Crowdfunding East Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Crowdfunding East Conference, which will be held on August 28th at Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge, will bring together founders of 15 crowdfunding platforms from seven states and Canada, proferrional investors, lawyers and entrepreneurs who successfully raised money for their projects through crowdfunding.

The conference program will include five panel discussions, speeches about latest industry developments and legal framework for business financing, presentations about enterprise crowdfunding inside global organizations, Self-Directed IRAs, case study about a project that raised almost a million dollars on Indiegogo, hands-on workshop for project creators and a debate between the advocates and opponents of involving ordinary people in the private investment arena.

Morning session will examine rewards and donation-based crowd funding with a special panel devoted to fundraising for University Innovation. Afternoon session will explore business financing options. Ron Suber at a leading Peer2Peer Lending Marketplace Prosper will close the conference with a speech on financial innovation.

9-00 am – 9-25 amKeynote: Crowdfunding Developments

9-30 am – 10-20 amFirst Panel: Business of Crowdfunding

• Amanda L. Barbara, Vice-President at Pubslush (NY)
• Dana Ostomel, Founder and CGO at Deposit a Gift (NY)
• Spencer Taylor, Co-Founder and CBD at Launcht (MA)
• Carl Wargo, Co-Founder and COO at u-Wish (OH)
• Joshua Brasse, Founder and CEO at Ideacious (Canada)
• Mark Shreve, Co-Founder and Director of Client Success at WeDidIt
• Thos Niles, VP of Product and Consumer Experience atDragon Innovation (MA)

10-30 am – 11-20 amSecond Panel: Lessons from Success Stories

• Mark Bollman, at Ball and Buck, raised almost $70,000 on Kickstarter (MA)
• Ministry of Supply, raised over $633,000 raised on Kickstarter (MA)
• Ronjini Mukhopadhyay, owner at The Silver Telegram, raised over a million dollars for her clients (CA)
• Patty Lennon, Intuitive Coach and Business Consultant, raised almost $8,000 on Indiegogo (CT)

Case Study: SticknFind Campaign on Indiegogo

• Ronjini Mukhopadhyay, owner at The Silver Telegram (CA)

11-30 am – 11-50 amPresentation: Enterprise Crowdfunding: How Employees Can Overcome Organizational and Geographical Boundaries to Co-Create Innovation and Collaboration

• Michael Muller, Werner Geyer, Todd Soule, at IBM Center for Social Business (MA)

11-55 am – 12-45 pmThird Panel: Supporting University Innovation through Crowdfunding

• Navah Fuchs, Co-Founder at Angel Ed (MA)
• S. Ryan Meyer, Founder at Alumni Funder (CA)
• Natasha Chopp, Project Leader at Superior Ideas (MI)
• Scott McIntyre, Managing Director at Primaq Development, C0-Chair of Education Committee atCrowdfunding Professional Association (OH)
• Eugene Buff, Founder and President at Primary Care Innovation Consulting (MA)
• Abby Adair Reinhard, Co-Founder and CMO at USEED(DE)

12-45 pm – 2-00 pm Break

Workshop: Crowdfunding Campaign Roadmap and Toolbox

• Elena Mikhaylova, CEO at Crowdfund Productions(CO)

2-00 pm – 2-25 pmPresentation: Legal Framework for Business Financing

• Brian Korn, Attorney at the Law Firm Pepper Hamilton LLP (NY)

2-30 pm – 3-20 pmFourth Panel: Equity Crowdfunding Portals

Panel Sponsor: InvEscrowServices      

•  Sang Lee, Founder and President atReturn on Change (NY)
• S. Ryan Meyer, Founder at Alumni Funder (CA)
• Brad McGee, Co-Founder at iCrowd (MA)
• Freeman White, Co-Founder and CEO at Launcht (MA)

3-25 pm – 3-40 pmPresentation: Self-Directed IRAs and Crowdfunding

• James A. Jones, Founder and CEO at Self-Directed IRA Investment Institute and Vice President at theKindom Trust Company (MA)

3-45 pm – 4-30 pmFifth Panel: Alternatives to Equity Crowdfunding

• Vincent Molinari, Founder and CEO at Gate Technologies (NY)
• Ron Suber, Head of Global Institutional Sales at Prosper(IL)
• Tracey Dodenhoff, Founding Director at Center for Research Innovation at Northeastern University(MA)
• Richard Lucash, Co-Managing Director at SideCar Angels (MA)

4-40 pm – 5-30 pmDebate: JOBS Act – Fools Money or Financial Revolution
CALL FOR OPPONENTS OF EQUITY CROWDFUNDING!

• Brian Korn, Attorney at the Law Firm Pepper Hamilton LLP (NY)
• S. Ryan Meyer, Founder at Alumni Funder (CA)

5-35 pm – 5-55 pmKeynote: Making Investment System Work for Progress and Innovation

• Ron Suber, Head of Global Institutional Sales at Prosper(IL)

6-15 pm – 7-15 pm Cocktail Reception