OUR STORY

It all started when...

Sometime in the depths of the Great Recession we were asked about local investing alternatives. So we began to dig into the question. Other than real estate, municipal bonds, or being a partner in a private (generally secret) deal, place-based investing at the time didn’t include many alternatives.

So we began to dig. What does the place-based investment landscape look like? What do investors really want? What do businesses really need? What laws regulate place-based investing?

And here’s what we discovered.

We found that investors wanted to be paid back along the way and not just hope for an exit at some distant point in the future.

We also found that businesses have limited access to capital that is not only “friendly” but that corresponds with their needs and ability to pay as well.

We found that smaller businesses had limited opportunities to access more sophisticated C-level technical assistance and that many needed it in order to be able to solve their problems and continue to grow.

We discovered that nonprofit and grant-based economic development didn’t provide enough incentives or resources to help businesses grow in a sustainable manner.

We found that traditional avenues for citizens to have their voices heard in the conversations surrounding community growth and economic development were becoming less effective and their voices were becoming more marginalized.

So, we created HomeStake. The central idea is to connect community-minded investors, local "HomeGrown" businesses needing capital, and experienced business folks to create more economically communities.