Darren Marble
speaker
234 appearances
3 recordings
2 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard 3 Oct
Darren Marble’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Oct 2025 with 2.
Appearances
I would say, in summary, my mission and kind of what drives me in these companies is a very simple idea that customers deserve an opportunity to be owners in companies, regardless of your net worth, your income,
And now there's new laws in the United States that permit everyday Americans to buy shares in companies like Cards and Coffee or thousands of others that are turning to their communities to help fuel the next stage of growth of their businesses.
So it's a show like Shark Tank where we follow the stories of founders building their businesses, raising capital. And now we've infused the format with apprentice style challenges. So for instance, if you haven't watched, we put Dan in a boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather. Yes, we did. And the lights go on and it's boom, there's Floyd, the greatest boxer alive.
And you're at the Money Mayweather gym. And your challenge was to pitch your business while sparring with him. That is you and the other founders out of their comfort zone. And that's what makes this show exciting. It's what makes it authentic and entertaining. Season one was much more of a documentary style. Put a few million dollars into the production. We got a startup documentary.
I went to my partner the other year and said, if this is going to be bigger than Shark Tank, it needs to be more interesting. We have to have a true reality format here. Like kidnapping me? Like kidnapping you at your own ranch, nonetheless. The origin of this company is my co-founder, Todd Goldberg, pitched me on this idea in 2017. We were at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in New York.
I was involved in an IPO where the retail investor, Everyday Americans, were actually able to buy IPO shares. And it was unique. It was an historic deal. And he said, Darren, what if we were to create a show like Shark Tank where viewers can invest? And I said, Todd, as you're a very good friend, I'm here to tell you this is a very bad idea.
I've heard this pitch myself 100 times, and you're not the only guy that's pitched me on this. And he was kind of shocked. Todd is not a guy who likes to hear no, which ultimately makes him a good co-founder for me. He said, OK, this is such a common idea. Where do I watch it? And of course, it didn't exist. And what we realized in that moment is that it's a very complicated business to execute.
So we figured out what were the components that we would need to put together to produce this show. We need production, we need capital, we need technology, we need a business model, we need a distribution partner. Who's gonna put this show out where their audience can potentially invest money into a company that may or may not be successful? Maybe a company fails.
So we were trying to answer these questions, liability, risk, compliance. And it's taken us seven years, you know, to put out two seasons. And now we're on our way into production for season three and hopefully a lot more next year.
Issuance is a software platform. It's a platform that supports various kinds of online capital raising. So we have a product for campaigns which are known as regulation crowdfunding campaigns. This is a capital raising tool that's been in effect since 2016 that allows companies, startups, to raise up to $5 million from anyone over the age of 18 globally.
But to host a Reg CF campaign, you have to work with a FINRA regulated funding portal or a FINRA regulated broker dealer. So we're regulated. This is a regulated software platform. It's Shopify for shares or Stripe for shares. But ultimately, it's a subscription engine.
It's a software that allows retail investors to buy shares in a startup using their credit card, debit card, cash app, ACH or wire transfer. It's mobile optimized so that the everyday American, the retail investor, can buy shares in a startup on their phone and check out using Apple Pay.
same way we buy products when we see an ad on instagram so we've really worked to make this software super slick really fast checkout it's about 45 50 seconds and compliant with sec rules and regulations it's taken us many years and many millions of dollars to kind of build out so let's say someone has a company and they're like oh i'm gonna google search crowdfunding crowdfunding campaign
Really good question. So just like any kind of capital raise, you know, raising capital for your business under Reg CF, for instance, it's not a fit for everyone. Typically, the companies that raise the most capital have a community of customers, fans, and followers.
So if you're listening, you're watching, if you have a brand that's been established for several years, you're doing a few million in revenue, you've got a big email list, highly engaged email list, you have a real authentic and engaged community, you're a great fit to raise capital under reg CF. You have a community that you can very easily turn into investors.
Conversely, if you're an AI guru who sold your last company for a billion dollars and you're starting your next business, but you don't have that natural audience, you're actually not a good fit.
So, you know, we, we try to work with companies and figure out which businesses are actually going to have success raising capital this way, because it tends to favor the brands that have existing communities.
Well, there's actually prerequisites first. So before you launch, you actually have to provide certain disclosure to the investing public. And this is why the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, highly supports our industry. You have to provide two years of reviewed or audited financials as a first step. Then you have to file a disclosure document with the SEC called a Form C.
And one of these steps requires a third party auditor. The other step requires a third party securities lawyer or a securities law firm. And that's the trade off. So, you know, I will sometimes say that this industry is the opposite or the antithesis of cryptocurrency. No judgment on crypto, although I'm not active in that space.
But with crypto, you can kind of launch a meme coin and tomorrow start pumping and promoting. And that's not how this industry works. These are real businesses that have real revenues in products and services that are raising capital, selling real securities. And that requires a process of disclosure, audits, legal work,
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