Ohio Accelerator FlashStarts Sets Demo Day September 23rd, The Big Day For Crowdfunding

Cleveland startup accelerator Flashstarts will show off their first cohort in an investor demo day set for September 23. This date was chosen for its significance to startups across the country. It’s the same day that the SEC’s new regulations allowing general solicitation go into effect. It will be the first time in 80 years that startups can publicly fundraise beyond geographic boundaries, paving the way for crowdfunding for equity.

“In most communities, raising startup money has been a process stuck in the 19th century, limited to fundraising from friends and a few local angels,” said FlashStarts CEO and Co-founder Charles Stack. “With these new SEC changes, entrepreneurs can now use all modern marketing techniques to connect with the nearly nine million accredited investors across the U.S.”

The regulations will have a significant impact on startups by removing the geographic barriers to capital that have traditionally made it more difficult for startups outside areas like Silicon Valley, Boston, or New York to grow and succeed.

On signing the JOBS Act last year that enabled these new SEC regulations, President Obama said, “[S]tartups and small businesses will now have access to a big, new pool of potential investors — namely, the American people.”

“As capital is allowed to flow to ideas and entrepreneurs—regardless of distance and location—the country will enjoy a true national rebirth of capitalism, along with job and wealth creation,” said Stack.

One of the Flashstarts accelerator companies, Crowdentials, is deeply impacted by this change in the regulations. Crowdentials will provide a compliance platform to make sure those that use crowdfunding are doing it legally and within the regulations set forth by the SEC.

Here are the other nine startups graduating from Flashstarts on September 23rd.

AProofed allows writers and editors to collaborate with each other in a marketplace environment. The online cloud-based platform allows editors to become self-employed while improving writers’ academic performances.

BOLD Guidance navigates students through college applications and allows counselors and parents to view their progress. The online platform and app makes the college application process easier with step-by-step guides and automated deadlines, tasks and reminders specific to each application. www.boldguidance.com

The BranDR is committed to helping physicians create and maintain their personal brand identities online. Its mission is to revolutionize the way patients find, select and interact with their doctors, by allowing them to access personalized doctor profiles. www.thebrandr.com

Curiosidy is a new online platform for sharing and promoting life’s meaningful experiences. Users can write about experiences that have shaped them and draw inspiration and insights from a passionate, global community. curiosidy.com

LegalFunnel helps lawyers meet and engage with targeted clients through efficient lead generation and personalized online branding. www.legalfunnel.com

Ohio Independent Cinema strives to inspire an appreciation for independent films by making them more accessible for the general public. The company provides a new distribution option for independent filmmakers.

Smooth is a sophisticated, yet simple personal finance app currently in development. The program generates personalized recommendations that help users improve their standard of living and offers incentives for users to follow the recommendations. www.smoothplanner.com

Synthetic Intelligence sells Big Data cloud and consulting services. The company “makes Big Data go faster”.

RegulatoryBinder.com, a product of Trailhead CFR, is a web application for managing regulatory documents of physician-sponsored clinical trials. The app is the only platform that instantly enables physicians to coordinate a clinical trial without additional procedures or risk.

FlashStarts’ 2013 Demo Day will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST on September 23, 2013. Guests can attend in-person at the NPR IdeaStream Westfield Theater in Cleveland, Ohio, or online via live Internet broadcast. In-person attendance is limited to 250 seats and virtual online attendance is limited to 2,500 viewers. To request a ticket or learn more, visit www.flashstarts.com/demoday.

Crowdentials Makes It Easier to Crowdfund Investors

There’s been a lot of chatter about the April 5 signing of the JOBS Act. Most people in the startup community are especially excited about the possibility of offering equity via crowdfunding platforms.

What many have missed in all the exultation is that, while it’s easier to offer equity, the standards for investors have risen. It’s now more difficult and invasive to prove you’re an accredited investor, but companies have to take “reasonable steps” to ensure their investors are accredited. This means more intrusive questions that few investors are willing to answer.

As Richard Rodman, CEO of Crowdentials, puts it: “There are two sides to this ruling. On one side, the bar for advertising has been lowered. On the flip side, the bar for verifying accredited investors has been raised dramatically.“

Crowdentials is on top of the new problem. This week they launched the Certified Accredited Investors (CAI) program. The program will use a simple form and third parties to verify that an investor is accredited. After that, they will certify that the investor is accredited. No need for every crowdfunding platform to have access to your bank statements or tax records. The program is secured by multiple passwords, randomly generated IDs, and pages that expire within a certain amount of time.

“Transparency with privacy” is the goal of the new program.

Crowdfunding platforms that expect a big need can license the technology based on monthly requests. Individual companies can use the service just once or twice for a smaller fee.

Crowdentials is accelerating at the new FlashStarts accelerator in Cleveland. Investors, crowdfunding platforms, and statups can check out the new program on their website. Below is an infographic explaining how it all works.

These 11 Startups Have 6 Weeks To Go In Cleveland’s New FlashStarts Accelerator

Earlier this year Cleveland serial entrepreneur Charles Stack decided to launch a startup accelerator. Stack is credited as one of InfoWorld‘s “top 10 innovators in e-business.” Stack’s first company provided asbestos case management for law firms and was launched in 1984 immediately after his graduation. When he sold that company he had the capital to start his first e-business “books.com” which was eventually acquired by Barnes And Noble. Stack was early to the e-commerce and online bookstore space, having sold books.com in 1996.

Stack’s most recent venture, FlashLine, was acquired by BEA for $50 million dollars in 2006 and then acquired again in 2008 by Oracle. Stack’s story is a huge attraction for entrepreneurs and founders across Ohio and across the country.

With more and more startup accelerators popping up, entrepreneurs and founders are seeking out accelerators which have a pedigree in starting businesses. No one wants to get accepted to a 3 month program with a small seed investment to find that the people teaching the accelerator have no entrepreneurial experience.

With that in mind, Stack and hist team announced the FlashStarts accelerator in January.

Jennifer Neundorfer, FlashStarts Managing Partner, also comes to the table with meaningful experience. She comes from a role as Fox Networks Director of New Business Development where she helped create and launch the Dyle Mobile TV network, which PC Magazine called a “promising technology”. Neundorfer holds a BA from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford she is also Google/YouTube alum.

While Cleveland may not come to your mind as a startup hotspot, it is quickly becoming one. They have the LaunchHouse and Jump Start are both based in Cleveland. We’ve met many great entrepreneurs in the Cleveland startup ecosystem, and the 11 startups in this class at FlashStarts are no exception.

These 11 teams will graduate from their rigorous program on August 27th, and Neundorfer already asserts they are exceeding expectations:

Anigraphic is re-imagining the graphic novel. Its unique platform enables graphic storytellers to make use of interactive scene-based panels, text options, audio and sound libraries, and animation sequences.

The BranDR is committed to helping physicians create and maintain their personal brand identities online. Its mission is to revolutionize the way patients find, select, and interact with their doctors, by allowing them to access personalized doctor profiles.

Crowdentials helps businesses, investors and crowdfunding platforms comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules on equity crowdfunding. By completing a simple web form, Crowdentials users receive a report of their financial information and compliance status. www.crowdentials.com

LegalFunnel helps lawyers meet and engage with targeted clients through efficient lead generation and personalized online branding.

Synthetic Intelligence sells Big Data cloud and consulting services. The company “makes Big Data go faster”.

You can find out more about FlashStarts here.

This conference is the best conference for startups everywhere else.