This site you are on is Phase 1. It does not need outside investors to exist. The Reg Crowdfunding path lets Aubrey defer every dollar of legal cost until the market itself says a raise will close. Below is the honest schedule.
Numbers and timelines mirror the feasibility memo. Real raises start in months 3 to 5, after Test-the-Waters reservations and non-dilutive grants land.
What you are looking at. A live demo, an email waitlist, a Discord, and three to five non-binding artist LOIs from the Howard network. The goal is not a working investment platform yet. The goal is a demo compelling enough to win the non-dilutive funding that pays for everything after.
Reg CF rules let issuers run a Test-the-Waters campaign before filing any legal paperwork. Investors place non-binding reservations: they signal interest at a dollar amount, no money moves, no securities are sold. This is the unique mechanic that defers all legal cost until the market itself tells you the raise will close.
With the demo + the waitlist + the artist LOIs + live Wefunder reservation traction, apply to the funding sources where Howard students have a real edge. Realistic outcome: $15k to $60k in non-dilutive cash by month 4. That funds legal counsel, design, brand work, and infrastructure that the raise itself does not.
Once Test-the-Waters reservations cross approximately $25k for the first artist, engage securities counsel through Wefunder's lawyer network (flat-fee Form C drafting). If the raise target is under $124k, no CPA audit is required under SEC rules; founder-certified financials are sufficient. File Form C, the reservations convert to actual investments, real shares mint, both sides have actual upside from that moment.
With one real raise closed, every subsequent raise is easier. Track record on the leaderboard. Real wins to celebrate in the community. Real dividend payouts to early co-signers. This is the point where actual pre-seed VCs (HBCUvc, MaC, Backstage, Harlem Capital) take meetings, and the cap-table conversation is from a position of strength, not desperation.
Graduate to Reg A+ Tier 2 to remove the 12-month hold and unlock day-one liquidity on new raises. Bigger raise sizes ($1M to $10M). Real broker-dealer / ATS conversations for a national secondary market. This is the 5-to-7-year horizon a typical exchange-build timeline assumes, and it is correct for THIS layer of the product, not for the v0 demo plus partner-portal MVP.