Book Launch and Compassionalist Academy Reimagined with Karen Rands

In this episode, I share how everyday people can grow wealth and create impact through equity crowdfunding. Drawing from my new book Inside Secrets to Crowdfund Investing: Follow Jane’s Journey, I break down the myths that hold people back from angel investing and show how a diversified, consistent approach can build generational wealth.

You’ll meet “Jane,” a relatable mid-career professional who discovers how to shift from risky real estate to smart startup investing. I also introduce the Compassionate Capitalist Academy, which provides a roadmap for anyone ready to turn passion and purpose into profit.

If you’ve ever thought you’re too old, too busy, or don’t have enough money to invest in entrepreneurs, this conversation will change your perspective.

Key Takeaways

• Equity crowdfunding makes angel investing accessible to everyone, starting with as little as $100.

• Diversification and consistency are the keys to long-term portfolio success.

• Common false beliefs, like “I don’t know enough,” “I don’t have time,” or “I don’t have enough money” are myths that hold people back.

• You don’t need to quit your job to build wealth; you can start small and grow.

• Real estate isn’t the only path; investing in entrepreneurs can often yield greater impact and returns.

• The Compassionate Capitalist Academy and my books offer step-by-step frameworks for new investors.

Chapters

00:00 – Introduction: The power of compassionate capitalism

03:18 – Why invest in entrepreneurs instead of real estate

07:42 – Jane’s story: a mid-career professional’s path to angel investing

12:55 – The myths of investing: “I don’t know enough,” “I don’t have time,” “I don’t have money”

19:10 – Building wealth through diversification and consistency

23:37 – From false beliefs to proven frameworks: overcoming barriers

28:05 – How the Compassionate Capitalist Academy supports new investors

32:21 – Inside Secrets to Crowdfund Investing: making angel investing relatable

36:54 – Promo details: book launch, course discounts, and special codes

41:30 – Call to action: start small, start today, and build your wealth legacy

45:12 – Closing thoughts

About Karen Rands

I'm Karen Rands, founder of the Compassionate Capitalist Movement. I help entrepreneurs prepare to raise capital the smart way and guide investors in identifying startup opportunities that build wealth and make a difference. This show is your roadmap to funding success, from pitch deck to public offering.

📅 Want expert feedback on your pitch? Book a consult with me: bit.ly/KCHcalendar

🔗 Learn more: karenrands.co

🎧 Catch more episodes: thecompassionatecapitalistshow.com

📘 Free eBook: The 4 Ws of Crowdfund Investing: https://bit.ly/FreeCrowdfundInvestingBook

🎓 Join the Academy: bit.ly/CA-prelaunch

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
The Compassionate Capitalist Show empowers entrepreneurs and
investors in life to create wealth with passion and purpose.
Join Karen Rands, a best sellingauthor, for insights on Angel
investing, crowdfunding, business growth, and wealth
creation. As a seasoned entrepreneur and
investor herself, Karen engages in dynamic conversations with

(00:28):
industry leaders, successful entrepreneurs, seasoned Angel
investors, and venture capitalists as they share their
proven strategies and lessons learned.
Once you listen, you will understand why this podcast is
ranked in the top 2 1/2% globally.
Subscribe and share and be a catalyst for the compassionate
capitalist movement. Just go get it up and go in back

(00:52):
and you must keep an open mind and you try your best just to
leave your track and do not falltoo far behind.
Regret is for the Prince of heart.
In the end, it's all the same. Take what the wise I've got to
impart. These are the principles of the
game. The principles of the game.

(01:18):
Oh, these are the principles of the game.
Hey, welcome listeners. Thank you for being part of the
compassionate capitalist movement.
This week is a big week for me. Release of my second book and

(01:42):
the launch of the reimagined digital financial literacy
platform, now called The Compassionalist Academy.
More on that later and how you can get a discount As being one
of my followers and subscribers,I really appreciate you.
You don't even know how much this show, The Compassionate
Capitalist Show, has hit #20 on Apple Podcast for the

(02:07):
subcategory of investing under investing under business.
So business slash investing. I'm in the top 100 on business
now on Apple. So you could be hearing me for
the first time, you know, because I, and for those that
are listening for, you know, theregulars, thank you so much.
I could not do this without you.And you know, those that are

(02:29):
listening for the first time, welcome.
Welcome and your perfect timing.Because today I want to take you
a little bit behind the scenes of my journey, how I discover
the secret world of Angel investing, the challenges I've
seen and why I am so passionate about opening this opportunity
up to everyone. If you've ever thought investing

(02:49):
in startups isn't for me, you know, or I don't have the money,
the smarts or the time, then this episode is for you.
And stick around so you can hearhow you get a discount on both
the book inside secrets to Crowdfunding investing, which
I'm going to the whole title, the whole title is, I'll share

(03:13):
all of that in a minute because it's, it's, it's a, it's a
departure from the first book inside Secrets to Angel
investing in, in their style, intheir content and their audience
and the amazing compassionist capitalist compassionate list
Academy, the compassionate list Academy, compassionate list.

(03:34):
I made-up that word. It's a new word.
Hello everybody. And it is a mash up, a mash up
of compassionate and capitalist compassionate list, right.
I'll talk a little bit about howI, how I cultivated this idea of
compassionate capitalist here injust a minute, But it's, you
know, the compassionist Academy is a reimagined version of what

(03:55):
I did a year and a half ago. The that was called the
compassionate capitalist wealth maximizing system.
That's a tongue twister, you know, quite there.
But I, I wanted, I had a different vision and I needed to
really enrich it in order to make it the kind of platform
that it needed to be in order tohave the real impact that I

(04:17):
intend to have with these two books.
And the content went from being like 6 lessons to like 70, more
than 70 lessons and more to comefrom beginning all the way to
advanced. And, and you're going to hear
more about that in the book. The book is amazing.
It's a story of Jane and her journey to become an active and

(04:41):
profitable investor and entrepreneurs.
All right, so so we're, we're offering this course now and
content for investors from the very beginning of their journey
with a foundation to grow and build their financial investing
empire, all the way to advanced training in Angel and crowdfund

(05:02):
investing to get those that havebeen dabbling in it or maybe are
just disappointed in what's out there because there's really not
a lot out there. And I'm going to talk about that
too. So let's first of all, this is
my back story. I want you to understand because
I've been on this journey of really like 20 years, 20 years
of, you know, uncovering this, right?
And and so before I became famous for my prowess of

(05:27):
educating on angels and best practices to create wealth,
investing in entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs learning how to
raise capital or getting better at raising capital and to
actually get the capital becausethey make a lot of mistakes
because they just don't know what they don't know, but what
they need to launch and grow. I worked for IBM on teams that
were bringing innovations to market ranging from the launch

(05:50):
of PS2 and OS2. Some of y'all remember that and
mobile and wireless and pin based.
Now we take it for granted, but back in the day, pin technology
was pretty new and I was creating whole new marketplaces
with automating the last mile right of, of being able to

(06:11):
capture what people were puttingon thin and paper and, and
putting that together in apps, working with partners.
And then mobile and wireless from all different, every kind
of wireless you can think of what it was then to what it is
now and every kind of hardened, you know, little small device to
the big rugged devices you use in trucks and things like that.
All of that under IBM's umbrellato resell it and package it in

(06:34):
services. And I negotiated all the
contracts for IBM to do that, generating over $30 million in
the first year that we we got itlaunched.
You know, would have been a pretty healthy startup had that
been the case. And moved up the food chain to
be what they called a complex opportunity business manager
COBM. OK, that was the Latin acronym

(06:57):
and with a mission to evaluate and if Dean Worthy on behalf of
IBM work, invest resources and some cases money, equipment,
things like that. Novel technology startups that
were doing click and mortar to become e-commerce before
e-commerce was a thing and the first version was now is

(07:18):
considered SAS. All of this stuff was very new
in 1999. And you know, they could, you
know, they said that the idea was they would go out, it would
be like IBM approved to go out and get venture capital and then
come back and spend it with IBM.Because at the time IBM had
started to realize that they were missing out on the Amazons

(07:41):
and ebays of the world. Because once a company got
equipment from some of these from, you know, some of these
companies came about compact EDS, you know, various HP, you
know, that we're into mid range kind of stuff.
It was standardized on it. It was very difficult to get
them off and IBM wanted to get in earlier, right?
And so they would get the end. And you know, that was they put

(08:03):
a whole team together for that. And me as a COBMA lot of these,
these people that were on these teams were really, really young
reps. They didn't really know how to
get things done. And so I was the person that
would come in and and get the right resources and help them
get things done. And and I teased that I was in
my own little bubble. This is 1999 because I had this

(08:24):
client, it was revolutionizing digital imagery in the
healthcare industry. And I had he had traveled with
through me by different divisions and things and kept
working with me and I could get him to do what I needed to do.
And he and I decided I wanted tobe in that parade and not watch
the parade goodbye. It was so exciting and I wanted

(08:45):
to help him go to market, get the funding they needed because
I thought that I knew about that.
So two things about my bubble and I dug.
I joke about this is that have you ever seen the Animal House
movie? And they're going down the and
they the parade goes down. I want to be in that parade.
Well, then they turn and go in the alleyway and they're all
banging into the wall. Well, that was the parade I got

(09:07):
into because I left IBM in January of 2000 and lot of y'all
know what that meant. Some of the younger ones don't.
But that was just the beginning of the.com bubble burst and,
and, and I didn't even know. I like here's how much I was in
a bubble. I didn't know there was a

(09:27):
bubble. And the second thing I didn't
know about was that I and I did not know about Angel investors.
I had never even heard that word.
There's 2 words. And and it wasn't really until
much later that I figured out that I didn't know it when I was
this mid level executive leavingIBM to go be a part of a
startup. But I got invited to this, the

(09:49):
network of business angels and investors meeting with a friend
of mine that was doing a, a software product for the real
estate industry. And I wanted to go check it out
for this guy that I was now working for.
And I was also doing other things.
You know, I often times have, you know, a lot of pokers in
different fires. But, and here's my very first

(10:10):
impression, and I didn't really understand this too, until later
on, but I knew that I was in some place that I was meant to
be right that door. When the door closed on my
career at IBM, the door opened in this journey that I am and
that I'm on now. And it completely changed the
trajectory of my life. And I really still remember the

(10:34):
feeling when I walked out of that first meeting and I'm going
through the, the, the parking deck and just feeling goose
pimples because I was like, thiswas all of the work that I had
done in IBM, all the aspirationsthat I had had as an
entrepreneur. You know, my dad had been an
entrepreneur. There's a podcast on that and
his influence on me. And, and there's some more in

(10:56):
this story in a minute. And I had, you know, realized
that it was this, that this was,this was like I felt it was my
calling. But the other thing that I
experienced then that I didn't truly understand until later
when I was trying to figure out why there weren't more investors

(11:21):
for all the entrepreneurs, why so many people didn't know about
Angel investing, why so many people that they knew about it
had a negative attitude about it.
And so it was like I had stumbled into the secret Society
of Angel investing when I I walked in to this room and here

(11:43):
were these people, quite frankly, mostly middle-aged
white men at the table looking at these entrepreneurs that were
desperately trying to raise capital, bring their vision to
market. And they were picking and
choosing who got to get the money.
They were the market makers. They were the ones that yes or

(12:05):
no, they were the kingmakers, right?
And that was that was exciting when I was in the middle of it
because now I was in the middle of it.
But in hindsight, when I finallylearned figure this out, even
after I wrote the book why that was, I realized that there
needed to be changed, right? And I realized that only the

(12:26):
most wealthy were getting to seeand invest in the next big
thing, right? And it, and the secret was why
it was a secret was because of the laws that prohibited
entrepreneurs being able to solicit capital from anybody but
a millionaire that they already knew or they had to go through a
broker dealer. And there's a whole lot of
issues with with that. But you think about it, if you

(12:50):
have to already know a millionaire, well then you kind
of already are sort of in this special group, right?
You know, you're a kid of a millionaire or you went to
school with millionaires or something like that.
But there's all a lot of other people out there that didn't and
we would took it so seriously about this, this non general
solicitation. So listening to people you
didn't know as millionaires thatthey had the closed doors,

(13:15):
right? We actually closed the doors of
when I took it over and I started running these events, we
closed the door. So no random person would
accidentally hear about this opportunity when they walked by
in that kind of amazing, right that we took to that extreme.
And you think about how people talk about deals now they're on
the Internet on pitch events andthings like that.
But I quickly realized that the stat, the process was stacked

(13:37):
against entrepreneurs, even those with great tech that were
charismatic, that were not charismatic, right?
They had great technology and great solutions.
They were solving A fundamental problem in the marketplace that
would make great money for thosethat invested.
But they were a technology guy or they didn't talk or look like
most of the people in the room, the white middle-aged men in the

(14:00):
room. And they, you know, they, they.
And so if they didn't connect, they would choose one that did.
And I, you know, at the time, I thought all capital was green.
But I came to find out that no, they're everybody brings a bias
into the process of discerning these, these deals, just like

(14:22):
you do with so many other thingsthat you do in life.
The founder Jerry Martin blessedmy life, blessed me by taking me
under his wing initially and to be his second hand for
organizing the, and the organizing the meetings,
screening the companies, managing the follow-ups, you
know, putting these things. And I learned really almost
everything that I knew about running events, doing stuffs,

(14:45):
you know, due diligence, all that stuff.
And part of it was, you know, after the meeting, I would talk
to these angels and I would say,well, why did you invest in this
deal or not that deal? What did you like?
What you don't like? And I learned this, I, we're
interviewing angels, investors every, you know, every month
talking about deals. And, and then, you know, as I

(15:07):
progressed and launched the podcast, various things like
that, you know, I've interviewedhundreds of Angel investors for
my book too. I, I interviewed people, sent
surveys, had surveys when I, when I was so, so I took over
this group. He wanted to retire.

(15:27):
We worked out and earn out. And I quickly discovered that
the group needed new blood, right.
We had a lot of what I call empty suits.
They were showing up for the entertainment of the of the
pitches and the free food and drink, but they really weren't
investing. And if I was going to be true to
the purpose, I had to bring people in that wanted to invest.

(15:52):
But guess what? As I learned, most people don't
know about it. So how do you know about it?
And if you haven't read the first book, and if you get into
the course, there's a whole story about the making of a
compassionate capitalist and thestory of Jack and, and this guy
that became part of the Angel group and how we met and how he
learned about it. But you know, as you know, this,

(16:13):
I, I realized that I need a new blood and it needed a lot of
TLC. And, and this group was a little
bit different because of what they invested in and how they
invested. And the compassionate capitalist
concept was born, right? That and that is people that

(16:34):
investors or people that invest time, money, knowledge,
resources into entrepreneur endeavors to bring innovation to
market, create jobs and create wealth for all those evolved.
That was my long definition, right?
And then eventually I, I modified it to be not so long
to, you know, basically that wasbecause I, when I had met these

(16:57):
angels initially, I'd say, well,how'd you learn how to be an
Angel investor? And they said, oh, well, I
invested in my first 3 deals andI lost money.
And then I just, you know, finally eventually figured it
out. I was like, well, that's a
horrible way to learn by losing.You learn by losing.
There's nobody teaching this stuff.
And in fact, a wealth manager that was one of my investors

(17:18):
came to me and said, hey, Karen,I can't tell my clients.
I can't talk to them about Angelinvesting and investing
entrepreneurs because I could lose my license.
So anybody that I discovered, and this was something that I
unpacked later, I discovered that anybody that had enough
money to have a financial planner or wealth manager and
they would go to him because a friend was doing a business or

(17:39):
they were at a pitch event or anything like that.
And they would say, hey, how much can I afford to invest in
this deal? I really like it.
Can you help me with it? That financial planner would
say, oh, you know what? Don't do that.
That's gam like gambling. You'll lose your money if you
invest in that company, regardless of what the company
was doing. You will lose your money if you

(17:59):
invest in that because it's likegambling.
What we talked about, we talked about how much you could invest
in real estate and we've set aside that and you know, and I
can, you know, help you a littlebit with that, but you know,
I'll give you my opinion or get you in touch with people, but
you know, you really need to. These are the products my
company sells. And the reason why wasn't
because it was gambling. I mean, yeah, there's risk.

(18:22):
It wasn't because it was gambling.
It was because of the fear of losing their license because the
rules weren't. Still to this day, unless
they're not on Commission, they're a registered investment
advisor, they cannot advise on. Technically they can, but the
rule of thumb in the industry and nobody wants to break it is

(18:42):
that if they advise on a privateequity transaction that the
broker could get a Commission on, then they will lose their
license. They will take their license
away in their livelihood. So they don't.
And so over, if you think about it, 80 years that this was
illegal. They're planting seeds in
people's brain that investing inentrepreneurs is like gambling

(19:03):
and they'll lose their money. So word of mouth, if somebody
said to them, hey, I'm thinking about, you ever think about
investing in entrepreneurs? I'm thinking about doing it.
What do you know about it? They would say, oh, no, no, no.
My financial planner told me it's gambling, don't do it.
You'll lose your money, right? I talk to people, they'll show
up at network events with entrepreneurs and I'll say,
yeah, I'm doing this stuff whereI'm teaching about Angel

(19:24):
investing. And they'll go like, oh, I go,
do you ever think about it? And they're somebody that's a
millionaire or, you know, at least a, an accredited investor.
They're like, oh, no, no, no, I've heard about that.
That's, that's like Angel, that's like, that's really
risky. I'm like, why is it really
risky? You just have to know how to do
it. Every every asset class is
really is as an element of risk,right?

(19:45):
But that's how compassionate capitalist was born and how I
adopted that and have now and trademarked it.
OK, so, so this wealth manager asked me about it.
I looked around. There was no training out there
at that time. There was a couple of books.
David Rose, the founder of New York Angel and Angel List.
He had written a book. And it was really just for

(20:08):
angels and his crew to be betterangels.
Kauffman was doing some trainingfor the Angel Capital
Association. But it really wasn't.
It was kind of like you get a workbook and somebody you know,
talked about it in a panel, but there was really no on demand
training. And now they offer some stuff
that's really just like my podcast and somebody talking to
somebody else and asking them questions.

(20:29):
It's not really an instruction like an, like a, you would
expect for some kind of distancelearning type of curriculum,
right? And so I created a series of
ebooks that were a how to that were the precursor to this.
And it was called How to be an Angel investor.
And back when ebooks were just PDFs, you sit around and I ended

(20:49):
up having about 500 people really actually about 1500
people, but 500 filled out my form around the country to get
information about my companies that were coming through our
stuff. And they would tell me what they
invested in and how they invested, what kind of things
that they had. So that continued that data
continued to frame my knowledge of how Angel investors work,

(21:09):
right. And the first books gave me the
juice to grow that book. It became, I mean, grow that
group, the network of business Angel investors became one of
the most active in the Southeastand the top 50 in the United
States in just a couple of yearsthat I was running it.
And, and, but here's the other thing that I learned about that.
And This is why might we're a part of my heart, of my passion
to solving this problem. This giant gap came because

(21:32):
entrepreneurs had to run a gauntlet, you know, to get in
front of these investors and andmost great ideas never make it.
And it's and in my experience, adeal didn't make it the cut, not
necessarily because they weren'tgood enough.
They just weren't entertaining or the right for this particular
group or this audience. You know, and, and you know, the

(21:55):
way the Angel funnel works, you know, 1020 companies might apply
in that month. They can only, they only have
time for three or four. So the the they narrow it down
and 10 of them could be doing something.
They just need to be tweaked. But a lot of times as
entrepreneurs won't come back. They just take the rejection and
move on. And then, you know, out of, you

(22:16):
know, the six that kind of make the final cut 3 get to pitch,
the other three are just as good.
They just didn't didn't meet thecriteria, the timeline of what
would be interesting to the Angels that month.
But if you're in a small town, like we're in Atlanta or, you
know, relative, like we're not in a small town, but we only
have two at the time, we only had two Angel groups and we

(22:38):
really barely have more than that now.
I mean, we kind of sort of do, but the, the most official ones
are really only two and a third one that, you know, they don't
hold meetings. They just, you know, there's one
groups that get together and just make decisions.
But if you got dinged on one reputation spread and the other

(22:58):
group wouldn't look at you because the first group didn't
like you. They didn't bother to say why
didn't you like them? Oh, they were good.
They just didn't fit our cut, you know, and then next month
there's another 20. So they would say come back, you
know, and maybe somebody that took a liking to them would
encourage them and mentor them. But it just, that's just the
nature of the beast. So a lot of companies would get

(23:20):
shut out of getting funded. I, you know, and it was really
heartbreaking to me. And even then when they get into
the group, you have 30-40 peoplein a room.
They don't all invest in everyone.
They kind of pick one that they coalesce around and they group
their money to that. So even then, the two that
didn't get funding wasn't that they weren't, they weren't
fundable. It was that the majority like

(23:43):
this deal better than the other one.
And so it, you know, this was just, I, it was really
heartbreaking to see innovation that are the market really
needed not get out into the market.
And I saw this, this imbalance between innovators starving for
capital and you know, this, thatthey just couldn't get it

(24:04):
because there was such a gap. And there's still such a gap.
So many more entrepreneurs that are qualified through incubators
and accelerators that don't get the capital that they need and
struggle and struggle and struggle and everyday people.
Here's the other part of it, locked out of creating these
wealth building opportunities. And it was the birth, my belief,

(24:25):
this is where my belief came. If we could open up capital
raising to anyone and investors invent and investors people,
anyone could invest in them. Talk about a win, win for
entrepreneurs and the investors.It wasn't just limited to
millionaires and the most charismatic entrepreneurs that

(24:47):
looked like the people in the room and so, you know, could
look like an act like the talk, like the people in the room.
So it was a great thing. And then the Great Recession hit
and it hit me hard for a lot of different reasons.
And I had another aha moment, right about corporate America,
time and money, because my groupwas really not people that had

(25:10):
had tech exits and were independently wealthy.
They were people that had ran their own businesses, had the
money as accredited or they wereexecutives and businesses.
They were partners in a law firm, things like that.
So when the Great Recession happened, their time spent, they
had the money, but they couldn'tspend the time in the way we

(25:30):
were structured because a lot ofAngel groups require the, the
members to do a lot of the work screening and follow up and due
diligence. And if they don't have the time
to do that, they just don't invest.
And so it, we needed to change. It was too late to pivot the
model and and I sunset the groupand and the JOBS Act was on the

(25:51):
horizon. That was a JOBS Act in 2012 and
it truly was it intended to be this great equalizer both sides
of the table, democratization ofthe capital markets.
That's the term we threw around all the time back then because
reward base had proven that it worked to raise capital.
But because of the laws of general solicitation they were

(26:14):
at that were set up in 1933. It was out of sync with how
people communicated what was theInternet was doing, the openness
of emails and social media and all that kind of stuff, right?
And so you know, it was one of those things where things that
we take for granted now smartwatches, drones, 3D
printers, even the physic fidgetwidget if you're not, if you're

(26:37):
watching the video, if you're onSpotify, flip over to the video
got got toys. The fidget widget all came to
market because and even Oculus headset, right, it came to
market because of people puttingmoney in to get the product
earlier than it was available inthe store.
A reward was they got a product,early adopters, and they figured

(26:59):
out that Fast forward a couple years later, those companies
would go to market. They'd take raise millions of
dollars to develop their productto get it manufactured and prove
that they had a marketplace. And then a big, big angels and
VCs would step in, give them thegrowth capital and they would go
on to sell the company or whatever.
Like an Oculus case. They raised millions of dollars

(27:21):
through reward based, raised a small VC round until Facebook
bought them for 8:00, $100 million.
And so you had to say to yourself, if somebody had $1000
to buy this headset that that not been ever in the marketplace
before 510, seven years later, Idon't remember exactly how long

(27:43):
it was and they they were boughtfor $800 million.
What would that $1000 in equity be right now?
They had an obsolete piece of equipment worth nothing, right?
If they had $1000 in equity, would have been $8000.
Would it have been $16,000? Would it have been $80,000?

(28:04):
We don't know because they weren't allowed to, you know,
and the, and the barrier wasn't knowledge of of, you know.
Do you have what it takes to do this?
Are you willing to do things that are risky?
You know, because we weren't limiting people's ability to go
out and spend $500 a month on a lottery ticket or go to Atlantic
City or Vegas and throw $20,000 on the crap tables.

(28:27):
So why are we telling them they're not allowed to invest in
entrepreneurs? That they're passionate about
the problem that they're solvingor they think they're doing
something really cool? Why are we judging them as being
lesser than? Because they don't make $250,000
a year or $200,000 a year and a half, $1,000,000 in in net

(28:47):
worth, right? What we know, but there's plenty
of millionaires out there. You know, people that win the
lottery that technically can be an accredited investor.
They have no idea how to actually invest.
I see it all the time of companies that have exits and
all of a sudden these instant millionaires in there and all
they really know is the code, but they want to become an Angel
investor. They got no idea and they, they

(29:10):
follow that thing of losing on their first 3 because they
invest on emotion. And I digress because that's
what's in the course. And I'm happy if you are still
listening cuz you got to get thecode here, right.
So how did I get, how did I decide that I needed to do this?
I was, I'll tell you, I was licking my wounds.
I was really not in a good placeafter the Great Recession.

(29:34):
I'd had huge dreams on building a really big national network of
Angel group Angel investors. Being able to kind of like the
Kretsu forum was my vision. I was, I was doing this thing,
all of that. And it just, and so, you know,
we have that kind of disappointment.

(29:55):
It's somehow sometimes it's hardto pick yourself up by the
bootstraps and and you know, getgoing on this right.
And so do it again because I didn't want to fail again,
right? And so my dad was dying.
He had been a highly successful entrepreneur in his own right.
He had invented something that wasn't and that changed the

(30:16):
whole industry. He was the guy that invented the
ability to to put five colors ona T-shirt.
We take that for granted now, but prior to that there was only
two colors that people would puton AT shirt.
And he invented it. He was an engineer and it's a,
it's a registration thing and a few other things.
But he invented that and became the godfather of the screen

(30:38):
printing industry and made some money in that regard.
And then I realized that he didn't even do that till he was
50. And so I was like, oh, my life's
not over. I can do this.
I'm passionate about it. Nobody else is passionate about
it. Most people, the existing

(30:59):
angels, hedge, you know, brokered private equity funds,
people that kind of in the space, they would all look at me
like I had a third eye when I talked about the need for more
angels or how people don't know how to do it.
And it was almost like, it's to this day, people almost think

(31:20):
like, oh, you know, like sprinkle some water out there
and like Pixie dust you grow angels like those little monkeys
in the water that you get at a novelty roadside stand or
something, right? That, you know, it's, it's a,
they just think that they, they just come, they don't know how
to cultivate. I had cultivated a whole new

(31:42):
group of them to, in order to get NBA and I to be as ranked as
it was. I just didn't have an
operational structure that couldsustain through the Great
Recession because I needed to learn a few things too.
And so, you know, I said to myself, the world needs this
message. They need this message of

(32:04):
financial empowerment and it's not a secret if it really
shouldn't be a secret, that the second greatest way to create
wealth is to be an an investor in a successful entrepreneur.
If you think about it, if you just like break back the

(32:24):
curtains that blind you on this idea that Angel investing or and
now crowdfund investing is something that is bad.
Well, millionaires have been doing it for 80 years and they
can invest in anything they want.
And if it was something they expected to lose their money on,
they they wouldn't do it. The reason why they do it is

(32:47):
that it's three times more profitable than real estate and
stocks. Google it.
OK, you know, and there's a reason if you know how to do it
now, if you don't know how to doit, you do it once you do it
just three times, odds are you'll lose your money.
And you're the ones that drag down the averages.
If people actually knew how to do it, if they took my course,

(33:07):
they would it would grow. It would probably be four or
five times as profitable. It's, it's currently, if you
just do the basic math and I putit in the book and the book
Inside Secrets to crowdfund Investing Jane's Journey, I talk
about it there. I talk about it in the course.
It is 7 times more profitable than investing in your 401K.

(33:29):
But everybody says invest in your 401K when you start a job
and and that's old school. That's so boomer, right?
And so I have, you know, it and,and I, I'm not doing the math on
here, but you know, I had to start a movement if I was going
to leave my thumbprint on the world.
This is what I wanted it to be. I wanted to be the person that

(33:52):
revolutionized, that disrupted an industry and solved A
fundamental problem that broughtmore capital into the market to
fund the innovation. And ultimately, if I'm, when I'm
successful at this and you help me be this because you join, you
spread the word, right? All the organizations that I'm

(34:12):
working with and the things thatI'm planting that when this
happens, the economy of the United States will be so
dominant on innovation that we will be unstoppable in
everything you can even possiblynot even think of, you can't

(34:34):
even imagine yet. Because when it's solving
problems of, of disease or, or agricultural issues or
environmental issues or housing issues, or, you know, efficiency
issues, everything, nothing in the marketplace that you take

(34:56):
advantage of as an innovation came to the market without some
help, financial help. And, and Microsoft wouldn't be
Microsoft, Amazon wouldn't be Amazon.
You know, Apple wouldn't exist. You wouldn't even have Apple.
You wouldn't even have an Apple iPhone had there not been people

(35:20):
that put money into that companywhen it was still in the garage
and then went from the garage to, you know, the next days in
the next stage, in the next stage.
So those billionaires that you admire or hate, whatever it is,
they did it on on the shoulders of a hundred, 1000 thousands,

(35:40):
whatever investors that put their money together to back
that technology back that founder and give them what they
didn't have. They had the inspiration, they
had the know how, but they didn't have the money.
And they solve that problem for them.
And then they ride their coattails all the way to the

(36:02):
moon and share in their success.And in the process of doing that
might become a go from 100,000 air to a millionaire, right?
They might go, they might becomea millionaire to a a
quadrillionaire or something. I don't know, you know what I
mean. You see what I'm saying?

(36:23):
Even Home Depot had Angel investors, new concept, right?
Every big, big and big money person that does big things in
your town with a big business, they did not do that on credit
card debt and a mortgage on their house.
They did it with investors. And I'm offering a pathway for

(36:45):
anybody to participate in that, that that wealth creation
strategy and leap the wealth gapfor those that are in the
sectors that have been left behind.
And I'll be quite frank, women and people of color, because the
laws were stacked against them that they could not borrow money

(37:07):
to buy a house to start a business, to get any money on a
business, even get a credit cardlike women until 1984 with the
when the Equal Opportunity Credit Card Act, whatever was
passed, but it was a Supreme Court decision almost a year a
decade before that, before it became legislated, they had to

(37:31):
have a man sign cosign for them.Husband, brother, son, dad,
uncle, didn't matter as long as they Co signed for the woman.
So the woman can do it right. And and there were even laws
that didn't allow women to own companies too at the time.

(37:52):
So you have a whole sector of the population that didn't start
doing the things that most everybody started back in in the
end of World War 2 create and even back further in the
industrial age that you people were able to participate.
So there's a gap and this is theway to leap the wealth gap

(38:12):
better than stocks that are justas volatile as anything else.
And we've seen it in the Great Recession.
People lost their entire retirement because of the
downturn in the real estate thattook a decade to come back and
stock market crashed. It took a decade to come back
and now you know, you can, you can have impact and you can

(38:33):
control your destiny in such a large way by learning how to do
this kind of investment. So if you're going to start a
movement, the compassion capitalist movement, what do you
got to do? You know, I'd use that term for
a long time. I need, we needed to move the
barriers that was that was happening with the JOBS Act.

(38:54):
And if not for me, then who? Who would start a movement?
Who would change the world? Who had enough heart and
gumption to work on it, to punchup for a decade on this right?
And and you know, but me. So I wrote my first book, Inside
Secrets to Angel Investing, right here.

(39:17):
They're watching it's the step by step strategies to leverage
private equity investment for passive wealth creation.
What a mouthful. But you know what I didn't know?
I didn't know that people were were not going to be looking for
a book on Angel investing. I thought with the crowdfunding
crowdfunding act, you know, everybody would be like, Oh my
God, I had no idea I could invest in entrepreneurs.
I better go learn how to do it. And I wanted to make sure that

(39:39):
it that investing in entrepreneurs didn't get a
further black eye because peopleinvested on emotion because of a
cool video. And then all of a sudden, they
lost their money. And they would go, yeah, that
financial planner was right. My my neighbor was right.
I shouldn't have done it. And and then they would tell
more people and more people would tell more people.
And then we would really be sunk.

(39:59):
And entrepreneurs would really be Sol when it came to getting
access to more capital, right. So I wrote this book and it is a
deep serious. I mean, I do have cartoons in
here that I had created. I do have some artwork in here.
And so I think I mean, and I do have, you know, I have like
little quotes. I got stuff.
I talk about the story of Oculus.

(40:21):
I got, you know, I talk about the story of of, you know,
they've been a Jerry that raisedmoney in a unbelievable kind of
way in Vermont through Angel local Angel investors, kind of
like the original community based finance, right.
So I wrote the book. That's the first thing you got
to do. You got to write a book, right.
And I knew this I had started, but you know, it, it was I was

(40:41):
also intimidated by the whole process.
And it took me a while to finally get it out from when I
started writing it. And then I relaunched my
podcast, the compassionate Capitalist show.
It had been primarily a way to promote the companies that had
been in our pitch events to my larger network because nobody
really listened to podcasts backin, you know, 2000 and 2000.

(41:03):
What was it, 2005? Nobody really listened to
podcast back then. But it was a way to get that
500, that group of 500 investorsaround the country to see the
deals and stay within laws of general solicitation because
they were my network, right? And I needed to have a platform
that I could get into the earbuds.
You, you that are listening now to share this message.

(41:25):
And that's what I do about the Compassionate Capitalist show
talks all about creating wealth as a successful entrepreneur and
investor, as an entrepreneur andbest practices for that.
And then I spent 20 years now building content, advising
entrepreneurs and guiding investors.
And I realized something was missing.
The book was 1 dimensional. There's a reality about people
in books. They'll best laid intentions.

(41:47):
They will open it up, read the first 100 pages and then it sits
on a shelf. And I had step by step and
everything and this vast resource portal that I had built
that had samples of safe agreements and convertible notes
and private placement and investor questionnaires and
worksheets to figure out how much you can invest evaluation
capital, you know, calculators and cap table examples and and

(42:12):
all this stuff. So that the first time investor
would know about these things and it wouldn't be unfamiliar
with them when they started to and for Angel groups to be able
to use it to bring new members up to speed.
And you know, it was, but it wasquite evident that people just
didn't know about it, right. I mean, I network were so the

(42:34):
truth about wealth creation, right?
And this is my big discovery really.
Too many main ways to create wealth.
I kind of hit it on before be a successful entrepreneur or
invest in entrepreneurs. The wealthy have always done
both. Most people think they have to
quit their job, risk everything and start a business to get
wealthy. But not everybody's got a great

(42:55):
idea. Not everybody really wants to do
the work that it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.
Not everybody can build a multi $1,000,000 business that
investors have to have in order to get their multiple on the
money, right? They're looking for 10X, they
settle for 5X. They don't want to do one that's
going to do 1X unless they're like a real estate investor and

(43:16):
they and it's packaged like thatand it's a revenue share, which
is part of the training is building your Angel
profitability blueprint with near term income, mid range
exits and long term big wins. So, you know, if you're going to
create generational wealth, you have to be able to create a very

(43:39):
big business. And it gets harder and harder,
you know, all along the way. And if you can't raise capital,
it's virtually impossible or it takes 2030 years to do it with
the second generation taking over.
And I figured out, you know, with, with entrepreneurs, they
might build a successful company, but they do one or two,

(43:59):
maybe 3. A lot of times the ones that are
really successful have had base hits beforehand.
Not really big hit it out of theparks.
And I realize there's another way you can keep your day job
and benefits and financial security, you know, right now
very what's going to happen with, you know, benefits and

(44:21):
getting insurance if you're not on somebody's plan and they're
changing all around 4 O1 KS and probably not going to even have
matching funds. And most companies don't.
Most people don't even stay in abusiness more than five years.
And so side gigs instead of doing a side gig that just you
were working time, putting time into making money, more time.

(44:43):
And to make money, you got your 9:00 to 5:00 and then from 5:00
to 9:00 you're doing something else.
Instead, learn how to invest. Start with crowdfund investing
and have fun in your in your 5 to 9.
Put your money to work backing those entrepreneurs that are
doing something really cool and amazing and are and are on to

(45:06):
something that can scale. And you are really passionate
about the problem they're solving and you love watching
them grow. The impact you have, the
contribution you're having to society, the legacy that you're
going to create when that company is successful, right?
And Jane in my book Inside Secrets to Crowdfund Investing,

(45:28):
follow follow Jane's journey. See how new the next generation
builds wealth or the new generation.
I don't even know the name of a book.
Find out how the new generation builds wealth with purpose,
passion, and profit. Because it's not A next

(45:49):
generation. It's, it's you this generation,
but it's a new generation in theway that they're doing it,
right? It's not, we're not waiting for
the next. This is something ideal for
millennials, Gen. Xers, Gen.
Z's because they're up and coming and even, you know, maybe
people on the on the borderline of boomerism, right?

(46:10):
Just depends on where you are, your level of capital, your
gumption, how much you want to do this.
Did you miss out on building up a retirement fund?
In the book Jane is like a 50 year old nurse, mid mid tier mid
management nurse grown kids out of college had saved up for

(46:32):
investing in real estate, saw how her parents lost their much
of the retirement when they're they couldn't afford the
additional mortgages on those property.
That's a myth by the way. The bank, no, the bank owns it,
not you. You're just making payments on
that loan. You know that you can lose all
of that your down payment, all those payments, all the repairs

(46:54):
you did out the window. Talk about a big risk.
That's a big risk, OK. And it happened in more and more
these days it's just an insurance pay an insurance tick
up or a property tax tick up that and property taxes are
going up. You know, if that might put you

(47:14):
underwater on that. So you know, there's, there's
myths out there that set the stage because of these
regulations and crowdfunding real estate became the thing
because all those financial planners said you could do it.
And you get a postcard that witha teaching how to do it.
You know, you could go to a conference and get ACD on how to

(47:35):
do it. But nobody teaches about Angel
investing, right? So keep your day job, learn how
to invest in entrepreneurs and let's shift this this this power
and influence that you know it has.
You've got to be a entrepreneur to create wealth.
And let's show people that you can create wealth by investing

(47:59):
in entrepreneurs. So if you aren't in that
community that struggles to findinvestors that those would
likely invest with, they want toinvest in in, I'm sorry, they
want to invest it with impact tocontribute to the growth in

(48:20):
their community. The reason why those those first
investors that learned by losing, they did and they became
a compassionate capitalist is because they knew that they were
having an impact. Yes, they were picking the next
big thing, but it was the next big thing that was solving a
problem that they cared about. That's why they were willing to
do that and build a large portfolio that ultimately if

(48:41):
it's diversified. And I gave the example of four O
1K, 60 companies, $500 a month for five years, 60 companies, 18
of them go out of business just like and you still make 7 times
the amount you would make on a four O 1K with a in the money
market. So all of that, right?

(49:02):
So the key is strategies, diversification and consistency.
That's how portfolios are built and wealth is grown.
And so I've kept hitting a wall.I've been doing this for 10
years longer in in talking aboutthis and and I took a lot of
analysis on the belief patterns,the emotional elements of it,

(49:25):
all of that stuff to break the code to figure it out and I have
figured it out. So let's look at the false
beliefs, right real quick. There are these are the lies
that that people tell themselvesabout why they can't invest that
I overcome with the training andin Jane's story, not in this
book, but in the in the new book.

(49:46):
OK, that will be released. OK, I'm running a promo this
week through Labor Day. OK, put your money to work.
Start your hard earned money to work working for you by getting
the course and by getting the book 50% off if you do it before
Labor Day when you hear this, ifyou're missing this after Labor

(50:07):
Day, the code in the show notes will get get to 25% off.
I'll go ahead and tell you now, it's CA-25 and Jane 25, five
chapter for Compassion Analyst Academy and California 25, but
it's in the show notes. Here's the false beliefs.
I don't know enough. You don't need an MBA.
You need a framework. That's what my books and my

(50:30):
books and Academy provide. I don't have the time.
Learning doesn't require hours every day.
It's a step by step system. That means you learn as you go
and you can do a lot of it. You can do it on a Saturday, you
can do it at night, you can do whatever to learn the system.
And then when you start to buildyour portfolio, Jane, Jane fit
like, you know, she stops scrolling and looking at reels

(50:53):
on cats or political fighting orthis, that, or the other thing
and starts looking at exciting things that are happening that
she's juiced about that She's like, Oh my God, like, because
she's watching the videos of these entrepreneurs that are
doing crazy, crazy exciting things.
Right. I don't have enough money.
Crowdfund investing allows you to start with as little as $100.

(51:17):
Now you know that that you aren't going to build, you know,
$100 ain't going to get you $100,000.
You might get you $1000 on a bigexit, but it's OK to start
because it's OK. It's not that much to lose.
So you can figure it out. And that's that idea about the
500 a month came from Jason Kakanis when he talked about
what he would do if he could go back and talk to his 20 year old

(51:38):
self and do and and start investing in entrepreneurs on
crowdfunding rather than starting his first business,
right. And so, you know, he said he
would join a company, learn the insurance and outs of
corporations so he could build acompany successfully himself.
What worked? What didn't work, you know,
instead of failing his way to figuring that out.

(51:59):
And he would get paid while he did it and he would, you know,
have benefits and he would invest.
OK, Yeah, I'm not smart enough. Well, you know, with the right
guidance, you don't need to be afinancial wizard.
You just need to follow the proven principles that work for
people that are evaluating the entrepreneur opportunities and

(52:21):
learning discernment and and following their own thing.
They don't digress, you know. And in the course I talked all
about the mistakes and entrepreneurs that investors
make. So you don't have to make those
mistakes. You won't if you follow it.
I'm too old to start. It's never too late to diversify
your wealth strategy. Everyone, every single smart

(52:44):
investment can create generational impact, right?
As long as you, you can even invest in the ones just you just
change your portfolio. And I talk about that in the
book, how depending on your risktolerance, how you structure,
you know your, your 10 initial investments.
So what's the solution? Knowing all this, the book, the

(53:07):
first one, open the door with all the resources that I talked
about, The second book, inside secrets to crowdfund investing.
Follow Jane's journey, see how anew generation is creating.
Well, it builds wealth with therapist passion and profit,

(53:29):
right? Making it relatable and
accessible for everyone. That book too, right, Because it
needed to be this other one was it was dry.
It's hard. It's like it, you got to be
really, you know, it's not an easy read and it's dense if
people come back to it, if they're really loyal to it, but
they really needed a way to bring it in life.

(53:51):
And that's the compassion Alist Academy, beginning and advanced
training all the way through, plus a vast resource portal to
guide you step by step. And guess what?
If you buy the first course, if you buy a course in there and
then it's not cheap because there's literally 70 plus
lessons in there. You get the books, they come

(54:12):
with it. So you can buy a book for 20
some odd dollars, right, and geta discount code, or you can buy
the course and get both digital versions of them.
So whether you want to dip your toe in or build a full port to
foil portfolio with strategy. Now there is a road map, right?
Getting started everything that you need.

(54:34):
And at the very least, you should take the the basics.
So you can decide if even if this asset class is right for
me. Do you want to commit the time
and money to be successful at it, to build your own financial
legacy and bring it all full circle from secret society to
open opportunity, from barriers to accessible tools?
I believe that the next great wealth movement is this.

(55:00):
They've been talking about this great like the the transfer of
assets, you know, this generational transfer of assets.
So if you're one of those that is getting those assets, you
know, even if they like you get a piece of property that you
don't want to deal with the property management, you don't
make that much money on it, sellit and put that money into

(55:22):
companies. 20 grand won't buy you a a piece of property, but
20 grand will build you a 10 company portfolio, right?
You know, or more. And then as you make money, you
get something that you do just like you would be putting $1000
into a piece of property if you owned it or $2000 on your

(55:42):
mortgage payment if you got the cash to do that.
Put that into a company and build a portfolio of 60.
Oh my God, the wealth you would create with 60 investments and
doesn't happen overnight. It takes time and patience, but
it'll happen. I, you know, just anyway.

(56:04):
So I am inviting you to buy the new book.
Let's see if I get it right. Inside Secrets to Crowdfund
investing. Follow Jane's journey.
See how the new generation builds wealth with purpose,
passion and profit. You get it.
But kind of like for us old school people that used to do
used to read the The Reading Primer, follow see Dick and Jane

(56:28):
run. So follow Jane's journey, see a
new generation, right? It's the best starting place.
If you're not really certain, ifthis is for you, not ready to
commit the time and money for a course, then get the book.
Kindle's going to be like 10 bucks and paperbacks like 20-5
something like that and use the discount.
Get it during the pre launch. Help me become a bestseller

(56:50):
author so more people know aboutit.
And we and I want just want you to know that you can create
wealth. You don't need to quit your job.
You don't need to have millions.You just need to start.
Start with this knowledge step with start with one step.
Start today and use the code CA-25 to take 25% off your first

(57:13):
purchase of the codes or get both books and or get the book
of the pre launch 50% off if youjust go to the pre launch on
Amazon in the first before LaborDay.
And if you missed that then use the code and get a discount on
that too. And with that, I'm going to say
onwards and upwards. Have a great day.

(57:37):
Thank you for listening to this podcast, The Compassionate
Capitalist Show, brought to you by Cougar and Capital Holdings
with Karen Brands as host. You are encouraged to visit the
website cougarand.com to learn more about how Karen and her
team help investors and Angel groups make money by avoiding

(57:59):
investing in deals that suck, and how the Cougar and Capital
companies and partners help entrepreneurs breakthrough their
barriers to capital and live their dream by building
companies that can scale and create generational wealth for
their founders and investors. If your business could benefit
from exposure to our audience ofbusiness executives,

(58:22):
entrepreneurs, and investors, weare seeking financial partners
and sponsors for The Compassionate Capitalist Show to
help us take this podcast beyondour 150,000 listeners and
amplify the message of the compassionate capitalist
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The Compassionate Capitalist Show is available on YouTube,

(58:42):
Apple podcast, iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, and
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your part of the Compassionate Capitalist movement by
subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts and sharing this
show with your friends and colleagues.

(59:03):
Be sure to pick up your copy of Karen's bestseller that launched
the Compassionate Capitalist movement.
Inside secrets to Angel investing.
A step by step strategies to leverage private equity
investment for passive wealth creation.
Thank you for listening.