Vicinity Views
News, education and insights on investing in public offerings through the Vicinity platform and private early-stage offerings with VentureSouth.
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Transparency Builds Trust
Transparency. Our final core belief is “transparency builds trust”. Among private equity partners, this is often encapsulated in phrases like “no surprises” or “give…
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5 Reasons To Invest In Your Community
The first time I asked my wife out was at a coffee shop on a corner street. It was a significant moment for us,…
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The Wall Street – Main Street Disconnect
The Dow Jones surged over 20% between March 23 and March 26 with the financial markets betting on the imminent (and unprecedented) stimulus package.…
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Explaining the Form C
What is it? The Form C is the required SEC filing for any company looking to raise capital through Regulation CF. It needs to…
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Leading in Trust, Underdog in Finance
“Now I am going to read you a list of institutions in American society. Please tell me how much confidence you, yourself, have in…
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On Local Stimulus and You
Main Street is reeling and the pressure on small and medium-sized businesses (“SMBs”) is not going to let up anytime soon. One study has…
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Investing Through Reg CF
Just recently, over 95% of the population gained a new way to invest in the small and mid-sized businesses that make up over half…
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Myth #8: There aren’t enough unicorns in the southeast
This “myth” is true – there aren’t many unicorns in the south east, and none in the Carolinas. There are also virtually no IPOs…
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Myth #7: It takes too long to reach exits
This is too often, unfortunately, true. Startup companies take a long time to mature into middle market businesses that large companies are interested in…
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Myth #6: It costs too much to be an investor
Finding deals yourself; conducting your own diligence; negotiating a deal; paying attorneys to create a suite of transaction documents; paying accountants for tax returns…
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Myth #5: Angel investing is for philanthropy or fun, not making money
Angel investing is about making money. VentureSouth itself is a private business (a SC LLC), not a government entity and not funded with public…
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Myth #4: You need to be an expert
Nope. Most people (nearly two-thirds) that join VentureSouth tell us that they are becoming angel investors for the first time. This is not deliberate:…
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Myth #3: It takes a long time to build a portfolio
It simply does not take a long time to build a portfolio of angel investments. When we published the first article, there were 13…
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Myth #2: You need to invest a lot of money
Following the math in the original article, you can create a portfolio of investments as a VentureSouth member for $50,000 (10x $5,000 investments) to…
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Myth #1: Not many people can be angel investors
Anyone can invest in early stage companies. (You can invest as an “unaccredited investor” in certain situations or platforms, subject to limits on how…
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Myths of Angel Investing: This Month’s Posts
In my last two Upstate Business Journal articles (here and here), I’ve tried to debunk a few myths and clear up a few misconceptions…
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What To Do With An Idea
I read children’s books every day – admittedly, not always for pleasure, but definitely by choice. My wife and I have a bunch of…
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Baebies receives FDA approval
Congratulations to Baebies for announcing it received clearance from the FDA for its SEEKER platform – the first Lysosomal Storage Disease newborn screening platform.…
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Matt’s Upstate Business Journal column – Creating the Future
Enjoy Matt’s UBJ column from this week’s issue here – Since you can’t predict the future, you should try to create it.