Jeff Wenzel warns founders that investment clubs fail when they obsess over legal details like Reg CF and Reg D before building actual investor interest. Focus first on generating real intent from a genuine community, then handle the paperwork. The mechanics matter only after you have people who actually want in.
So here's what I'm noticing is happening as I'm rolling out this investment club for founders. Every founder I've talked to about this makes the same mistake. They approach the club as if it's like a platform, and what they do inside of that is then they start worrying all about the nuances of the technical ways of raising the capital, right? All the nuances, all the paperwork basically. And I have to constantly keep reminding them that none of it matters if there's no community, there's no crowd, there's no excitement, there's no interest, there's no intent. If those things don't don't exist, I don't care what vehicle we raise the capital in. That's the mistake that every single founder is making. I have to somehow kind of push back to people and get them to start understanding we have one goal right now, and that's to show some actual intent to invest in your, in your deal. Some movement, some traction. I don't even care if it's 20 people, 25 people, 30 people, 10 people. That's what I have to get people to think about. That's, that's the focus right now. They get so caught up in the nuances of Reg CF, Reg D, investment club, what the lawyers are going to say, how the money gets terms. And again, all that stuff's important. I'm not saying it's not important, but when is it important? It's important when you got 100 people begging, knocking on your door, you know, excited to invest. That's when it's important, right? That's when we work it through. Prior to that, just stop worrying about it. Have conversations, get interests, get people excited about what you're working on, and then move into the next chapter. But get that cart behind the horse, not in front of it.
