How Retail Investors Beat Wall Street (The Rich Hate This) w/ Darren Marble 💵 E99

Alternatives are maybe the most exciting aspect of the financial markets right now.

Investment opportunities that are not public.

Alternatives are startups.

They are secondaries.

Maybe secondaries in Anduril or Stripe.

You know, big, big, multi-billion dollar private companies,

but where there's demand for those securities.

This market is maybe the fastest growing market in U.S. capital markets right now.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Money Mondays. We are sitting here inside of an RV motorhome in Beverly Hills, California.
I had podcasts lined up all throughout the day and I happened to be scrolling through social media and saw my next guest was in Beverly Hills. Also, normally he's in New York and Tokyo and flying around the planet, working on financial things in the public markets, crowdfunding, etc.
And so I noticed he's right down the street. And so I convinced him to come over here and do this episode.
So I'm really excited. We've been friends for I don't even know how many years now.
It's got to be 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 years. And so timing wise, it worked out perfectly and that's the concept of an rv motorhome is it removes friction i would have driven over to wherever he was i often do that for celebrities athletes and business moguls i drive this motorhome to them to remove the friction to remove the timing and so it is serendipitous that our guest is here today because he happened to be in town now over his career i'm gonna let him get into it he has been a lot of his time in the crowdfunding space that's where i first met him and i watched him build that up and watched him help raise tens of millions of dollars for multiple different companies to help them with their businesses so we'll get right into that so if you can mr darren marble please give your quick two minute bio so we can get straight to the money.
Dan, thanks so much, man.

It's awesome to be in here with you.

The last time I was checking this out,

I think we were in Temecula filming part of season two

of what's your star of going public.

So serial founder, born and raised in the Bay Area,

came to UCLA for college, dropped out of UCLA,

got into sales.

Sales took me into entrepreneurship

and now I'm a serial founder.

I own and operate two companies that are in the online capital raising space.

So I have a fintech company, Issuance, which is like a processing engine for securities. It's like Stripe for securities or Stripe for capital.
and then as you know i'm a producer of a show of which you're a star called going public which is like shark tank where viewers can learn about exciting companies like cards and coffee

and ultimately click to invest and buy shares in featured companies while they watch. I would say, you know, in summary, my mission and kind of what drives me in these companies is a very simple idea that customers deserve an opportunity to be owners in companies, regardless of your net worth, your income.
And now there's new laws in the United States that permit everyday Americans to buy shares in companies like Cards & Coffee or thousands of others that are turning to their communities to help fuel the next stage of growth of their businesses. So goingpublic.com, someone goes there, they watch this show there.
Where else can they watch it? How did you come up with it? Walk us through what is Going Public. So it's a show like Shark Tank where we follow the stories of founders building their businesses, raising capital, and now we've infused the format with apprentice style challenges.
So for instance, if you haven't watched, we put Dan in a boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather. Yes, we did.
And the lights go on and it's boom, there's Floyd, the greatest boxer alive. And you're at the Money Mayweather gym.
And your challenge was to pitch your business while sparring with him. That is you and the other founders out of their comfort zone.
And that's what makes this show exciting. It's what makes it authentic and entertaining.
Season one was much more of a documentary style. Put a few million dollars into the production.
We got a startup documentary. I went to my partner the other year and said, if this is going to be bigger than Shark Tank, it needs to be more interesting.
We have to have a true reality format here. Like kidnapping me? Like kidnapping you at your own ranch, nonetheless.
The origin of this company is my co-founder, Todd Goldberg, pitched me on this idea. In 2017, we were at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in New York.
I was involved in an IPO where the retail investor, Everyday Americans, were actually able to buy IPO shares. And it was unique.
It was an historic deal. And he said, Darren, what if we were to create a show like Shark Tank where viewers can invest? And I said, Todd, as your very good friend, I'm here to tell you this is a very bad idea.
I've heard this pitch myself a hundred times. And you're not the only guy that's pitched me on this.
And he was kind of shocked. Todd is not a guy who likes to hear no, which ultimately makes him a good co-founder for me.
He said, OK, this is such a common idea. Where do I watch it? And of course, it didn't exist.
And what we realized in that moment is that it's a very complicated business to execute. So we figured out what were the components that we would need to put together to produce this show.
We need production, we need capital, we need technology, we need a business model, we need a distribution partner. Who's going to put this show out where their audience can potentially invest money into a company that may or may not be successful.
Maybe a company fails. So we were trying to answer these questions, liability, risk, compliance.
And it's taken us seven years to put out two seasons. And now we're on our way into production for season three and hopefully a lot more next year.
Now, behind all that is a company called Issuance. Explain that.
That is the more technical, important structure, which all things need. All sexy, cool things need infrastructure in the back end.
What is Issuance? Issuance is a software platform. It's a platform that supports various kinds of online capital raising.
So we have a product for campaigns, which are known as regulation crowdfunding campaigns. This is a capital raising tool that's been in effect since 2016

that allows companies, startups

to raise up to $5 million

from anyone over the age of 18 globally.

But to host a Reg CF campaign,

you have to work with

a FINRA regulated funding portal

or a FINRA regulated broker dealer.

So we're regulated.

This is a regulated software platform.

You can't, it's, you know's Shopify for shares or Stripe for shares. But ultimately, it's a subscription engine.
It's a software that allows retail investors to buy shares in a startup using their credit card, debit card, cash app, ACH or wire transfer. It's mobile optimized so that the everyday American, the retail investor, can buy shares in a startup on their phone and checkout using Apple Pay.
The same way we buy products when we see an ad on Instagram. So we've really worked to make this software super slick, really fast checkout.
It's about 45, 50 seconds and compliant with SEC rules and regulations. It's taken us many years and many millions of dollars to kind of build out.
So let's say someone has a company and they're like, I'm going to Google search crowdfunding, crowdfunding campaign. Why should they consider doing a crowdfunding and what are the options? Really good question.
So just like any kind of capital raise, you know, raising capital for your business under reg CF, for instance, it's not a fit for everyone. Typically, the companies that raise the most capital have a community of customers, fans and followers.
So if you're listening, you're watching, if you have a brand that's been established for several years, you're doing a few million in revenue, you've got a big email list, highly engaged email list, you have a real authentic and engaged community, you're a great fit to raise capital under Reg CF. You have a community that you can very easily turn into investors.
Conversely, if you're an AI guru who sold your last company for a billion dollars and you're starting your next business, but you don't have that natural audience, you're actually not a good fit. So, you know, we try to work with companies and figure out which businesses are actually going to have success raising capital this way, because it tends to favor the brands that have existing communities.
So someone, that's it. They decided like, you know what? I listened to Darren Marble.
I'm going to use issuance. I'm going to do a crowdfunding campaign.
What are the other elements to make it successful? So it's not just another campaign. Well, there's actually prerequisites first.
So before you launch, you actually have to provide certain disclosure to the investing public. And this is why the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, highly supports our industry.
You have to provide two years of reviewed or audited financials as a first step. Then you have to file a disclosure document with the SEC called a Form C.
And one of these steps requires a third-party auditor. The other step requires a third-party securities lawyer or a securities law firm.
And that's the trade-off. So, you know, I will sometimes say that this industry is the opposite or the antithesis of cryptocurrency.
No judgment on crypto, although I'm not active in that space. But with crypto, you can kind of launch a meme coin and tomorrow start pumping and promoting.
And that's not how this industry works. These are real businesses that have real revenues and products and services that are raising capital, selling real securities.
And that requires a process of disclosure, audits, legal work. And then once you go through that process, and this could take 30, 60, 90 days, depending on the readiness of the business, then you launch the campaign.
And from there, there's a marketing campaign that takes place. There's a marketing campaign to your customers, your fans, your followers.
You could invest dollars in paid media. You could bring in influencers or celebrities to market the deal.
All of these things are now legal. So that's kind of the upside.
So a consumer is listening. They're watching goingpublic.com.
They're seeing a cool episode. And they're like, yo, I like that company.
And they want to invest $350, some random number. Why should they consider investing into startup companies or midsize companies? You know, alternatives are maybe the most exciting aspect of the financial markets right now.
Alternatives meaning investment opportunities that are not public, right? So you've got stocks, bonds, those things are public, there's a lot of liquidity. Alternatives are startups.
They are secondaries, maybe secondaries in Anduril or Stripe, you know, big, big, multi-billion dollar private companies, but where there's demand for those securities are real estate investments, private credit. So, you know, this market is maybe the fastest growing market in U.S.
capital markets right now. One of the reasons, by the way, is that fewer companies are going public right now than ever before.
Right. So there's a backlog of companies that raise a lot of money.
They're private. They don't want to go public.
They're not having a hard time raising capital in private markets. And also, you know, people watching Jim Cramer, CNBC, that's an old model.
That's a dying model. That's a dying network, truthfully.
Cramer's become a meme. The average millennial or Gen Z investor doesn't trust traditional financial media.
They don't get their news from Jim Cramer or CNBC. They get their news from newsletters, from X, from TikTok, from Instagram, from consumable viral content.
So the younger investors are actually more interested in alternatives now than ever before. You know, I think that the risks are that you're investing in an asset that doesn't have liquidity.
So you're not going to buy $350 of a startup in our show and flip it for $1,000 tomorrow. Somebody investing in cards and coffee is hoping that you as the founder are going to be able to exit the business one day.
It could be in two years.

It could be in five years.

Maybe you sell the company.

Maybe you IPO.

Maybe you don't, right?

So there's risk there.

But that's where there's also massive reward.

So we have an investor, for instance, in our company,

who you met in the series, Cyan Bannister.

Cyan is a famous Silicon Valley investor. She and her husband invested $50,000 into Uber as a private company in the seed round and turned that $50,000 into 200 and something odd million at the IPO.
That's the kind of return you're not going to get investing in a public company unless you're holding it, you know, NVID 15 years um so there's there's this kind of asymmetric upside in the right alternative investment deals why have you dedicated your life to the crowdfunding space i i i love it um you know that i believe in it and i think there's a system that needs to be disrupted. That system is a system of traditional venture capital, where the rich get richer.
You've got the limited partners investing in the general partners, and you've got these multi billion dollar funds. And these people are touting access to the best startups.
And, you know, this is the rich getting richer. And what I believe is that real wealth can be created and should be created by everyday Americans, regardless of how rich you are, how successful you are.
You shouldn't need to stroke a million dollar check or a $10 million check into a business to be able to earn a real return, to earn a venture style return. So what we're doing is we're working to level the playing field and make it exciting.
The whole purpose of this show is to provide entertainment, insight, education, and access. Access to exciting investments that the average person has never had access to until now.
And that's what we believe in. So we have a lot of entrepreneurs that listen, business owners, and they start to accumulate some wealth.
They go from making 80 grand to 100 grand, 150 grand, quarter million, hopefully more. They start to bring in some real income.
How do they decide when there's so many options, I can invest in cryptocurrency, real estate, I can invest in XYZ company, I can do private equity, I could just put it into a CD. I could do an S&P 500.
So many things that people can do. How should they be thinking about researching and figuring out what the heck to invest into? It's a very good question.
I think there's a common adage, and it's probably been said before on your show, which is invest in what you know. So everybody has some level of expertise, whether they know it or not.
A lot of people have expertise. They don't think they're experts, but they are relative to someone else down the street that doesn't have three years, four years of experience doing whatever they're doing.
Investing in what you know is a good starting point. You're never going to be an expert in five sectors, 10 sectors, but maybe you're an expert or you have some knowledge or some advantage in one because you worked at a business, you started a company in some sector, you're passionate about consumer products or medical devices because you have a family member that had some issue and you've got some knowledge.
I think that's one thing is kind of investing in your passions, things you are knowledgeable about. That's going to make it a little bit easier.
and what's cool about this industry is that the retail investor can invest $100 into Cards & Coffee or another company in our show or outside of the show. You don't need to put in your life savings.
In fact, of course, you shouldn't. So not to say that the person that's investing $100 shouldn't do any due diligence, but at minimum, I like the idea of people investing into things they know, they have some expertise in.
That's maybe a good starting point. So these companies come to you, you decide, okay, this is the one.
I'm going to get behind this company as a client. You also turn down a lot of clients.
What are the things that make you say, you know what, this is the type of company I want to work with, and maybe don't like that founder or I don't like that business or I don't know this is really a scalable thing? We're looking for exceptional founders. In a lot of ways, we operate our business like a venture fund.
So we're not technically making an investment, a direct cash investment in the companies in our show, but we are getting equity. We're getting compensated in equity.
And so we're looking for incredible businesses, but incredible founders. This is a show.
So we are looking for people that are interesting, authentic, entertaining, maybe a little bit eccentric, that will play well in a show like this, right, Where they're going through multiple challenges. So, um, we're looking for diverse founders, um, uh, founders of color, uh, female founders, women owned businesses, uh, to really give viewers a sense of, you know, the average, you know, kind of there's, there's so much out there.
We we've never wanted this show to be, it's the white male founder show, whether, you know, that's just boring. And that's not the reality of this country today.
There's a lot of diversity out there in the world of entrepreneurship. And we want to do our part to highlight that diversity because I think it's cool.
I think it's the right thing to do. We're looking for founders that have proven they can execute.
That means they're generating revenue. So we're not putting idea stage companies in this show.
Now, there are great idea companies out there, but that's not the kind of company we want to put in the series. Companies that can execute, people that have overcome a lot to get where they are, people that we think will show well in the series.
Why do you think that corporations should include some charity or philanthropy into their business? You know, that's a good question. I've thought a little bit about this lately, and I don't know that every business needs to or should have some kind of charitable component.
My personal thought is that that's a very personal concept. Now, you're somebody who's incredibly passionate and committed to giving back, and I admire that about you.
I don't know that every founder that runs a business necessarily needs to have that, but I think it does make sense for certain businesses. We are in talks with a company.
It's a hot sauce company. It's a cool company.
It's called The Crippling Company. The founder of the business is a young guy's kid, really.
His name is Drew. And he suffers from cerebral palsy.
And he's in a wheelchair. And he has not let that stop him.
So Drew wanted to start a business when he was in high school. I think he was a senior.
And he was in like a business class competition. And he told his professor he had an idea to start a hot sauce company.

And it was going to be the next big thing. And his professor said, this is unrealistic.
And gave the kid a B minus. And that was his inspiration to start the crippling company.
She's like, he's making fun of himself. You know, he's calling himself a cripple, a crippling company.
And the names of the hot sauces are similarly, you know, funny and kind of have humor. anyways he took took $3,000 he had saved up, started the business, and they'll hit $5 million in sales this year.
What? $5 million. They've sold over 400,000 bottles of hot sauce.
The crippling company. And 5% of the revenues of this business go to a cerebral palsy foundation.
and so i think that for his business that makes sense um and maybe for another business it makes sense so i think it really comes down to the founder who is the founder what are they passionate about do they think it's appropriate to give back and maybe maybe they can so in every episode i ask this question and i've never gotten the same answer darren marble

you have multiple children and you're involved in a lot of companies you have equity a lot of

companies and over the years you may accumulate tens of millions hundreds of millions who knows

maybe even billions of dollars that darren marble accumulates over the course of time going public

season 74 what percentage do you leave to those kids wow that's a good question um i don't know