This post originally appeared on graffagninilaw.com.
Graffagnini, L.C. client Dinner Lab launched its unique dining platform in 2012 and has been charging full speed ahead ever since. Thinking outside of the box, the company created a consumer dining experience that brings together up and coming chefs with members at dinners in exciting locations in their now 20 markets.
Also launched in 2012 was the JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups Acts), signed by President Obama himself, which allows private businesses to solicit investors without going public. Dinner Lab now offers investment opportunities to members through a Private Placement offering as part of the JOBS Act.
Dinner Lab sent a message to members to gauge interest in the new possibility to participate in the crowdfunding, received 1,500 responses, and determined that about half meet the requirements to be accredited investors.
On December 3, Dinner Lab was featured in an article on Entrepreneur.com titled Food-Tech Startup Dinner Lab Is Crowdfunding a Cool $2 Million — From Its Customers.
“By crowdfunding,” the article author Catherine Clifford writes, “CEO and founder Brian Bordainick may give his lawyers a bit of anxiety, but he is also protecting his company’s vision from the profit-obsessed grip of venture capital money.”
As Clifford explains, having customers as investors is the opposite of having too many cooks in the kitchen, as the saying goes. The new plan “keeps the creative control of the company consolidated, untouched and unfettered by the otherwise omnipotent hand that comes with a big check from a VC deal.”
Graffagnini, L.C. is proud to act as counsel to Dinner Lab in this innovative financing. With the appropriate procedure in place, Dinner Lab can raise funds while supporting its core vision.
Read the full article here.