“Ethical Markets highly recommends Crowdfund Main Street and the inspiring work of Jenny Kassan and her book which I reviewed, now on our Books & Reviews page at www.ethicalmarkets.com .
~Hazel Henderson, Editor”
Join us August 24 at the Impact Hub Oakland!
Please join Co-Founders Jenny Kassan and Michelle Thimesch this Friday in Oakland for the live launch of Crowdfund Main Street, a regulation crowdfunding platform that connects America’s unsung entrepreneurial heroes with everyday people who want to invest in them.
A group of diverse women-owned companies will be featured on the platform as we witness the live launch of their crowdfunding offerings. You will be able to engage with each of the founders, learn more about them and their companies, and invest on the spot.
This celebration is free to attend and open to the public; however, you must RSVP. The event will take place August 24 from 6:30pm – 9:30pm at the Impact Hub Oakland. Food and libations will be served. You DON’T want to miss this momentous community event!
Even if you can’t attend in person, you can still participate by investing online. Visit www.crowdfundmainstreet.com to sign up, and you will receive information on Friday night when the campaigns are revealed.
Client Corner
At Jenny Kassan Consulting we are privileged to work with inspiring mission-driven entrepreneurs. Each month we feature a few of our clients to celebrate their success and learn about the challenges they face.
By Absinthia Vermut, Founder & CEO—Absinthia’s Bottled Spirits
They say every overnight success is years in the making. My story started more than two decades ago in 1996 when I first tasted absinthe. I was immediately taken by the beautiful green, fennel-tasting beverage that clouded up when water was added. I was given the recipe, and four months later, on April Fool’s Day, I served my first bottle of absinthe. That night my friends started calling me Absinthia. They still do, and I’m still making absinthe.
So much has happened since then. In 2007, absinthe became legal after a 95-year ban. I wrote a business plan and launched Absinthia’s Bottled Spirits in 2013 with the intention of creating an organic absinthe. Two years later, I launched a cocktail syrup company, Nickel Dime Cocktail Syrups, with award winning bartender Jared Hirsch. When the licensing for Absinthia’s Bottled Spirits was approved in September 2017, I was finally able to sell my organic absinthe blanche and immediately hit the ground running. Now less than a year later, I have sold out of my first batch and am scrambling to get batch number two—twice the production size of the first—out the door. In addition, I just completed graduate school and received my MBA.
I thought I was going to get distributors and make my product available across the globe. Instead, I am realizing what a fantastic market we have right here in California. I am still focused on sales in the Bay Area and plan to expand to Sacramento and Southern California this year. I have submitted my product to every award competition available, and so far have medalled in each one! My biggest key learnings are a result of the tastings I have hosted. The events where people can taste my absinthe and buy the bottles on the spot have been wildly successful. At tastings where they take a postcard and must find the absinthe later, I have just poured money and absinthe down the drain. My lesson in this is that if consumers love something they will buy it immediately, but most will not come back for it later. This awareness has helped me focus my marketing dollars in a much smarter way. I’m excited to announce that my second product, organic absinthe verte, will be available in November.