Key Deal Stats:
Raising Platform: Wefunder
Funding Goal: $1.25M
Security: Common shares
Pre-Money Valuation: $22.7M
Raised as of 12/14/18: $1.13M
You might remember, several months back we initiated a Top Deal rating of Legion M due to the disruptive nature of their business and their shown ability to both grow their investor base and portfolio of intriguing media projects.
We caught up with the team now that they are back at it continuing to raise capital via Wefunder, and we are excited to have the scoop on everything the team is up to below.
Jeff and Paul, as always were dynamic and provide confidence that they are the right management team to build a long term new media business model. Check out the entire discussion below.
Jeff and Paul, your goal is to bring together 1M fans to create one of the most powerful media companies out there. You are at about 10K right now and opened a Reg A+ to expand that. What are your hopes for this round in terms of # of individuals / capital raised?
J&P: Our community of fan-owners continues to grow at an exceptional pace and we’re thrilled to welcome new and returning investors into the Legion during this r ound. While we don’t have a particular goal as it related to the number of investors coming into the fold, we are hoping to raise at least $1.25 million in capital raised during the round that will be used to grow the company, invest in exciting film, TV and digital projects, and continue developing and producing Legion M original content. We’re off to the fastest start we’ve seen yet during a round, with over $1M raised from over 2,600 investors in just two weeks—and during the holidays no less. We’re very confident we’ll exceed our target although as our lawyers say, we can’t guarantee that.
In addition to investing, how are members of the Legion getting involved in helping to affect the outcome of the business?
J&P: While we have more than 10,000 fan-investors, Legion M’s community has grown to over 40,000 members who are passionately engaged and supporting their company and projects in many ways. The Legion recently played an integral role in building buzz for “Mandy” starring Nicolas Cage and directed by one of the hottest up-and-coming directors, Panos Cosmatos. In this particular case, the Legion M community created a buzz-building campaign on and offline that directly led to “Mandy” becoming an instant cult-classic.
We hold a genuine belief that Legion M can be a better, smarter and more informed company by engaging and listening to the Legion (our shareholders). We engineered the company from day one to provide our community with those opportunities to get involved and to harness the power that comes from an engaged and enthusiastic community.
We have several initiatives for the Legion to engage, including our Legion M Scout Program at film festivals, The Pitch Elevator (collecting and voting on pitches), M-Pulse surveys, our Facebook Member Group, Legion M Forums and more.
Can you talk about the success of Mandy and how you think Legion M played a role in its success?
J&P: Simply put, when Legion M invests, we engage and when we engage, good things happen.
Besides coming aboard as an investor for “Mandy,” including financing its incredible score by the late master composer Johan Johansson, Legion M’s members have been proactively supporting the film since its Sundance debut last January. Leading up to the film’s nationwide theatrical debut in September, Legion M launched a nine-month campaign in support of “Mandy,” showcasing the project at various events like San Diego Comic-Con and building a groundswell via social media where the Legion led a constant drumbeat. When “Mandy” began its limited theatrical run, Legion M hosted dozens of fan meetups across the country, leading to thousands of tickets sold and further activity across social platforms. For those interested in learning more about how we contributed to the success of “Mandy” can check out a mini case study we did after the film debuted.
Has this success led to Legion M getting more offers and opportunities to invest in high end projects?
J&P: Absolutely. As Legion M continues to grow and our Fan-Owned business model has proven to have a positive impact on projects like “Mandy,” we have received more opportunities to invest in very exciting projects, from small independent films to large studio-backed titles. Calls and meetings that were difficult to get when we first launched in 2016 are happening today, which is not only very gratifying but a testament to how the industry is recognizing the immense power of the Legion M community.
Overall, what is the perception of Legion M by Hollywood bigwigs. Do they see you as a threat or as a powerful tool to grow Hollywood’s reach?
J&P: We believe an entertainment company owned by fans has the potential to be better than one owned by Wall Street. While some may view this as a threat, we’ve seen the industry quickly warm to Legion M because they’ve seen how the collective force of fans can make an emotional and financial impact on a project. We don’t necessarily want to be viewed as a threat to the industry, but we do believe Legion M can revolutionize the way entertainment is made in Hollywood.
In terms of the capital raised, how much goes to day-to-day operations and how much of it just goes to investing in new projects?
J&P: Our goal is to keep Legion M’s overhead to a minimum so we can maximize the percentage of funds put toward projects. In the early days, we expect to invest around 30% of the funds into new projects, but that doesn’t include the time and energy we are putting into projects that we are developing and producing ourselves, which earns us equity and income.
As we scale, in the company and the size of the funds we raise, we don’t expect that we will need to increase our operations costs much and therefore we expect this percentage to grow over time. Additionally, in these early and formative years, we are spending us investing up to 25% of the funds into growth of the community as this is ultimately the most valuable part of Legion M.
Are there certain milestones that you plan to achieve with the capital raised?
J&P: In our “Method to the Madness” presentation that we gave to our shareholder community recently, we laid out our overall plans for the company and the four phases of our journey. In our own assessment, we have now completed the first phase of the company’s growth where we successfully introduced the Legion M brand, united the core community, planted a stake in the ground with some statement making projects, but most importantly, we demonstrated the impact we can have on a project. Without a doubt, phase one has exceeded our expectations, but the next phase we are entering starting with this Round 4 is what we call the Growth phase. In this phase, our goal is to scale the growth of community with shorter, faster and more frequent rounds netting larger funding and investments into projects and the marketing to fuel the accelerated growth. On a race course, this is the straightaway and we’re putting the pedal to the metal.
We initiated a Top Deal rating of Legion M during your last round of fundraising. For those that are still skeptical what would you like them to know?
J&P: There is a quote that I really like from the author Sarah Ban Breathnach that reads, “The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.”
Jeff and I and the entire team at Legion M are undeniably dreamers that do. What we’re “doing” has never been done before so it’s natural that there will be skeptics. Personally, I’ve always been motivated by skeptics and doubters and we’ve proven them wrong before.
We can’t promise we will be successful, but Legion M has already defied the odds and we’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished to date. Most of the skeptics wouldn’t have thought we could last this long, let alone have so much success in such a short amount of time. Like a snowball rolling down the hill, the larger we get the more powerful we become and the pace of our successes is increasing.
We’re swinging for the fences with Legion M and we still have a long way to go, but we’re more bullish now than ever that Legion M can become one of the most successful entertainment companies in Hollywood. There’s risk with any investment in an early-stage company (and our lawyer reminds us those risks are summarized in our filing with the SEC), but you can rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to make Legion M a worthwhile and smart investment.
Legion M is the type of business that can reimagine the way Hollywood funds and develops the most successful media ventures. We are excited about the enthusiasm and engagement being exhibited by the Legion and think this continues to be an intriguing investment to consider as part of your portfolio.
If interested, be sure to invest HERE.
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