The Entrepreneurial Strategy Series

Are you looking for alternative ways to fund your business? This event will be your guide to understanding the dynamic world of crowdfunding and equity crowd financing. We’ll uncover how businesses can utilize platforms to secure capital by offering shares to a community of investors. We’ll cover the essentials, from building a compelling pitch to understanding the regulatory requirements, and offer practical advice on how to navigate this modern funding method. This session is perfect for entrepreneurs who want to learn how to raise funds, grow their community, and scale their business through equity crowdfunding.   Presented by the Entrepreneurial Strategy Series and Gearhart Law on December 19, 2024.   OUR SPEAKERS: Chris Rawley, founder of Harvest Returns: While serving as a career naval officer, Chris Rawley visited dozens of war-torn and poverty stricken countries and began to appreciate the importance of agriculture to every single person on earth. As a professional investor with this new found appreciation, he decided to invest in a farm, but quickly discovered that these types of assets were inaccessible to the average person. In 2016, this problem drove him to create Harvest Returns, the first online platform for investing in agriculture. Since then, the company has funded over $38 million for farms, ranches, and agriculture businesses around the world.   Rawley previously held management roles in several large public companies including JLL and EDS. He has been an early stage investor in numerous enterprises, including the Indian agriculture FinTech company Jai Kian and the African agriculture investment platform AgroFides. Retiring from the Navy Reserve as a Captain after 30 years, he served in a variety of leadership positions in naval, expeditionary, and joint special operations units. He deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Western Pacific. Rawley has a degree from Texas A&M University, earned an MBA at George Washington University, and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval War College. Read more at: https://www.harvestreturns.com/   Kevin Muno, Jr., Owner of Perennial Pastures: Kevin Muno Jr. grew up as an athlete with a dream of being a professional baseball player. As he explored ways he could nourish himself with the most nutrient-dense foods, that’s when he discovered “ancestral eating” and how vital grass-fed beef was for his performance. Although Kevin pivoted from his focus of baseball after facing injury, he became that much more invested in the path of regenerative agriculture after realizing how connected the healing of the earth was to the healing of humanity.   With the focus of bringing more healing to the community and to the grassroots of Southern California, Kevin founded Perennial Pastures Ranch in the midst of the pandemic in 2021. The Muno family, along with our team of passionate individuals who make up the Perennial family, work hard everyday to make our beef more accessible to you and educate our expanding community on the power of regeneration. Read more at: https://perennialpasturesranch.com/   Our event moderator is David D. Postolski, Esq. from Gearhart Law.   This event is sponsored by Gearhart Law, a full service Intellectual Property firm specializing in Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law domestically and globally. We serve inventors, entrepreneurs, and established businesses. We can help you strategize and build your IP portfolio based on your business needs. Call us for a free consultation at 908-273-0700 or contact us through: https://gearhartlaw.com/

In this episode of the Entrepreneur Strategy Series, two investors describe best pratices for entrepreneurs who approach investors for funding. One excerpt from Abby:What I will say is that it's like investors aren't investing in ideas. So just having a great idea is not enough. It's not something that anyone is going to invest in, unless it's like someone who knows you really well, but then they're not really investing in the idea, they're investing in you. From Naomi:I think I echo a lot of everything that Abby said and I think notably she touches on two really critical components that are helpful to just understand before you jump into it. One is kind of what is the typical pre seed evaluation framework which Abby touched on via we're making a bet on you. We're really thinking about the founder first, so I'll touch on that in a moment. The second one, it's actually a common pitfall, is really trying to pitch the business or why it's such a great idea versus pitching an investment opportunity. Listen to the podcast for more tips and expert advice!