crowdfunding + municipal infrastructure (e.g. 1gbps fiber)

[chatmasta]

legislation = opportunity

Two big recent pieces of legislation:

- SEC crowdfunding rules. sell equity to non-accredited investors.

- FCC net neutrality rules. municipalities can create independent broadband networks.

Do you see the opportunity?

1. Start LLC e.g. "San Diego Broadband Fund"

2. Hire vendor to install and maintain physical cables

3. License usage rights of cables to an ISP, e.g. google fiber

4. Raise funds via crowdfunding


Community of people gets together, uses crowdfunding platform to raise money for fiber, platform connects them with contractors to install it, platform licenses access to ISPs.



discuss

 

[KennyPowers]

legislation = opportunity

Two big recent pieces of legislation:

- SEC crowdfunding rules. sell equity to non-accredited investors.

- FCC net neutrality rules. municipalities can create independent broadband networks.

Do you see the opportunity?

1. Start LLC e.g. "San Diego Broadband Fund"

2. Hire vendor to install and maintain physical cables

3. License usage rights of cables to an ISP, e.g. google fiber

4. Raise funds via crowdfunding


Community of people gets together, uses crowdfunding platform to raise money for fiber, platform connects them with contractors to install it, platform licenses access to ISPs.



discuss

Sounds interesting, but at what point do I get my dick sucked?

 

[schockergd]

Can be done but you need an established corporate entity with the ability to be formally audited by a CPA.

We've been talking to diffrent groups and the cost to go A+ Tier 2 is $10k-$20k after it's all said and done.

 

[chatmasta]

who are the groups you need to talk to? how much do laws vary by state?

could you do this in developing countries?

 

[CashDoctor]

Good luck I have a friend who started a company that purely focuses on crowdfunding for municipal projects. Its been 3+ years and not much traction. He has sales staff, interns etc.. and Im sure $150-300K sunk into this thing with not much revenue.

 

[schockergd]

Good luck I have a friend who started a company that purely focuses on crowdfunding for municipal projects. Its been 3+ years and not much traction. He has sales staff, interns etc.. and Im sure $150-300K sunk into this thing with not much revenue.

Is he offering normal muni bond rates? They're a tough sell due to how low the interest rates are.

 

[chatmasta]

for the record I'm not trying to do this myself. but there is definitely potential here.

A more viable option may be wireless mesh networks, deployed via a model similar to solarcity. Crowdfund the routers, hire contractors to install them. You will need a fat fiber cable from a datacenter to a few wireless hubs, but you should be able to do most of it wirelessly. Quite a few mesh networks are already implemented in developing countries. In the USA, it may be a god way to get out of comcast's stronghold.

Although it may make mroe sense to wait and see how google/facebook/spacex implement their drones/satellites. My understanding is they are targeting developing countries, but I'm not sure how many square km a single drone/satellite can cover.