Comcap The Podcast

Serving Minority Entrepreneurs with Xiomara Pena Tackling small business development is a challenging task, especially when you take the sheer size of states like California into account. But small business development in a general sense does not necessarily meet the needs of diverse business owners.  That's where Small Business Majority fills the gaps that traditional economic and small business development can't fill.  With thorough research and polling, as well as on the ground representation, they are trying to meet the needs of minority small business owners in towns and communities that are often neglected.   In this episode, Amy Pearl speaks with Xiomara Pena of the Small Business Majority about the current state of economic development in minority communities, and how best to serve them. Hosts Amy Pearl, Executive Director, Hatch Innovation Guests Xiomara Pena, Southern California Outreach Manager / National Hispanic Outreach Manager, Small Business Majority Xiomara Peña works from the

 A Law Firm You Will Love with Janelle Orsi Navigating the law in the US can be a daunting task. All too often, legal help is simply out of reach for most entrepreneurs and citizens who want to foster positive change in their community.  It can be trying, and even impossible, to get the legal help you need, let alone without breaking the bank. That's where Oakland's Sustainable Economies Law Center, or the "SELC", enters the picture, with law workshops and weekend research events aimed at educating both legal and non-legal professionals and community members alike.   Our guest in this episode is Janelle Orsi, Founder and Executive Director of the SELC. Join Janelle and our own Amy Pearl, as they discuss a variety of topics, from worker-owned co-ops to legal training without law school.   Prepare to be inspired, legally speaking. Hosts Amy Pearl, Executive Director, Hatch Innovation Guests Janelle Orsi, Director, Sustainable Economies Law Center Janelle Orsi is a lawyer, advocate, writer, a

Local Investing in Vermont with Janice Shade The story of Milk Money Vermont takes one state, two motivated entrepreneurs, hundreds of cups of coffee, and unlike your typical caffeinated afternoon, the inspiration and plan to create a state-based crowdfunding platform. In this episode of ComCap the Podcast, Amy Pearl chats with Janice Shade, co-founder of Milk Money Vermont, to learn how her and her business partner, Louisa Schilbi, crossed paths, teamed up, and started up an intrastate crowdfunding initiative for the entrepreneurs and citizen investors in the beautiful state of Vermont. Milk Money is Vermont's answer to the intrastate crowdfunding exemptions that are sweeping the nation, allowing citizens to invest in local companies within state lines.  Janice discusses the success that Vermont is having with convertible debt offerings, and how entrepreneurs in Vermont are realizing the importance of community-supported investment vs. angel funding.   Listen and learn from Janice's successes, stra

  Working With City Government with Timothy Barrett In this episode of ComCap The Podcast, Amy Pearl sits down with Timothy Barrett, Councilmember for the City of Monterey, CA.  After attending ComCap16 last Spring here in Portland, OR, Timothy was inspired to bring 2017's national gathering to his region. Hear all about how Timothy was able to get local support and interest in community capital, and his ongoing collaboration with the team at Hatch Innovation. Learn what community capital means for the future of economic development in the Monterey peninsula, including the review of the city's own economic asset data during a special conference session. It is certainly inspiring to witness citizens step up and drive the initiatives that help improve their own communities.  Provocateur  Amy Pearl, Hatch Innovation Guest Timothy Barrett, City of Monterey Monterey City Councilmember Timothy Barrett is known for getting diverse groups of people working together. Timothy is Council Liaison to t

 Main Street Funds with Craig Sharton In towns across the USA, Main Street is often a primary indicator on the state of the economics within the region.  This is where businesses thrive in a vibrant uptime, and shutter in the challenging downturn.  In this episode of ComCap The Podcast, Amy Pearl chats with Craig Scharton, interim CEO of the Downtown Fresno Partnership. Craig is a longtime economic developer, and his most recent project included a DPO offering for community investors to buy up main street Fresno real estate for redevelopment.  His grand plan for a more equitable share of main street ownership was ambitious and exciting.  Unfortunately the fund did not meet the minimum investment requirements to continue and so Craig has since moved on to other initiatives.  Get ready for some valuable insights and many laughs as Craig shares his story.   Provocateur Amy Pearl, Hatch Innovation   Guests Craig Scharton, Downtown Fresno Partnership Craig Scharton was

The Blue Economy with Jason Scorse  Have you ever sat down by the waters of your favorite river or scenic coastline, and imagined your relationship to all that water?  It turns out that layers of complexity are hiding in plain sight, if the right stories and messages are there to point them out.    In this episode of ComCap The Podcast, Amy Pearl sits down with Jason Scorse, Director at the Center for the Blue Economy at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) in Monterey, who specializes in the relationship between our waters and our economy. The more we can understand this complex and dynamic relationship, the more we see the imperative for preservation and regeneration of our delicate ecosystems. Hosts Amy Pearl, Executive Director, Hatch Innovation Guest Jason Scorse, Director, Center for the Blue Economy, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey Jason Scorse received his Ph.D. in Agricultural & Resource Economics from UC-Berkeley in 2005. He is cu

 Slow Money with Woody Tasch Have you ever wondered what happens when you mix finance and poetry together? The answer is Slow Money, founded by Woody Tasch.   Slow Money began as an idea, grew to a gathering, and now has issued over $57 million in loans to support farms, food, and the soil in communities across the United States. Perhaps more importantly, much of this money comes from investors who are not looking to receive a large return on their investment, in some cases with 0% loans.   If you are looking for answers to your local money needs, Slow Money is a great place to start with, which is why Woody will be joining us at ComCap17 in Monterey, CA this September.   In the following episode, Amy Pearl and Woody Tasch discuss the challenges and successes of getting capital back into our communities, sustaining local food systems, instead of Wall Street.   Provocateur Amy Pearl, Hatch Innovation   Guests Woody Tasch, Slow Money Institute   Woody is the founder and chairm

Economic Development Business Networks In this episode of ComCap The Podcast, we revisit the 2016 ComCap conference session "Working With State Economic Develop Business Networks".  Led by Noah Brockman, this panel dives into the tools of the economic developer, and how intrastate securities crowdfunding can help to bring capital to diverse communities.   Provocateur Noah Brockman, Oregon Capital Access Team Advisor Guests Chris Miller, City of Adrian Chris Miller is the lead economic and downtown developer for the City of Adrian, in SE Michigan. He came to this position with a background in business, a career in education that included private and international schools, and non-profit and government leadership work. He worked as a city commissioner and Downtown Development Authority board member, and served as chairperson of the regional chamber of commerce, symphony orchestra, and housing development coalition. Stephen Michael, Main Street Alliance Founded in 2005, the Main Street Alliance is a

A Recipe for Crowdfunding with PieShell founder Cheryl Clements In this episode of ComCap The Podcast, Amy Pearl sits down with Cheryl Clements, founder of the rewards based crowdfunding platform, PieShell.  Cheryl founded PieShell as a way to tap into her technology background and help entrepreneurs in the food space get the structure and funding they need to stage a successful crowdfunding raise.  With a unique stair-step approach, PieShell offers entrepreneurs a community to tap into for support, and the experience they need to grow their company.  Hear all about Cheryl's journey to create PieShell, as well as her thoughts on the growing movement focused on crowdfunding capital. "One of the things i decided to do is I decided to do something I was always told not to do, ask for help and ask for money" "Why food?  The answer for me is food is how we say I love you.  It's how we have fun and how we build relationships."   Provocateur Amy Pearl, Hatch Innovation Guests Cheryl Cle

  In this episode of ComCap The Podcast, we revisit the 2016 ComCap conference session "How to Make the Shift From Buy Local to Invest Local".  Led by Michael Shuman, this panel of entrepreneurs discuss strategies they employ to help change the community mindset around investing.  Helping communities differentiate the impact of local investment can lead to greater capitalization of entrepreneurs as well as more stable local economies. Provocateur Michael Shuman, The Local Economy Solution Guests Michael Scotto Di Carlo, Supportland Michael Scotto di Carlo is co-founder of Supportland. Supportland launched in 2010 as an experiment in Portland, Oregon. Could independent businesses band together to collaborate at this scale? Would folks respond and shift to spending local? The resounding answer has been "Yes!" With this success in hand, we are inviting other communities into the Supportland family. Jon Underwood, Cpay Social Impact Entrepreneur focused on Sustainable Finance & Community Capit

    The Future Of Social Enterprise Funding In this episode of ComCap The Podcast, we revisit the 2016 ComCap conference session "The Future of Social Enterprise Funding".  A social enterprise is an organization or initiative that marries the social mission of a non-profit or government program with the market-driven approach of a business. This panel discussion focuses on the emerging tools that are helping social enterprises secure capital, and on the flipside, how some cities and demographics are divesting from Wall St. looking to invest elsewhere.     Provocateur Kristin Wolff, Thinkers and Doers   Guests   Katrina Scotto Di Carlo, Supportland Katrina Scotto di Carlo is co-founder of both Supportland and Portland Made. She has dedicated herself to co-creating collaborative ecosystems that grow into a foundation for community resiliency. Lisa Ramirez, Two Tongues Lisa is an ardent, young entrepreneur who recently completed Hatch Oregon's CPO InvestOR Accelerator program.

CCTP4 Big Game Hunting with Michael Shuman A clear-eyed review of the past practices of going after big companies rather than developing local companies.Michael Shuman takes a deep look at classic economic development strategies. He describes why shopping for big companies, competing against neighboring towns and paying for jobs, is a strategy that often results in a loss rather than a long term gain. This "attract and retain" policy costs time and money small communities can rarely afford.   Interviewer:  Amy Pearl, Hatch Innovation Guests: Michael Shuman In this episode you'll learn: Why "attract and retain" policies rarely result in the anticipated job gains. Hear about Sarasota, Florida and what happened from their bid for a large pharmaceutical company What a literature review of attract and retain strategies found. The perception that outside money is essential to building local economic strength is a myth. Every community is constantly importing outside goods and services for things that the

Local Stock Exchanges with John Katovich and Amy Pearl   Are local stock exchanges the answer to the local investing question? Learn why the answer is likely no. John Katovich of Cutting Edge Capital takes us on a journey starting from high hopes around local stock exchanges to the hard truth about the challenges – understanding this topic is central to finding the right answers to the question of local investing liquidity.   In this episode you'll learn: Why a local stock market is probably not the answer to the local investing liquidity question Why regulations around investor protections have to be taken into account. Why our current stock market is not the same as it was in 1940. (In 1940 investors held stocks held stocks for an average of 7 years, by 2007 that was down to 7 months) How high frequency trading is transforming the stock market, shifting transaction time to as low as 11 seconds Why an exchange would not work economically if it needed to make money or be self-sustaining. What a "ma

CCTP3 Understanding Money with Marco Vangelisti How does the financial system work? Who creates money? Why is it important for us to understand how money is made? We simply do not understand where our money comes from and how it's created. Join Amy Pearl as she talks money with Economist Marco Vangelisti in our third episode of ComCap The Podcast.  The myths about money will be exposed, so prepare for a deep dive into financial territory, illuminating our financial system, and paving the way for a greater understanding about how to fix it. "It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning" - Henry Ford   Links to Resources Mentioned: Essential Knowledge for Transition: Money and Banking   EK4T Website

CCTP2 - A Crowdfunding Exit with Scott Wise, Amy Cortese, and Ryan Flynn "Scotty's Brewhouse in Indiana has become the first intrastate crowdfunding exit. After raising money through Indiana's intrastate crowdfunding exemption in 2014, Scotty's Brewhouse, a chain of 18 brewpubs founded 20 years ago, recently agreed to be acquired by a private equity firm for an undisclosed sum.  Scotty's raised just a small amount of its total funding over the years through crowdfunding. And the offering, on Localstake, was a revenue-sharing deal— a loan with variable interest payments—so the investors did not have an equity stake in the company. Still, it is one of the rare "exits" for the young but growing crowdfunding field." - Amy Cortese, Locavesting Hear Amy talk with Scott Wise and Ryan Flynn about the crowdfunding campaign and the partnership with Due North Holdings that resulted in an early payback to his investors.  You can read all about this experience here:  http://www.locavesting.com/crowdfunding

"The Community Capital revolution is unfolding across this country.  From small towns to metropolitan city centers, localizing our money to strengthen communities has become a rallying cry for food cart vendors in Detroit, small manufacturers in Oregon, and pub owners in Indiana, to name a few.  If you are a community advocate, you're a community capital advocate.  Now is the time to learn more.  Thats's what this podcast is about" - Amy Pearl, Director of Hatch Innovation. Join us as Amy Pearl tees up the idea, and history behind the community capital revolution, and the ComCap conference.