organizer, CEO Andrea Downs, after the acclaimed panel, we said it was like a “crossfire” session, and that we should do more of them because that style of panel really filled a need for people to have an open forum to ask platforms specific questions and get immediate answers.
Looking forward to June 26th and 27th, the same show organizers, Coastal Shows, are holding a two-day conference on Crowdfund Investment and Alternative Finance at The Conrad in NYC. There will be two crossfire sessions to build off the original in Austin. On the first day, the crossfire will be between proprietary versus commercial platforms, which is a hot topic of debate. On the second day, it will be between real estate platforms – established platforms like Patch of Land, as well as new ones coming onto the scene. I’m looking forward to both sessions as a panelist, to having such a public forum to even better understand concerns, fears, needs and requests from our customers, whether sponsors or investors. In other words, I’m looking forward to more market research and another opportunity to shed light on the concept of crowdfunding and alternative financing for real estate.
By: AdaPia d'Errico, Chief Marketing Officer
