Sleepless in Seattle…Literally
Wefunder was here.
12 cities in 14 days. We traveled across America by train to find — and invest in—small businesses outside of San Francisco. Second stop: Seattle.
On day 2 of our trip across America, we made a 24 hour pit stop in Seattle to enjoy the misty texture of the air on our faces and that ray of transient sunshine in the afternoon. We were charmed at once by the scenic drive from King Station to Fremont and by the unique brand of hipster that smells like a perfectly brewed cup with a tang of hop and looks like a velvety head dressed in flannel with cut off jeans, thick-rimmed glasses and a fluffy, nordic-style beard.
I had spent a year and half in Seattle before joining Wefunder. From experience, this city is easy to settle in and hard to leave. I was excited to acquaint the team with some of my favorite spots during our visit and to relive those experiences I had enjoyed so much during my time as a grad student here. It was especially rewarding to come back with the mindset of finding and helping small business owners (some of whom were the same shops that I had haunted frequently).
The business owners who came to say “Hi” at our event represented a diverse collection of industries that could benefit from raising funds from their users and fans — restaurants, bakeries, yoga studios, consumer mobile apps, clean energy initiatives…etc.
We visited Rodeo Donut, where we met co-founders Nicki (left) and Nicki (right; she also goes by KayKay, so let’s call her that for clarity). They gave us the lowdown on how they make their irresistible donuts. With some cash, Nicki is hoping to open a brick-and-mortar of her own, instead of operating as a pop-up inside Cupcake Royale, another bakery shop.
Through conversations with entrepreneurs I’ve met on the trip, what became clear to me was this: it is much more difficult for entrepreneurs whose goal is to follow personal dreams that are intrinsically valuable (not necessarily to solve a sexy problem or to #disrupt something) to acquire the resources they need to grow their business, compared to, for instance, a startup by a 20-something-year-old geared toward solving problems for other 20-something-year-olds with dollar bills in their pockets.
This is probably true because it’s hard to convince rich people (AKA accredited investors) that your business is a worthwhile one from which others in your community can benefit even if they’re not a part of the group for whom your product is made. And I imagine it’ll be much harder, too, if you tell them not to expect an exponential return within the next 5 years— especially if the only thing these could-be investors look forward to is some cash back on a date, far in the distant future-lands.
Good thing the whole Title III business got passed and Wefunder exists.
Otherwise that old-farty way of growing a business would persist. Knowing that the success of this new way of funding rests, partly, on my shoulders gives me a kick in the lady-nuts.
We have to make sure we don’t fuck this up for people. It’s humbling to know there are both businesses and investors out there who are counting on us to nail the roll-out of our platform come May 16th—so they can take a step closer to achieving their dreams.
Up next: Whitefish, Montana
from the eyes of our Chief Storyteller, Theresa Le Phung.
Wefunder is changing how you invest in businesses and your community. Come May 16th everyone — not just the wealthy — will be able to invest as little as $100 in the businesses they love.
This train trip across America was our chance to discover businesses outside of the SF tech bubble. We met farmers, breweries, bakers, manufacturers — a whole world of American small businesses ready to build their dreams and rebuild their community.
