Methods for facilitating private funding of early-stage companies
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving compensation from a plurality of participants;
presenting a business entity to the participants;
deciding, based at least upon a first vote of the participants, to perform a first review of the business entity; and
presenting the results of the first review to at least one of the participants that voted in favor of performing the first review.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A consultant provides services to participants seeking involvement in early-stage companies, as well as to early-stage companies seeking the involvement of participants. The participants, typically known as angels, generally seek to provide early-stage funding sought by the companies in exchange for equity interests in the companies. The consultant identifies a company and presents the company to several participants. The participants, in turn, have the opportunity to accept a conditional offer by the consultant to perform a due diligence review of the company. The due diligence review is intended to provide the participants a basis for deciding whether to invest in the company. A participant preferably accepts the offer by casting a vote in favor of having the consultant perform the review. If a sufficient number of participants cast votes in favor of performing the review, the consultant accepts up to a maximum number of votes, performs the review, and charges each of the participants whose votes are accepted for a portion of the cost of the review. The results of the review are preferably provided first to those participants whose votes are accepted and subsequently to the remaining participants. The right to receive the results of the review in advance of others acts as an incentive for a participant to offer/vote to pay, in part, for a review of a company. The consultant preferably also negotiates an additional incentive from the company in the form of an equity interest in the company that is shared among the participants whose votes are accepted.
39 Citations
56 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving compensation from a plurality of participants;
presenting a business entity to the participants;
deciding, based at least upon a first vote of the participants, to perform a first review of the business entity; and
presenting the results of the first review to at least one of the participants that voted in favor of performing the first review. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method comprising:
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(A) receiving compensation from a plurality of participants;
(B) identifying a business entity; and
(C) causing the business entity to assign an equity interest in the business entity to at least one of the participants. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method comprising:
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receiving compensation from a plurality of participants;
identifying a business entity;
obtaining an equity interest in the business entity; and
transferring a portion of the equity interest to at least one of the participants.
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20. A method comprising:
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(A) identifying a plurality of participants;
(B) identifying a business entity;
(C) presenting to the participants, in conjunction with an identification of the business entity, the option to cast votes in support of an activity;
(D) receiving at least one vote cast in response to (C);
(E) accepting at least one received vote; and
(F) receiving compensation from at least one of the participants. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method comprising:
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(A) presenting, to a plurality of participants, a conditional offer to provide the results of a review of a particular business entity;
subsequent to (A), receiving acceptances of the offer from at least one of the participants; and
subsequent to (A), causing the review of the business entity to be performed. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47)
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48. A method comprising:
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(A) accepting a vote from a participant; and
(B) receiving, in association with (A), compensation from the participant wherein value is provided to the participant in association with (A). - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A method comprising:
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identifying a plurality of individuals;
receiving compensation from each of the individuals;
identifying a plurality of companies; and
providing, to each of the individuals, the results of a due diligence review of each of the companies.
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55. A method comprising:
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identifying a plurality of individuals; and
providing, to each of the individuals, an offer to provide, in exchange for compensation, the results of a due diligence review of each of a plurality of companies. - View Dependent Claims (56)
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Specification