Question 1

DO YOU HAVE TO BE A MINORITY TO INVEST?

Accepted Answer

No you don’t have to be a minority to invest, but all investment funds will hold a majority minority stake.

Question 2

AM I GUARANTEED TO RECEIVE A RETURN ON MY INVESTMENT?

Accepted Answer

There are no guarantees within an investment. Venture Capital is a high Risk high reward environment. We are looking for investors with liquid capital that have the means to invest the funds as they see fit.

Question 3

HOW CAN WE CONTACT YOU?

Accepted Answer

Contact us at jonathan_amos@retinaequitypartners.com

Question 4

HOW LONG HAS THE RETINA EQUITY PARTNERS BEEN IN BUSINESS?

Accepted Answer

Retina Equity Partners LLC was founded in January 2021 in Houston,TX

Question 5

HOW MUCH MONEY DO I NEED TO INVEST AS AN INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTOR?

Accepted Answer

Investment commitments are accepted from $1K-$5K, but the overall investment will be encompassing of your investment along with other Individual Investors to reach the $25K threshold.

Question 6

HOW MUCH ARE WE LOOKING TO INVEST IN EACH SEED STAGE STARTUP?

Accepted Answer

The target investment is anywhere from $25K-$50K.

Question 7

WHAT ARE THE INVESTMENT BANKING FEES?

Accepted Answer

Currently, REP charges a 2% management fee annually on investment, and 10% of profits to investors assuming the business investment turns a profit.

Question 8

HOW IS MONEY INVESTED?

Accepted Answer

All transactions are completed through WIRE TRANSFERS directly to Retina Equity Partners LLC Bank account.

Question 9

DO I OWN THE STOCK IN THESE COMPANIES?

Accepted Answer

No, you’ll be an investor of an LLC that owns either the shares or the participation interest in the economic upside and downside of the shares in the company that will be invested in.

Question 10

WILL I BE RECEIVING ANY FINANCIAL UPDATES FOR MY INVESTMENT? HOW OFTEN?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You will receive quarterly updates, as well as receive invites for Quarterly zoom meetings to provide updates on the status of the business and how they are tracking to their yearly goals.

Question 11

THE COMPANY I INVESTED IN HAS AN INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING(IPO). WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Accepted Answer

If a company series in which you’ve invested goes public, we would register the shares and work with your brokerage account custodian to transfer the shares. Typically, the common stock is subject to a 180-day lockup, so we would facilitate the transfer after this period.

Question 12

WHAT IS THE VENTURE CAPITAL ECOSYSTEM?

Accepted Answer

A Venture Capital ecosystem serves the purpose of bridging the financial gap for companies, especially Startups and SMEs. The main pillars of a VC ecosystem can be considered to be:
Professional investors who are interested in and understand the asset class,
Venture capital fund managers with the necessary business acumen and commitment to the effort, AND businesses who are interested in and ready to receive VC investments.

Question 13

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VENTURE CAPITAL AND PRIVATE EQUITY?

Accepted Answer

Venture capital is a subset of the larger private equity asset class. The private equity asset class includes venture capital, buyouts, and mezzanine investment activity. Venture capital focuses on investing in private, young, fast growing companies. Buy-out and mezzanine investing focus on investing in more mature companies. Venture capitalists also invest cash for equity. Unlike buy-out professionals, venture capitalists do not use leverage in their transactions.

Question 14

WHAT KIND OF INVESTORS ARE VENTURE CAPITALISTS?

Accepted Answer

Venture capitalists are professional investors who specialize in funding and building young, innovative enterprises. Platform venture capitalists are long-term investors who take a hands-on approach with all of their investments and actively work with entrepreneurial management teams in order to build great companies.

Question 15

IN WHAT WAYS DOES A VENTURE CAPITALIST BENEFIT THE BUSINESS?

Accepted Answer

From a purely financial standpoint, a platform venture capitalist brings much needed funds into the company without any regular repayment required. The individual should not be considered some kind of lender, as he or she shares your hope for the company’s success. This means the company gets access to his or her network, experience and sense of discipline. This is not to mention the fact that the presence of a venture capitalist in your company gives it added credibility in the larger industry.

Question 16

WHAT IS A VENTURE CAPITAL FUND?

Accepted Answer

An investment fund that manages money from investors seeking private equity stakes in startup and small- and medium-size enterprises with strong growth potential. These investments are generally characterized as high-risk/high-return opportunities.

Question 17

WHY DO SMALL BUSINESS SEEK FINANCING?

Accepted Answer

Small businesses borrow for four principal reasons: to start a business, purchase inventory, expand a business, and strengthen the firm’s financial foundation. Firms choose different means of financing depending on the intended purpose. Small businesses’ financing options typically fall into two categories: debt and equity. Other unconventional sources can also play a critical role in meeting a firm’s financial needs.

Question 18

WHAT IS AN ‘ANGEL’ INVESTORS?

Accepted Answer

An “angel” is a high net worth individual who invests directly into promising entrepreneurial businesses in return for stock in the companies. Many are entrepreneurs themselves, as well as corporate leaders and business professionals.

Question 19

WHAT ARE THE 7 TRENDS IN BLOCKCHAIN COMPUTING?

Accepted Answer

-Improving developer productivity
-Scaling out versus scaling up
-On-chain governance
-Proof of Stake Networks, and especially their resilience to attacks
-2017: year of of fund raising, 2019: year of launches
-Autonomous and re-mixable code
-Killer apps: distributed finance and beyond

Question 20

WHAT KIND OF POSITION DOES THE VENTURE CAPITALIST TAKE?

Accepted Answer

Once the investment has been made, the venture capitalist should be viewed as a partner. In terms of the aforementioned management position, this may come in the form of a seat on the company’s board of directors or via contributions to management decisions. It is the goal of the venture capitalist to see a return of 30 to 40 percent on the initial investment every year in which the entity is directly involved, which is usually a period of four to seven years. For the company, this means that an aggressive plan for growth must be implemented to meet this expectation.

Question 21

ANGELS INVEST THEIR OWN MONEY, VCS INVEST THEIR LP’S?"

Accepted Answer

Venture capital firms have limited partners. These limited partners come in all shapes and sizes from all over the world. And in turn these limited partners are frequently entities that are funnels for other sources of money.
Traditionally, angel investors were individuals that would use their own personal capital to make an investment. Recently, “seed stage” venture firms have emerged that have between one to three partners. These seed stage firms are usually backed by institutional limited partners or even by venture firms. They are really small venture firms that present more like angels because there are usually one or two partners running the seed stage firm.

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