NYC LION Places Its First Group Investment: King of the Ghosts LLC
As of February 15, 2012, ten members of NYC LION raised $250,000 for King of the Ghosts, LLC, the holding company that operates Egg Restaurant, Goatfell Farm and the soon-to-be opened Parish Hall Restaurant.
Watch a video in which entrepreneur George Weld lays out his vision for re-inventing the restaurant as a catalyst for steadily improving the sustainable practices of small business.
Our Process: Under Construction!
The group proceeded in a loosely organized manner for this first investment. We reviewed the various business plans of entrepreneurs who presented at the May 14, 2011 Entrepreneur Showcase in Brooklyn, NY and the October 12, 2011 Entrepreneur Showcase in San Francisco, CA. Collectively, we decided that King of the Ghosts, LLC had submitted the most compelling and complete business plan for which local investors could make a difference immediately.
NYC LION entered into intensive discussions with George Weld. Our due diligence process involved getting to know George Weld and his existing business. Every investor visited Egg Restaurant prior to placing an investment. Our due diligence process included the following formal steps: a single in-person meeting between George Weld and potential investors; a Farm Dinner previewing the restaurant; two conference calls between investors and George Weld and three conference calls amongst investors. NYC LION established two parallel, online Workspaces on PODIO, one which George Weld could access and one that was private for use by NYC LION members only.
We went through several rounds of revisions of the Subscription Agreement and LLC Agreement. After all the mutually agreed upon changes were made, each investor placed their investment with George Weld directly, notifying the group of their actions.
We are happy to report that the process went well. However, in a post-investment meeting, we agreed to make changes to improve procedures: the uniformity, efficiency and speed of our review of investments should be enhanced for the next round of funding.
Over the course of March 2012, we will make changes to our investment process. When such changes are finalized, NYC LION will announce a Call to Entrepreneurs to make applications for our next round of funding.
