Using an equity crowdfunding platform to get funding in the hands of small businesses and startups

Who is Gabrielle Katsnelson?  

Gabrielle Katsnelson is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of SMBX. She has a decade of financial accounting, strategy, and operations experience; including: managing the loan portfolio of the Artists Community Federal Credit Union; the restricted royalty funds of TuneCore, a digital distributor of music; and architecting financial infrastructure for countless startups and SMBs.   

   Dedicated to creating a surplus ecosystem, Gabrielle believes that giving SMBs access to capital while creating an engaging and empowering investing experience for people is the means. 

Show Highlights 

• Terri and Gaby talk about how they met at a Draper University blockchain pitch day and gravitated towards each other over common interests 
• Gaby shared her journey from accounting into biotech in New York and ultimately into FinTech in San Francisco in early 2017 
• Gaby met her co-founder of SMBX at one of the crypto, blockchain and ICO meetups she went to; he was always asking the interesting questions.  

• Their company, SMBX is built on a private Etherium network and takes advantage of Title III of the JOBS Act to help small businesses issue bonds so that investors can invest in businesses they are interested in providing a secondary market for investors.   
• Gaby and Terri talk about where blockchain is from a maturity perspective and the future of blockchain.  
• Gaby explains equity crowdfunding and the differences between Title II, Title III and Title IV. Terri and Gaby talk about using crowdfunding to democratize funding and how we are still in early days.   
• If Gaby could wave a magic wand to change something in this world, she would change mindset and personal responsibility for your own mindset.   

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

It is important to maintain a sense of fun.  It doesn’t have to be so serious all of the time.   

References in the Podcast 

• SMBX: https://www.thesmbx.com/ 

• Jane VC:  https://www.janevc.com/ 
• OwnYourCash:  http://site-1317096-1533-8422.strikingly.com/ 
• Skydeck: https://skydeck.berkeley.edu/ 
• Wilson Sonsini (WSGR):  https://www.wsgr.com/WSGR/Default.aspx 
• Draper University: https://www.draperuniversity.com/ 

• Fred Wilson’s blog post on blockchain infrastructure:  https://avc.com/2018/10/the-appsinfrastructureappsinfrastructure-cycle/ 
• JOBS Act:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpstart_Our_Business_Startups_Act 
• JOBS Act Title III:  http://www.finra.org/investors/alerts/crowdfunding-and-jobs-act-what-investors-should-know 
• Terri’s Medium post on blockchain, crypto and ICO resources:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead/cryptocurrency-and-ico-resources-55766cae29e 
• Crowdfund Main Street: https://crowdfundmainstreet.com/ 

• Republic: https://republic.co/ 
• WeFundr: https://wefunder.com/discuss 
• SeedInvest: https://www.seedinvest.com/ 
• Investibule:  https://investibule.co/ 
• FinTech Collective:  http://www.fintech.io/ 

Contact 

Gabrielle can be reached via email [email protected]; Twitter: @gabykatsnelson and through LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-katsnelson-6a73958/. 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at [email protected]. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.