Money for your business. Mitt Romney said to borrow it from your parents. Barack Obama might say to hit up the Small Business Administration. There are friends, family, angels, banks, maybe even loansharks.
But at a time of decreased mortgage-based resource availability and increased scrutiny of ROI, there have to be other ways to get the money to expand a beverage business.
Particularly in the wake of technological advances and changing federal regulations concerning fund raising, new opportunities are appearing for entrepreneurs that may allow for quicker access to a broader network of investors and their resources.
That’s why BevNET is pleased to announce that Ben Lee, Director of Business Development for CircleUp, will be on hand during the BevNET Live event in Santa Monica on Dec. 3 and 4. CircleUp is an online platform that connects high-growth small consumer brands with value-added investors, and is just one of several sources of alternative financing that Lee will discuss in his presentation.
Entitled “Alternative Sources of Financing for Beverage Companies,” Lee will draw on both his background in private equity as well as his experience at CircleUp to provide a look at a variety of paths for small consumer companies to raise funds, as well as their potential drawbacks.
About Ben Lee and CircleUp:
CircleUp (http://circleup.com/) is an equity-based investment platform that connects individual investors with growing private companies. CircleUp features a curated list of national high-growth U.S. small consumer brands. All companies have a tangible product or retail outlet that you can touch, taste, use, or visit. Using tools provided by the platform, investors review companies of interest, ask questions of the management team and complete their investment – all on CircleUp.
Ben Lee is the Director of Business Development at CircleUp. He joined CircleUp with experience in both startups and consumer products. He previously worked at JH Partners, a consumer-focused private equity firm, where he invested in and supported companies in a variety of industries, including personal care, home goods and direct marketing. He went on to spend time at GoSmile, a developer of innovative teeth whitening products, and TaskRabbit, an online services marketplace. Ben received a BS in Physics from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
About BevNET Live
BevNET Live’s Winter 2012 event will be held at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in California on Dec. 3 and 4. Early Registration tickets are available through Oct. 17. BevNET Live is a two-day forum for beverage entrepreneurs, suppliers, distributors, retailers and investors to gather, speak, exchange ideas through interactive panels and lectures, and enhance their marketing and product development strategies through our Beverage School. Attendees can tap the expertise of investment professionals who can help groom them to attract money, business owners with inspiring success stories, and the BevNET.com community, which has spent a decade dedicating itself to careful reporting on the fast-moving beverage industry.
BevNET Live Early Registration — Register online now