For Professional Golfer
Ultimately, GolfInvestors offers professional golfers the ability to manage their funding activities, track their expenses, file and paye their taxes, and manage their schedule, so they can focus on improving their game.
|
Why use GolfInvestors?
|
|
Raise money to finance your tournament golf endeavors in a professional manner.
|
|
For raising money to play professional golf, a golfer can do this through GolfInvestors by setting up an entity (either as a sole proprietor, LLP, LLC, S corp, or C corp) in which the golfer is an employee. Shares of that entity will be offered to investors to provide them with a percentage of ownership in the entity which the professional golfer is an employee of. The professional golfer keeps a certain number of shares in the entity to retain a percentage of shares in the entity and thus a right to portions of the earnings they earn. Investors which own shares of the "player's entity" for the stock market which the entity is traded on get rights to the revenue earned by the player for the golf tournaments which are used for that GolfInvestor stock market.
Using the GolfInvestors system to raise funds privately (or publicly once GolfInvestors receives the proper certifications) allows the professional golfer and their investors to communicate easier, quicker, and more effectively. This keeps professional golfers and investors more in tune with how their investment in the golfer is performing.
Additional information about how GolfInvestors can help can be found in the sections below.
As the acceptance of GolfInvestors increases throughout the pro golf community, the more features GolfInvestors can add to help pro golfers manage their activities, including being able to manage their schedule, review results, keep journals, check bank account(s), manage sponsorships, accept (or decline) tournament invitations, and more.
Why raise funds on a GolfInvestors stock market?
Flotation on a GolfInvestors stock market is seen primarily as an opportunity to raise funds which could not have been done elsewhere for a golfer to play golf professionally for a living, be it for an up-and-coming player or a journey-man. For the journey-man, it provides financial stability that makes his/her personal life more stable. For the up-and-coming, yet not proven golfer, the funds raised on a GolfInvestors stock market give the golfer his/her initial start in the professional golf ranks.
[back to top of page]
What services does GolfInvestors provide?
First of all, GolfInvestors does not act as an adviser to you nor participates directly in raising the funds for you. We provide an environment tht you can use to raise money (i.e. a stock market). The GolfInvestors environment provides you with tools to prepare offerings, manage your stock, connect and communicate with your investors, keep track of expenses, produce financial statements, and file necessary legal documents.
If you commission GolfInvestors to help you raise funds for you to play professional tournament golf, the GolfInvestors provides the following:
- Advise you on the amount of money which needs to be raised for your endeavors
- Draft and file the necessary documents to incorporate
- Draft the necessary documents for solicting investors
- Utilization of the GolfInvestors system (on golfinvestors.com) to provide the necessary information to investors while solicting initial funds, and to keep investors informed on a regular basis of your results and earnings.
- Drafting and filing tax documents on a scheduled basis with the tax authorities
[back to top of page]
How does a golfer raise funds via GolfInvestors?
Golfers raise money on GolfInvestors via the selected GolfInvestors stock market through a financial offering. The financial offering can be in the form of a Revenue Sharing Offering (RSO), a Private Placement (PPP), a Initial Public Offering (IPO), and/or a Secondary Public Offering (SPO).
[back to top of page]
Does GolfInvestors guarantee raising the funds you need?
No. As mentioned in a previous section, we do not raise money for you. You use the GolfInvestors environment to make it easier for you to raise money.
If you are looking for an adviser to actually actively raise money for you, we have a list of advisers you can talk to. Contact us for that list.
[back to top of page]
Do I need to incorporate?
If you are using GolfInvestors to perform an RSO (revenue sharing offering), you do not need to incorporate. If you use GolfInvestors to perform a PPP, IPO, or SPO, you will need to incorporate since you are selling shares to investors. A sole proprietorship can not issue shares.
PPPs, IPOs and SPOs are a from of selling equity. So if you are looking to sell equity ownership in your future earnings, in other words securitize your future tournament earnings, it is advisable to incorporate as an entity such as a Limited Liability Company (LLC)* or a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP). You will then become an employee of the entity (with an employment contract with the entity), as well as a part owner of the entity, depending on the terms.
If you decide to setup as an LLC and sell ownership in that LLC which you will be the prime revenue generator through your tournament earnings, then your investors will be members of the LLC along with yourself. The owners of the LLC are called members, not shareholders. The ownership will be split into membership interests, not shares of stock. Membership interest in an LLC is usually stated as a percentage. For example, an LLC with five owners who have invested equally in the business would have a 20% membership interest each in the ownership of the LLC.
As part of our service, GolfInvestors will work with you to setup your corporation and put in place the necessary paperwork and file the paperwork with the required government agencies.
Also, with setting up and operating a corporation comes the responsibility of filing the necessary documents (certificate of formation / articles of organization, operating agreement, meeting minutes) on a regular basis with your investor group and the legal authorities, including filing taxes. GolfInvestors assists you with these documents and filings as well. This service will help maintain corporate records completely, properly, and separately from personal records, as well as helping to keep corporate and personal funds separated from one another.
[back to top of page]
What do investors expect?
Each investor is an individual in themselves, and thus have different motives and objectives in investing in professional golfers. So as a professional golfer searching for the funds to play professional from investors, you will want to make sure you get to know prospective investors and their needs before accepting their money for investment.
It is to be expected that almost all investors on GolfInvestors want to be involved with your daily activities and be kept informed of what you are doing. They usually love the game of golf and want to be part of your travels in one format or another. All want good communication.
Return objectives range from a projected internal rate of return of 15% over five years to the potential return of five times investment in the first five years. Most are looking for anything from a 5% to 75% stake in the share of your revenue or net income.
Some investors will ask for the right of first refusal to participate in the next round of financing if funds are needed above and beyond previous rounds of funding.
In order to protect their investment, investors often ask the golfer to agree to not take certain actions without the investors approval. These include large expenditures (i.e. greater than $10,000), issuing additional stock to new investors, or selling stock below prices paid by current investors. Investors will also ask for price protection, that is anti-dilution provisions that will result in their receiving more stock should the golfer issue stock at a lower price than that paid by the original investors.
You should realize once you accept funding from outside sources that you no longer control 100% of the decisions that pertain to spending money as it relates to your golf operations. Your investors will have a say in your decisions depending on the term of your funding agreement with them.
[back to top of page]
What should the name of your entity be?
If you are looking to raise funds via an PPP, IPO or SPO, you must incorporate. When incorporating, GolfInvestors tries to help with standarizing the naming of entities which are setup by professional golfers via the GolfInvestors framework. The naming standard is as such:
[ GolfInvestors ticker symbol ] Golf [ fund # ], [ entity type ]
Example: JOMUR Golf I, LLC (if the golfer was named John Mueller, who has a GolfInvestors ticker symbol of JOMUR, is the first fund for him, and he incorporated as an LLC)
[back to top of page]
What can I use the funds for?
Funds raised via a GolfInvestors stock market MUST be used directly or indirectly for playing professional golf tournaments. Below is a sample 'Use of Funds' table.
|
Expense Type
|
|
Tournament
|
|
Tournament Entry Fees / Tour Memberships
|
|
Caddy Fees
|
|
Travel
|
|
Accomodations
|
|
Meals
|
|
Clothing
|
|
Practice
|
|
Practice Facilities
|
|
Equipment
|
|
Professional Fees: Golf Teacher
|
|
Professional Fees: Strength Coach
|
|
Professional Fees: Mental Coach
|
|
Living
|
|
Salary
|
|
Other
|
|
Information Technology
|
|
Professional Fees: Accountant
|
|
Professional Fees: Tax Advisor
|
|
Professional Fees: Dues
|
|
Contingency
|
|
[back to top of page]
How does GolfInvestors use the PayPal system?
As part of the setup, a golfinvestors.com email address is setup for your corporation. This email address is used in connection with GolfInvetors' use of the PayPal transaction system. PayPal requires a unique email address to handle financial transactions for the golfer.
[ company name ]@golfinvestors.com
Example: JOMUR_GOLF_I@golfinvestors.com
[back to top of page]
Who should use GolfInvestors?
Professional golfers that are looking to raise funds to play professionally, know they must put in a lot of work to continue to stay on top of their game, and respect investors who want to help them acheive their goals, are good candidates for GolfInvestors.
[back to top of page]
Who should NOT use GolfInvestors?
Professional golfers that want an easy ride and do not want to put in the effort it takes to stay on top of their game and impress their investor group are not good candidates for GolfInvestors.
[back to top of page]
Fees
GolfInvestors charges a fee to professional golfers for providing services to incorporate an entity, perform an offering, and manage documentation of expenses and reporting for the entity which will be used as the operating entity for professional golf tournament activity. The fee structure is as follows:
|
Type of Account
|
Fee Schedule*
|
Player's Account
Non-Financial
- Access to "Player" type of account on the golfinvestors.com web site
- Creation of a Profile section in the Player's section on GolfInvestors (example)
- Tournament results updated by GolfInvestors staff (example)
Financial
- Handle the entire funding process online through the golfinvestors.com web site
- Handle communication with investors online through the golfinvestors.com web site, including podcasts, blogs, data feeds (rss, xml, csv, xls, txt, and widgets)
- Access to forms to create corporate entity (golfer fills out form, GolfInvestors staff files the necessary state and federal forms for golfer)
- Access to forms to file for federal tax identification number, if needed (golfer fills out form, GolfInvestors staff files the forms for the golfer)
- Access to forms to help with the creation of corporate bylaws and minutes of shareholder meetings
- Access to funding document forms (private placement and investors acceptance) to help prepare your specific documents
- Access to accounting system to easily enter accounting entries and prepare financial statements, including tax forms and filings when needed
|
Setup
System Usage (non-financial)
System Usage (financial)
Offering Type
RSO/PPP/IPO/SPO
- $125 per listing + 0.5% of amount raised (max: $5,000)
|
|
* Fee schedule is subject to change. The current fee schedule shown above was last modified on 2007-07-28.
** If setup of corporation and/or tax filings are required, then a 12 month agreement is rerquired. Tax filings can only be done if a golfer uses the GolfInvestors accounting system in full. If the golfer doesn't use the GolfInvestors accounting system, tax filings can not be done under the current fee structure.
Out of pocket expenses incurred at the request of the golfer on behalf of the golfer by GolfInvestors staff and consultants such as travel, hotel accomodation, and excessive telecomunication costs, are not included in the fee structure above. These expenses will be billed separately and are required to be paid by the golfer.
Setup fees, monthly fees, and fixed listing fees are prepaid. These must be paid only through the golfer's GolfInvestors account (i.e. through a credit card payment or the player's GolfInvestors fund balance).
[back to top of page]
What is the next step?
If you are interested in utilizing GolfInvestors to help with your professional golf endeavors, the next step is to setup a 'Player' account on GolfInvestors. Only the golfer themselves should setup a "Player" account. If you are the golfer's manager or agent, see the "Agent" page.
[back to top of page]
Other Questions
Is GolfInvestors a public stock market?
At this time, GolfInvestors is a private stock market, not a public stock market. All securities available on the GolfInvestor stock markets have less than 300 investors each. These securities are initially marketed via a private placement and are regulated in the United States by the Regulation D filing with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
What currency are securities traded in on the GolfInvestor stock markets?
US$
Is there a minimum market capitalization?
No, there is no minimum market capitalization requirement to list on a GolfInvestor stock market.
Is there a minimum number of shares which should be publicly traded?
Yes, 100% of the shares available in a golfer's company have to be made available to the public. The golfer should own a minimum of 25% of his/her company's shares. He/she can purchsae more of his/her company's shares at any given time but should always own at least 25% of his/her company. If the ownership falls below that percentage amount, his/her company will be dissolved and cease to trade on the GolfInvestors stock market his/her shares were traded on.
What reporting requirements are there? All golfers who have their company traded on one or more GolfInvestor stock markets must use the GolfInvestors accounting system which automatically generates financial statements. The golfer's company's bank account, tournament earnings, and associated expenses should run directly through the GolfInvestors accounting system. With this setup financial statements are automatically generated based upon a set of rules in the GolfInvestors system. This is to reduce fradualent activity and make accounting and financial reporting painless for the golfer. Investors have access to these financial rreports in real time and thus there is no need to manually create monthly or quarterly reports.
What is the process for performing an offering to raise money on a GolfInvestors stock market?
- Create a 'Player' account on GolfInvestors
- Fill out 'Player' profile - or - if player profile is already in the GolfInvestors system, link the account to your 'Player' account that you created in step 1
- Create an offering with base terms using the offering form in the GolfInvestors system
- Get offering approved by GolfInvestors administration
- If approved, write detailed prospectus and investor agreement for the offering
- Get approval of prospectus and investor agreement
- If approved, file with necessary governmental agencies
- Send out announcement document for offering to let investors know about offering
- Investors review information, ask questions, and request additional information (this stage of the offering is called "Pricing")
- Offering available for purchase by investors (this stage of the offering is called "Selling off Market"). Investors submit orders for purchase of shares at the offering price and agree to terms of the investor agreement when buying these shares
- If fully placed or the necessary funds were raised, the shares sold in the offering are transferred to investors and the stock is listed on the selected GolfInvestors stock market
Why does GolfInvestors charge for each trade, including offering trades?
Trading fees are charged to cover transaction costs charged by financial institutions (i.e. bank transfers, etc.) and to pay for the operating costs incurred by GolfInvestors operations.
[back to top of page]
* - Definition of an LLC: A business structure established under United States jurisdiction that is a hybrid of a partnership and a corporation. Its owners are shielded from personal liability and all profits and losses pass directly to the owners without taxation of the entity itself. The LLC entity type was first used in the United States in 1997. (source: 'Lectric Law Library's Lexicon)
**** - The image of staff bags with the GolfInvestors' "Gi" icon on them are used for example purposes. Mizuno, Ping and Taylor Made do not specifically endorse GolfInvestors and their logos are their own trademarks.
GolfInvestors is by no means considered 'gambling'. GolfInvestors prides itself in being a stand-up concept working for the good of the game of golf.
Each professional golf tour has rules which prohibit players from investing in other players which they are playing against. For example, in the US PGA Tour's "Player Handbook", there is a section (Section VI-B) that says "A player shall not have any financial interest, either direct or indirect, in the performance or the winnings of another player ... whether through purse-splitting, prize money 'insurance,' financial assistance, bets or otherwise."
|
