Home Town Shares is a new crowdfunding platform with a unique, local-facing twist: for the first time, local individuals will be able to invest in the companies they visit every day.

Home Town Shares lets local business owners list and sell shares or bonds in their company to the general public, clearing small businesses' pathway to growth and making it possible for ordinary, middle-class citizens to become investors in businesses in their community.

Until now, entrepreneurs hoping to save their business from the scrap pile have had two options: either incur crippling debt, or seek help from high-net-worth accredited investors, who are in short supply and tend to overlook or dismiss small business ventures.

But businesses don't exist in a vacuum: they exist in communities — communities that are full of people who would be more than happy to do their part to see a local business thrive.

Now, on Home Town Shares, they can do just that.

Home Town Shares makes it easy for small businesses to reach out to their community for support, and easy for community members to support the businesses they love.

The intuitive, user-friendly Home Town Shares website displays current offers from each company, and the mobile app sends users notifications of the businesses in their area that are currently offering shares.

Users have the ability to research the company and purchase shares directly from their device. With E-signing and purchase documentation available for download and print at any time, it's never been easier to become a supporter of local businesses!

Crowdfunding has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity in recent years. There are crowdfunding platforms of all shapes and sizes out there, helping users fund everything from film projects to charitable causes to multi-million-dollar tech companies.

But of the platforms that exist currently, none has the laser-focus on local small businesses that HTS has, and none offers users what HTS does: the chance for local, small business to fund their business on a local level, and the opportunity for middle-class individuals to invest in small businesses in their area, whatever their income.

The team behind Home Town Shares is a group of hard-working, middle-class investors that never had the amount of capital necessary to become traditional, accredited investors. They always felt that the old system was unfair to the middle class, so they were thrilled when the passing of the JOBS Act started to open the doors for a new breed of investor to support the businesses they believe in. The HTS team is excited to provide middle-class investors with a safe space where they can learn and grow as investors by investing in the businesses they visit every day.

served 4 years in the United States Marine Corps, and has 15 years of experience as a Senior Tech Analyst, Internet Marketing and Research. He has a B.S. in Business with a minor in Electronics and Computer Engineering.