background preloader

Dwolla

Dwolla
Ben Milne founded Dwolla There's a tiny 12-person startup churning out of Des Moines, Iowa. Dwolla was founded by 28-year-old Ben Milne; it's an innovative online payment system that sidesteps credit cards completely. Milne has no finance background, yet his little operation is moving between $30 and $50 million per month; it's on track to move more than $350 million in the next year. Unlike PayPal, Dwolla doesn't take a percentage of the transaction. We interviewed Milne about how he is building a credit card killer and Square rival from the middle of the nation where VCs and press are scarce. BI: We hear you're making credit card companies angry. Ben Milne: Ultimately we're trying to build the next Visa, not the next PayPal. Dwolla started out of my old company. So I thought, 'how do I get paid through a website without paying credit card fees?' That was three years ago, so we've been working on the project for a really long time. How many transactions are you doing? What's your story?

New Restaurants Turn to the Public for Cash Bank loans were out of reach. “We didn’t have the kind of collateral they wanted,” said Mr. Lefkove, a 31-year-old punk rocker and publisher’s copywriter, nostalgic for family visits to Bigelow’s New England Fried Clams in Rockville Centre, N.Y. “I liquidated my and my I.R.A. as well,” Mr. Lefkove said. It wasn’t enough. So to help get his restaurant, Littleneck, over the finish line, the next stop was Kickstarter.com — a Web site that solicits donations to finance art, technology and business projects. The Internet campaign helped Littleneck financially, but Mr. Spurned by tapped-out investors and tightwad bankers in challenging times, restaurateur-wannabes are turning to their neighborhoods, and the wider community of the Internet, to finance their dreams. For restaurateurs it provides the added benefit of eliminating interfering investors who second-guess them and demand higher prices for higher returns. Mr. They are hoping that “others will use this concept and copy it,” Mr.

Dwolla's Series B: Three things it means for Dwolla (Part 1) About the author: Geoff Wood is the COO and main connection point in Iowa for Silicon Prairie News, the co-founder of VolunteerLocal and founder of Eggcrates. For more on Wood, see the note that follows this post. As you may be aware, the anticipated and recently rumored Series B funding news broke this week for the good folks at Dwolla in Des Moines. This round totalled $5 million and was not only raised out-of-Iowa but out-of-Silicon Prairie, with money coming in from both coasts. As rumored, the round was led by New York-based Union Square Ventures. As we saw with the startup's Series A round in 2010, founder Ben Milne has been very strategic in the amount of capital he takes and who he takes it from. Dwolla's leadership team chose USV to lead the round and I believe it is purposeful for three main reasons: While Wilson himself didn't join the board – his associate Albert Wenger did – he'll still lend his star investor fame to Dwolla's operation.

Bill Gross Just Made A Huge Bet On Economic Doom, And Nobody Seems To Care via PIMCO This week, bond god Bill Gross just made a super-long bet on the long end of the yield curve, coming right after a historic rally in fixed income. It was a gigantic shift from his stance earlier this year, when he bet against Treasuries -- a bet that famously worked out badly for him. The interesting thing about this is that his short bet got TONS of attention (including a big story in The Atlantic), whereas his new long bet is only getting a little. The funny thing about this is that in terms of implication for the economy, the new long bet is much more significant. Shorting Treasuries, conversely, was a very bullish bet on the economy, as Treasuries fall when the economy is improving (or at least lately that's been the pattern). And so really this new bet should be getting tons of attention for what it says: If it pays off, that will be very ominous.

3 Reasons Not to Start a Food Biz - Food Media You see shiny jars of organic cherry marmalade on the shelves of some upscale food shop and you think, "I love making jam, I could do that." Chances are you can't. Not now, anyway. This is a particularly terrible time to enter the artisan food market. Here's why: 1. Alli Ball is the assistant grocery buyer at Bi-Rite, the market at the forefront of San Francisco's buy-local movement. "The bar is so much higher than it was a few years ago because there are so many producers out there," she says. Indeed, Bi-Rite's shelves are so crowded that the store is constantly trying to figure out how to slot in more product—the store now "single-faces," stocking a single rather than a double row of products, and hangs bagged items from clips. But if there are so many new products, shouldn't the overflow be spilling into bigger chains, like Whole Foods? 2. For a small food maker, the holy grail is getting into the big chains: Safeway, Walmart, Kroger. 3. Making things by hand is laborious.

Dwolla security Crowdfunding: Where it has been and where the new bill is taking it (infographic) When marketing executives Michael Migliozzi II and Brian Flatow decided they wanted to buy Pabst Blue Ribbon, a private beer company, they created BuyaBeerCompany.com to ask the public for financial help. The idea was quickly shot down by the SEC, prompting the recent discussion on where “crowdfunding” fits into the scheme of private businesses. Crowdfunding, the practice of private companies soliciting the public for investments, has been made popular by websites such as Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, ProFounder and others. These are great for individuals and small groups looking for a leg up, but when it comes to private businesses using these as an investment tactic in exchange for shares in the company, the SEC wants everything to be nice and documented. Thus, the commission created a crowdfunding bill to officially allow private companies legal access to crowdfunding. Currently, the SEC only allows a company to have 499 shareholders total in a private company.

4 Tips for Artisan Food Startups - Food Media So you still want to start a food business, despite the obstacles? Here are four things to consider: 1. This is where many artisan food makers fall down. Emily Olson, cofounder of the specialty food subscription service Foodzie, agrees that "unprofessional" packaging is the downfall of many. "The packaging helps you trust what you purchased," continues Olson. 2. It's easier to sell a unique product than one that's similar to many others. "It's a pretty basic part of a business plan," says Caleb Zigas, executive director of San Francisco business incubator La Cocina, "to stand in a grocery store and evaluate competitor products. Olson thinks the baked-good space is particularly crowded: "I think it's mostly that those are easy to make in your home kitchen," she says. 3. It's easy to cringe with Ball when she describes small producers who tell her they've been selling jam at farmers' markets for $10 a jar, so they'd like her to pay $9. Of course, you'll have to account for scale. 4.

Here Are The Real Reasons Why Gold And Silver Plunged Many people have asked me to comment on the plunge in gold and silver. First let's take a look at the wrong answer: Case Closed: CME Hikes Gold, Silver, Copper Margins And there you have it: CME just hiked gold margins by 21%, silver by 16% and copper by 18%. Mystery solved. Sorry Tyler, wrong answer. Four Reasons for Metals Plunge Fed did far less than expectedMutual fund redemptionsMargin calls at hedge fundsChina growth story fading1. The Fed did not do what everyone thought, which is to say something far more than "Operation Twist". As noted in advance, I explained why the Fed wouldn't do more than Operation Twist, in Six Things the Fed May Announce Tomorrow (But Likely Won't); Would Any of Them Matter? In short, the Fed did not print, or even threaten to print. For those expecting drama, the Fed's non-action was decidedly bearish for commodities in general, even gold. 2. Mutual fund cash levels are at or near record lows. 3. 4. As in 2008 there will be no decoupling. Metals Volatility

Going Legit, Part 4: Selling Your Food at Farmers' Markets ​Part four of a series in which SFoodie asks the question: With the Underground Market now shut down, what would it take for San Francisco's aspiring food microventures to go legit? Up until the Underground Market and its imitators appeared, Bay Area farmers' markets were one of the best incubators for new food businesses, offering beginning vendors a way to introduce themselves to the public and build personal relationships with customers. With small, neighborhood farmers' markets continuing to proliferate around San Francisco, they're still a viable launchpad, though the waiting lists for top markets are ridiculously long. SFoodie called up the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association, which runs 68 farmers' markets in San Francisco and six other counties, working with more than 900 farmers and prepared-food vendors. PCFMA assistant director Allen Moy first listed the basics: a commercial kitchen, for one. Not bad, really. "The permits are very expensive," Jordan said.

Airbnb Launches New Service for Monthly Rentals, Sublets Airbnb, the "marketplace for spaces" that lets people rent their property just like it's a hotel room, has now extended that concept to also include monthly rentals and sublets. As the company moves into this new category, it aims to make it just as easy to book a monthly stay or a sublet as it is to rent a hotel room. One advantage for those who are looking to host or rent property for a month or longer with Airbnb is the convenience of being able to search more than 20,000 properties around the world and filter choices by location or price. Airbnb emphasizes the convenience of being able to book long-term accommodations "sight-unseen," giving its customers the ability to avoid scoping out multiple apartments, condos or houses in person. In addition, the company touts the convenience of paying rent with a credit card and adds that many users will like trying out a neighborhood by living in it for a month or two before they commit to buying a house or signing a long-term lease.

Beekeeping 101: Online Classes Help Pay the Bills Megan Paska photo by Neil Despres The tech industry has brought about many recent innovations in business, but perhaps one of the most important for those in food+tech is the trend toward monetizing knowledge. No longer are entrepreneurs solely hoping low paying ads and internet product sales will pay the rent. Meet Megan Paska, a Brooklyn homesteader who runs a honey CSA and teaches urban farming workshops, including beekeeping. I got a chance to catch up with Paska to learn more about the course and her business model. Learn how to keep bees by registering here for the Urban Beekeeping 101 Online Seminar. Danielle Gould: What made you decide to teach your beekeeping course online? Megan Paska: Many of my readers kept saying they wished they could take one of my classes but they lived too far away. DG: Is this the first time you will be teaching a class online? MP: It is, but I’ve taught this exact class many times in person. DG: What is involved with teaching the course online?

The Bear Market Rally Has Begun | Toby Connor By: Toby Connor | Tue, Aug 30, 2011 I've been warning bears for a couple of weeks that the market was due for an aggressive bear market rally. That rally has clearly begun. I have often referenced the Rubber Band theory in my nightly reports. For those not in the know, the rubber band theory is nothing more than the tendency for any market to regress to the mean. In the case of a rubber band, the further you stretch it in one direction, the harder it snaps forward once you release it. Markets are really no different than a rubber band. Larger Image A normal bear market rally will typically last from 4 to 10 weeks. A bear market rally out of a yearly cycle low (other than a four year cycle low, the move into a yearly cycle low tends to be the most damaging decline in the stock market. Actually the market has already met all three confirmations that a new cyclical bear market has begun. 1. 2. When the S&P broke below the March low it triggered a new pattern of lower intermediate lows. 3.

Why Every Entrepreneur Should Self-Publish a Book I’ve published eight books in the past seven years, five with traditional publishers (Wiley, Penguin, HarperCollins), one comic book, and the last two I’ve self-published. In this post I give the specific details of all of my sales numbers and advances with the traditional publishers. Although the jury is still out on my self-published books, “How to be the Luckiest Man Alive” and “I Was Blind But Now I See” I can tell you these two have already sold more than my five books with traditional publishers, combined. If you, the entrepreneur, self-publish a book you will stand out, you will make more money, you will kick your competitors right in the XX, and you will look amazingly cool at cocktail parties. I know this because I am seldom cool but at cocktail parties, with my very own comic book, I can basically have sex with anyone in the room. But don’t believe me, it costs you nothing and almost no time to try it yourself. A) Advances are going to zero. B) Lag time. C) Marketing. Now, 1.

How to Pay No Taxes: 10 Strategies Used by the Rich If you have lots of money, Tuesday, April 17, was one of the best tax days since the early 1930s: Top tax rates on ordinary income, dividends, estates, and gifts remain at or near historically low levels. That’s thanks, in part, to legislation passed in December 2010 by the 111th Congress and signed by President Barack Obama. Starting next January, rates may be headed higher. For the 400 U.S. taxpayers with the highest adjusted gross income, the effective federal income tax rate—what they actually pay—fell from almost 30 percent in 1995 to just over 18 percent in 2008, according to the Internal Revenue Service. That’s not just good luck. The true effective rate for multimillionaires is actually far lower than that indicated by official government statistics. For those who can afford a shrewd accountant or attorney, our era is rife with opportunities to avoid—or at least defer—tax bills, according to tax specialists and public records. An executive has $200 million of company shares. 1.

new way of electronic payments, avoids fees of paypal and credit cards by ziggyhahn Nov 11

Related: