When crowdfunding burst onto the scene, entrepreneurs believed that their hopes for a democratized funding vehicle had come true. After all, it was considerably more streamlined than procuring angel funding, had fewer legal hoops to jump through, was comparatively inexpensive, and offered a level  playing field for all industries. It had been passed by Congress as part of the JOBS Act.

Currently, there are two crowdfunding business models on the market:  
- Rewards-based: startups can fund products, projects, and causes through a contribution based mechanism that provides various rewards, such a free product.  
- Equity-based: new intermediaries have been created which work solely with accredited investors - and function essentially in the same way as angel investor groups.

The next critical step is creation of SEC guidelines for the direct sale of equity in startup companies to the public. Due to intense debate over the security of investors in this new funding vehicle, the SEC has made it clear that rules will not be completed until the end of the year, at best. Startups want the rules to be entrepreneur-friendly and less stringent than the IPO process, but the majority of investors want strong protection. What will be the outcome?

The presentation will focus on the following topics:
- What types of companies have been funded within the current reward and equity based structures; what is the success rate, and range of proceeds?    
- What are the primary points of debate regarding the new legislation, and will it be possible for the new regulations to satisfy both entrepreneurs and investors?   
- Which financial instruments will startups be able to use - just common equity or the entire range of funding vehicles offered by Wall Street firms?

Alon Hillel-Tuch is Chief Financial Officer of RocketHub, a crowdfunding platform built on the premise that most entrepreneurs don't have connections to those who can contribute large sums of money to their projects. However, they can plug into huge social networks capable of raising large amounts of capital by aggregating high numbers of small contributions. Alon has testified before the U.S. Congress and met with the Treasury Department and the SEC regarding guidelines for the sector.

Alejandro Cremades founded RockThePost with the goal of helping entrepreneurs without strong business connections raise funds. It draws funding solely from accredited investors, and as such currently operates in a manner similar to an angel investor group. Its pool of investors is quite large at 240,000, enabling startups in a wide range of industries to qualify for funding. The platform requires those posting projects to have revenue-generating businesses.

Douglas Ellenoff is a senior attorney with the firm Ellenoff, Grossman, & Schole. He has represented companies in connection with their initial and secondary public offerings, regulatory compliance, as well as governance matters. His firm has taken a leading role in the emerging crowdfunding industry, and represents the trade association CFIRA (Crowdfunding Intermediary Regulatory Advocates) in ongoing discussions with the SEC and FINRA on rules proposed for the industry.