Crowdlanding

Tired of waiting: American upstarts explore other options while waiting on JOBS Act

With equity crowdfunding languishing in the SEC, many promising American upstarts with their eyes on crowdfunding have had to look elsewhere.  One such project is Pepperslice, a medical information organizer that is examining the next steps in funding their enterprise and changing the market for medical analytics.  Pepperslice, like many others, have had to hold off their crowdfunding plans, but the delays have hardly impeded development.

Pepperslice is providing a fresh
perspective for medical analytics

Pepperslice, under the guidance of parent company Ugly Research, began a year ago to address the need for organizing and linking a sea of medical information and statistics.  “There are all these different analytics streams out there and a lot of it is data and dashboards and recording data in the form of tables and texts,” said Jeff Altman, co-founder of Pepperslice, “but there’s not a real clean way today to link one analytics stream to another.”   Pepperslice works between the axis of information, providing the “‘why’ to the X”--linkages and explanations to correlations in the data, ultimately providing more actionable info and improving patient outcomes.  Right now, medical officers, Pharmacology authorities,  medical researchers and managed care consortiums like AARP and Kaiser Permanente sift through an “information onslaught” to find useful information and correlations to prime their developments, a slow and arduous process.  Pepperslice aims to change all that by condensing and communicating data and linkages in one spot, allowing for faster pharmaceutical development and approval, more progressive study and useage of medical data by hospitals, medical centers and insurance providers.  

It’s the kind of high-technology-based start-ups that have been attracted to equity crowdfunding already, though few US business has been able to utilize it yet as a tool to raise capital.  Altman had planned to fund the next step of Pepperslice with crowdfunding, but after attending the crowdfunding conference in Palo Alto, California in March, however, it became clear that Pepperslice’s growth would outstripe the timetable for approval in the U.S.  Pepperslice, like many American upstarts awaiting SEC mandate, has begun to examine other equity options, though remains optimistic for the future of crowdfunding.  

Jeff Altman, co-founder of Pepperslice

“If equity crowdfunding was available today we would strongly consider it was a funding mechanism,” said Altman, who had his eye on crowdfunding for many reasons, especially the potential to reach a more extensive audience of investors. Crowdfunding is an ideal investing medium for many because it is not limited to a specific region or network, attracts a broader audience, is less risky to any individual investor and is driven by both returns and social conscience.  Many other companies in similar stages of development struggle with the same situation in raising capital; crowdfunding appears as an ideal scenario for many upstarts, but after the delays with more on the horizon, it’s becoming harder to wait on significant investment.  To enterprises approaching this dilemma, Altman advises to explore other options, but not give up on the crowd. “Continue to execute all facets of your funding plan. if crowdfunding becomes viable, then be prepared to hit the ground running.” While the details of JOBS Act enforcement is constructed in the SEC, companies have the opportunity to continue shaping their concepts, prototypes and investment and revenue strategies. “Everybody likes a winner,” said Altman, and being able to show a working prototype, profitability and customer base will only improve companies’ chances of being successful in the (eventual) equity crowdfunding market. 

The potential waiting in equity crowdfunding is evidenced by the mass success of reward crowdfunding, which has raised more than 1.3 billion dollars last year for fledgling companies, new products and various other projects.  Though reading of crowdfunding success can sometimes seem like a dream come true, Altman advises prospective crowdfundees to remember it’s not a fantasy.  “You will have to do at least as much work in crowdfunding as you would with pitching to investors,” said Altman.  With the ability to reach audiences nation- or even world-wide through the crowd, it is also important to keep your company’s target markets and networks in mind.  To adhere to prospective SEC guides, it’s likely that investors and companies will align with one or two certain platforms to use, and finding where certain groups are gathering is imperative to reaching investors that are involved in your industry.  

   

Since the signing of the JOBS act in April of 2012, investors, start-ups and platforms have all been eagerly awaiting SEC guidelines to greenlight their missions. Amid leadership changes, committees meetings and other delays, the water has stilled but the industry remains active.  New platforms, resources and, of course, companies are constantly diving in and many are making waves.  Though the light at the end of the political tunnel can’t be seen yet for the JOBS Act, the entrepreneurial spirit remains a going concern.  Companies like Pepperslice move forward as innovation has in years past, keeping their eyes on opportunities to open their innovation to public investiture.   

For more information on Pepperslice and Ugly Research, visit them on their website, Twitter or LinkedIn pages