[Davis Sq. Theater] Annotated Budget

[new-man.livejournal.com]

For those of you interested in the night club/theater in Davis Square, I have a simple annotated budget ready. At this point, it's very likely that all of the first round financing shares will be gone before the business plan is finished. The annotated budget I've been sending to people seems to be enough for some of them.

If you'd like a copy of it, comment below with an email address and I'll send it to you. Comments here are wide open to comply with the wishes of the moderator. If you would like to leave your email in a screened comment to preserve the privacy of your email addresses, please do so in my LJ.

Comments

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you're quick. :) I think it's fine for the post to stay (with comments enabled and un-screened) but yeah, a link to his own LJ for screened comments.

Also, I'm interested: pheromone at livejournal dot com.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

darkblacksky at yahoo dot com

i work in entertainment in production. right now i'm on the road, but when i get a chance, i'll take a look at your numbers.

steve

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i'm sufficiently curious. rmd at livejournal dot com

[shadow.livejournal.com]

I'm interested - quince@mit.edu

One question though: have you been in touch with a lawyer about the sale / advertisement of these shares? At first blush, it doesn't look like you're in SEC compliance...

[new-man.livejournal.com]

One question though: have you been in touch with a lawyer about the sale / advertisement of these shares? At first blush, it doesn't look like you're in SEC compliance...

I don't need to be in S.E.C. compliance; I'm not selling stock. I'm soliciting for venture capitalists in a private company. The S.E.C. only gets involved for publically traded stock.

[shadow.livejournal.com]

The S.E.C. only gets involved for publically traded stock.

Not actually true -- there is a lot of state & federal regulation around the advertisement of securities (your LJ posts would probably count) and the sale of securities. There are a lot of loopholes created so that you *can* raise small amounts of money from a large number of people for a venture, even ways to do it easily and cheaply, but there are restrictions and i's to be dotted.


Have a look at:

http://www.sec.gov/info/smallbus/qasbsec.htm

and seriously consider getting a quick consult from a lawyer.

[new-man.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice. I'm all set.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

First off, I think this is an awesome idea and I wish you the best of luck. But to second what was already stated, what you're doing would very likely be considered the sale of securities, and technically you're probably running afoul of both the Securities Act of 1933 and the Massachusetts state equivalent, especially by openly soliciting investors on a public forum. I'll preemptively agree with you--that's ridiculous that this is illegal, right? I work all the time with venture capitalists investing in private companies, and a huge component of that is securities law, and its incredibly expensive to comply with the letter of the law. You can thank whatever scam artists robbed people blind by selling them shares in private companies a hundred years ago.

But seriously, best of luck.

[wildflowersoul.livejournal.com]

You seem oddly dismissive of this advice, but you don't state that you've consulted a lawyer. You may want to take a look at this site (http://www.sec.state.ma.us/sct/sctfin/finidx.htm#faq). Or at least, people who are giving you money should be aware of the potential legal issues.

standard internet disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

[new-man.livejournal.com]

You seem oddly dismissive of this advice, but you don't state that you've consulted a lawyer

I have consulted a lawyer. Multiple lawyers, in fact.

I try not to spread the detailed workings of my still-in-development business in unsecure, public forums.

standard internet disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

Similar disclaimer: I am not a casual observer. I am intimately involved in this venture and therefore have more vested in its success than anyone reading this.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

So I got the budget in e-mail. What I don't see, in the budget or the e-mail, is what specifically you plan to do with the space ("theatre & nightclub" is not a sufficiently detailed description.) What kind of performances? Theatre? Music? What kind of nightclub? Operating how many nights a week?

I'm with a local theatre group, and I have to point out that your cost estimates are way, way too low on many lines of the budget. I know how much it costs to do this sort of project. But I'll send those questions in an e-mail.

[new-man.livejournal.com]

The sorts of questions you're talking about are addressed in a business plan. This was never a business plan. If you have detailed questions, please feel free to ask me in private email and/or wait for the completed business plan.

I released the Annotated Budget as a favor to people who wanted some more information. The lower priced shares are likely to sell out beofe the business plan is completed. I wanted to give as many people who expressed interest as possible a chance to act on the first round buy in.

If you're more fiscally conservative, please wait for the completed business plan before critiquing the information you were sent.

[new-man.livejournal.com]

Critique what you like. What I meant was, if you've been told you're getting an orange, don't complain when it's not a grapefruit.

[komos.livejournal.com]

Wait, am I to understand that you're soliciting capital investors before you've completed a business plan?

I salute you, sir. Yours are balls of brass.