This article details my experience with InventureX. As you’ll see, things did not go well. However, there is at least some reason to believe that the problems I experienced were due to startup issues, and that my situation simply “fell through the cracks”. I hope that is the case! However, for the time being I am leaving this page up so that others can be on the lookout. Read on to get the details of my experience and/or read the companion article to this one for advice you can use: Crowdfunding Guidelines, InventureX, and the Competition.
NOTICE:
To ensure the accuracy of comments that either denigrate or exalt any specific service, I will need EVIDENCE that confirms the assertions. If the claim is that the resulting campaign was terrible, I will need a link to it so I can save a screenshot of that page. If the claim is that the result was great, I will need a link that goes to the campaign, so I can reach the owners of that page and verify the statement. If the claim is that a page was never created, and there is no evidence to share, then I’m afraid the courts are your only recourse.
NOTICE:
I am NOT entertaining any more requests to remove comments posted to this page. For a couple of reasons: 1) At least some competitors have posed as customers, leaving negative comments and directing people towards their services. (Those comments have been removed, but saved, along with the clues as to their actual origin.) 2) It seems that some customers have been using this page as a vehicle for obtaining refunds they may not actually be entitled to. (A campaign can fail for many reasons. The agency that created it is not necessarily to blame.) 3) When informative comments are removed, many others may be hurt. 4) Deciding which comments to remove and which to keep makes me the judge and jury, the sole arbiter of your case. I’m trying to help people here, and allow information to be shared. The vehicle for redress of grievances is the legal system and the courts. It is no longer me.
12 Mar 2020: Comments Disabled—Again
Unfortunately, this page has become a lightning rod for spammers and scammers. And it’s taking too much time to keep up with them. One lady was offering to email people the name of an outfit that “worked great” for her, only to discover that the outfit she was directing people to was anything but on the level. Most recently, another correspondent wanted to get money back from the company for a “failed campaign”. But when I got a link to their campaign page, I found a well-designed, well-written page that was offering a “gum stimulator” for $7, when the very same device is available for a couple of dollars or so in every drug store and large grocery store in America. They used that exact phrase to describe it, as well. So a simple search suffices to surface the commercially-available item. I reported that page to Kickstarter, and expect that it will go away soon. But in the meantime it has become apparent that it is impossible to know who to trust! The only way to be sure is to investigate every claim that comes in, and I simply do not have the bandwidth for that.
When this article was first published, I heard from people who really did get hurt. And the page seemed to make a difference. Since then, however, the number of comments has reduced considerably. And most don’t even describe what they’re offering, much less make it possible to verify their claims, even if I had the time to do so. So I am disabling comments for a while. In addition, Many of the remaining comments have been deactivated. In the end, all I can really do is to convey MY story, to help people be alert for and avoid similar problems.
WARNING:
Agencies that offer crowdfunding assistance will often promise to evaluate your offering, and only accept your business if they think you have a winner. However, that is pretty much like a car dealership saying they will evaluate your driving skills, and only sell you a car if they are good enough to take to the road. Fundamentally, they are in business to take your money and give you a car in return! So just as you would be hard-pressed to find a driver they will turn down, it will be similarly difficult to find a business concept that isn’t “good enough” for funding. [REQUEST: If you were turned down, please post a comment with a summary of your proposition. It may help to establish the credibility of the organization in question—or may help you find someone who sees the value in it!]
IMPORTANT:
Read this review carefully, and then compare any new outfit you are considering to the points identified here. If there is a match for three or more of those points, be wary! (And note, too, that anyone who is advertising for your business is probably out to take your money. Good outfits are generally too busy turning away business to advertise!)
Note: I do NOT send emails
One correspondent reports that another scam outfit sent an email “from my domain”, and offering their services. That email appeared to come from TreeLight.com (that’s what the text said), but instead it came from somewhere else entirely. (She hadn’t even left a comment. But she contacted everyone who had–at least one of which was the scam outfit, in disguise. So know this: I DON’T SEND AN EMAIL UNLESS I GET ONE. (My problem, at this point, is that these outfits have a full-time staff who are out to take your money, and neither the government nor service providers are doing diddly to stop it.)
WARNING:
If you make a comment that points to another company which has done “a really good job” for you, that’s great, but I’m going to need a link to the product, the company, and (ideally) the crowdfunding page that resulted. Such comments will be activated after I verify the reference. (Good references are welcome! But we need to weed out folks who seem intent on taking your money a second time. For the moment, as a result, new comments can no longer be added.)
GOOD NEWS:
So far, a couple of people have obtained refunds for non-delivery of promised services. They were obtained after adding comments to this article. InventureX then paid them after those comments were removed. (The tried to pay me to take down the page, as well. I refused, to keep from harming others.) However, I can’t promise I’ll have the bandwidth to keep up with remove-requests from everyone who deserves to get their money back!
QUESTION:
Does anyone have information about Ideazon or BeyondBuzz? At least one correspondent has reported that they look like the same operation. (But business people copy from each other all the time, so it is entirely possible for similarities to be coincidental. In any case, I’d appreciate hearing about your experiences.
WARNING, and REQUEST for INFO:
And according to another correspondent, one outfit (CrowdFundPros) claimed that they helped my website with a social media campaign. (They haven’t, and I’ve never had one.) However, I do not want to allege that they are out-and-out frauds without substantial testimony to that effect. So please contact me with any information you have.
COMMENTS DISABLED FOR A WHILE (Dec 2019):
Comments were temporarily disabled, for the simple reason that people posing as victims appear to be working on behalf of similar operations (or the same one under a different name). I detail the email exchanges at the end of this post. In the meantime, know that if you contact me directly, I will need some way to verify that you are legitimate, or your message will go straight to the dust bin. (I will need a link to a product, or a company, or a crowdfunding page. Or something else that makes it clear that you are honestly trying to deliver something of value to customers.)
Contents
Summary
I have sent InventureX $500. I got some educational materials, and learned a bit, but nothing that seemed like it was worth that much. In the initial phone call, I was told there was a “funding option”, and was promised an outline of a plan (never received), with the understanding that the “earnest money” I advanced would be refunded if I decided not to use their service. It took a couple of months to review the materials. At the end of it I saw no way to ask for a refund, and my emails went unanswered. So the operation began to look more like a bait-and-switch scheme than an honest business. Since Google was (and is) running a ton of their ads at YouTube, I decided to post this article. (Update: A refund was at last issued. So I’m whole. But when it was originally posted, quite a few comments came in from others who had similar experiences.)
Background
When it comes to running a business, I admit that I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. I’m an idea guy, full of enthusiasm and optimism. Bright ideas, I’ve got. The knowledge of what to do with them, not so much.
That’s why I was ripe for a $500 “investment” with an eye towards getting the job done right. Unfortunately for me, that kind of person seems to be their kind of prey.
I came to InventureX by way of the many YouTube ads they have been running. In retrospect, the sheer amount of advertising they were doing should probably have been a tip-off. In any case, it was my first clue.
It all started early in 2019, somewhere around January or February…
One More Item:
Shortly after I turned down an offer of money to remove this page, my WordPress plugin began reporting attempts to crack the site at the rate of 100 a minute. It may be a completely unrelated event, of course—one that is simply the result of having a page like this that has become quite popular. Nevertheless, it is worrying. If the site suddenly goes away or becomes unreachable, then, therein may lie answer.
Bullet Summary
- They claim to have a AAA rating with the Better Business Bureau. But when I checked, the Better Business Bureau in Los Angeles had no listing for them. (Their website says they have offices in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.)
- At the very beginning, they claim to “have the know how” to set up a crowdfunding operation, and the “ability to predict” the number of people who will join. That sounds great! They can predict how much money will be coming in and can therefore afford to front you the money needed to get it. Right? Not quite. When you get to the fine print, things change a bit.
- When it gets down to the point that they are going to arrange a loan for that funding, they make it a point to say that they want people “who believe in their product”, which means (they say) that they don’t expect InventureX to “assume all the risk”. What does that really mean? In short, it means that you are entirely responsible for the loan. If too little money comes in, for whatever reason, you are on the hook for it. (Or it might mean that they wish to share the risk. That would be fine, too. But when it comes to answering questions they are missing in action, so it is impossible to find out.)
- Of course, if you get crowdfunding money, you can pay them and their fees. Will you have enough left over to fund your business? One can hope…
- To even get to the fine print, they want $500 “earnest money”. That’s pretty reasonable—especially when they say they will refund it if you decide not to go with them. But nowhere in the materials I have seen is there any indication of how to say you have decided against using them. And to date, they have not responded even to questions. How then, is it possible to get a refund?
- The $500 ($497, to be exact) gives you access to a “members area” that contains a collection of videos on what you need to. A really nice education, in a lot of ways. I learned a lot from it. But is it worth $500? I’m not really sure. At this point it doesn’t look that money will ever be coming back, so I’m learning all I can from it.
- Then there is the fine print. They say they do profit sharing at the back end. Fine, if the price is right. But how much is their profit sharing percentage? Is there a cap? It makes a difference to product pricing, of course. And profitability. And any sort of reasonable number is fine. But what it is that number? The inability to get answers to questions is troubling.
- The funding option they point you to is Lending America LLC. They say their fees are 3–4% at the front end. That’s less than the 10–12% (they say) that others charge. But “others” aren’t involved in a profit-sharing arrangement. (They say InventureX pays them. Again, how much? It could be the greatest deal in history. For them. Or for you. Without the details, who knows?)
- The line of credit will generally be $50–100k. It’s arranged through a variety of local banks, global banks, and credit unions. You tap into it when you need funds, and have 12-18 months to pay it back, at zero interest. Sounds good, right? Maybe a little too good.
- InventureX point to several success stories. They definitely have crowd funding pages, and several people have recorded videos telling how satisfied they are. But, as far as I can tell, not one of those products has made to the store shelves. In other words, when it comes to “evaluating” your idea, you are pretty well guaranteed to be well-regarded, in their eyes.
- Looking at those products, I don’t see anything I would buy. I’m not sure that many would. So it seems that InventureX is going to tell you have a winner, regardless of your offering. Not a good sign.
- Lending America says you can spend the money on product development or any number of other business expenses. InventureX says 50% of it has to be spent with them. But how much of your company’s operations is InventureX really prepared to handle?
- For one thing, their real expertise seems to be in crowdfunding and marketing to people like me. If they have other skills, I haven’t seen evidence of it online or in the “members” area. And then there are the products they offer as examples of “success”. I haven’t seen any of them for sale anywhere. So clearly their income derives from being paid to design the products, rather than from actually selling them.
My Questions
Although I have tried on several occasions to get answers to these questions, I have yet to see so much as an acknowledgement that a question has been received! Much less an answer.
- How much will they need for a promo video & campaign page, with text and images?
- What else is in the marketing plan, and how much will they need for that?
- How much extra would they charge for the video-instruction segments I need to record to show people how to use my product?
- How does their profit-sharing arrangement work?
- What is the percentage?
- Is it a percentage of gross incoming funds, or a percentage of net funds, over and above the cost of goods sold?
- Is there a cap on the amount?
- Does InventureX stand behind their claim that they are experts in crowdfunding, that they know how reach potential funders, and can predict how many people will sign up?
- Or is the risk entirely assumed by the entrepreneur, with only their say-so as to expected revenue?
The Full Story
On Monday, I had a great conversation with InventureX over the phone. I had spent time looking at reviews and searching the web for negative reports. But it is possible I did not go deep enough.
Their intro video says that they take a $500 deposit, to weed out those who aren’t serious. After that, if I decide not to go with them, it will be refunded. It also says they will craft a plan that is tailored for my project.
Awesome, I think. I know I can use help in many areas, especially in the areas of crafting professional marketing materials, financing, and initial production. So I make the call, so they can “evaluate my project, to see if it is a fit”.
Here’s how the conversation went:
- [Jason@InventureX]: We’re experts in crowd funding. We have our own studio to make videos and everything else you need to succeed.
- [Me]: Sounds great, the problem is how to afford it. I’m getting to the end of my financial rope.
- [Jason]: With our Partner Profits Program, we provide the financing.
- [Me]: Awesome. Here’s my card. Bill me $497. It’s a not even gamble, given that I get it back if I decide not to go with you.
Now, they didn’t tell me what the financing option(s) would be. Maybe it’s an investment. That would be cool. Maybe it’s a loan. That would be fine, if payments come out of crowdfunding proceeds.
After all, they say that they are experts in the process, and can predict what they will be able to generate in funds. So that, too, is a no-risk proposition, if it is structured right.
On the other hand, if I wind up on the hook for the loan, despite the results, that is a proposition I am prepared to turn it down. Too much risk for me, at this point.
So what I am expecting at this point is a financing proposition to evaluate, and a plan for raising the funds needed to get the TreeLight Yoga Bench into production. (Crowdfunding done right will actually be a great vehicle for that. In addition to generating funds, it will raise awareness while at the same creating pre-order sales for the product!)
Okay. It is now Friday afternoon, at 3:25. An email arrives. I see it at 6:30 pm.
It is my login instructions! Wonderful. I go there, to a page entitled “Partner Profits Program”.
What I see is a list of videos and instruction-pages for me to review. I’m sure they’re all good. But there is no mention of a customized plan or financing. All I see are segments on how I can find partners, and how I should go about arranging financing with my partners.
I’m sure the material is valuable, and I’ll be happy to go through it, if it is only the first step. But nothing in the email I received or the page I visited tells me it is only the first step.
At this point, I can’t very well go through the materials. Because if I did wind up paying up $500 for a generic education, I can’t very well go through it and then ask for my money back.
Now then, since it is late Friday, I suspect I won’t see a response to the email or the Tweet I sent until Monday. At this point, I am recording my thoughts in draft form, just in case.
I hope I’ll wind up deleting it, and that they just need to improve their communication process. After all, I’m happy to make them money if they will help me get the product out to the world. It’s just that I have fallen victim before, and I’m wary…
The Education Begins
After being unable to reach anyone over the weekend or early the next week, I begin investigating the materials. I might as well get something for my money. It seems like a pretty good collection of videos. It takes me a week or so, but I get through them.
Of course, what the videos don’t say is way more important than what they do say. A couple of months later, I get the straight scoop from some helpful contacts at IndieGoGo:
- Successful campaigns generally get 1/3 of their contributions in the first couple of days. (Those campaigns build momentum and get the word-of-mouth ball rolling.)
- During that time, about 5% of your contact list will contribute.
- So, based on the size of each contribution, you can do the math to figure out how much capital you are likely to raise with your current contact list or, conversely, how large a list is required to raise the capital you need.
Basically, the success of your campaign depends on the size of your mailing list and the size of any “influencers” who are on board with your idea.
Now, it may well be that InventureX excels at finding people and building the list you need. That’s the kind of thing I expected to read in their “plan”–how they would identify the right people, how they would target those people, and the number of folks they would expect to come on board, as a result.
But since I never say anything resembling an actual “plan”, the only confirmation I have that they really know what they doing is their say-so—that, and the highly selective testimonials of people who appear to have succeeded.
But was that success based on what InventureX did? Or on particular skills or resources possessed by the entrepreneur?
The “Financing” Option
The bottom line is that InventureX doesn’t plan to invest one thin dime into the operation. They sent me to their secondary outfit which will give me a “zero interest loan” (a line of credit, actually) for 18 months or so, at a variety of banks.
And what is the interest rate after 18 months? No clue. Neither they nor the loan outfit says a word about that. But from the way things have happened so far, I’m guessing it’s a usury-level credit-card rate close to 30%.
That would make sense. They simply defer their income. They say they have an “approval” policy, but looking at the products that have been approved, none of them have hit the market, and none seem to me to be very marketable.
So they approve anyone who applies, deliver a collection of videos instead of the promised “marketing plan”, and switch from “we know what we’re doing so we can afford to invest” to “we only want people who believe in their product” (so it’s your fault if things don’t work).
Meanwhile, they never delivered on their promise to return my initial $500 investment. I don’t know for sure, but if it isn’t illegal, it seems to me it should be. At the very least, Google should stop running their misleading ads.
Epilog
At the time this article was originally written, Complaint-34149 was filed with the California Department of Business Oversight in hopes of obtaining the promised refund.
In late Dec, 2019, a complaint was filed with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov)
Update, Mid-July 2019: Refund in Process
After not hearing from me for 5 months or so, their main admin guy sent me a note asking how I was doing with the program. I replied saying I wasn’t doing anything with it, and asking to how to obtain a refund.
He said he would process that, and wondered if I would send him some comments on the program, and my reactions to it. I responded with a short version of the items listed in this article.
As of today, the refund is being issued. But the fact that there was no clear way to ask for it nor any response to repeated questions remain troubling.
To his credit, though, the InventureX representative thanked me for my detailed feedback, and for identifying many potential areas of improvement.
The only question remaining is whether any of it would have happened absent this article, my Tweet of it, my note to the CA Dept. of Business Oversight, or my letter to YouTube regarding the many ads they are running.
It’s not clear whether any of those actions made a difference. It is clear that once communication was established, they reacted quite well and are issuing the refund.
In that conversation I was told:
- They’d love to partner with inventors, but can’t really do that.
- They provide the “program” as a DIY tool so people find out what goes into it and so they can try it themselves.
- For “funding”, the only option they have is the zero-interest loan for 12-18 months. (But what is the interest rate after that? I never did find out.)
- With some kind of funding for marketing, it becomes possible for them to put together a plan they will execute, instead of the “DIY” approach.
Finally, to be clear, they never did promise “investment” in the initial phone call. They said they could help me get the “funding” I needed to get off the ground. It was my own mental processing that translated “funding” into “investment”.
The Bottom Line
If you have a product with a clear need that people will pay for, InventureX may well be a good vehicle for you. In my case, I’m doing an “educational sell”. (For some reason, that is the kind of project that gets my juices flowing.)
But because it is an educational sell (for a yoga/meditation bench), there are several possible audiences and several possible appeals. (AND I’m dealing with production pipeline issues.)
Possible marketing appeals include:
- Make meditation more comfortable.
- Enhance the experience of “energy flow” meditation”.
- An easier form of yoga anyone can do.
- Develop the capacity to sit in Lotus Pose.
- Sit as though on the floor, without having to go to the floor.
- Reduce back pain.
- Develop strength.
- Improve osteoporosis.
That’s a pretty long set of options! One audience, for example, consists of aging Indo-Americans who are no longer comfortable on the floor. They have a positive response to the bench, but are they likely to be found in a crowdfunding venue? (Probably not. So the question becomes: Can their kids be motivated to purchase it for them?)
And so on for each possible combination of audience and appeal. It can take time to find which approach(es) will work best, and during the time, the loan-clock is ticking!
In the end, I decided that this may not be the right vehicle for me. With the information you have now, it may be the right one for you—but keep in mind this bit of wisdom from the good folks at Indiegogo:
- The success of your crowdfunding campaign depends more than any other factor on the size of your mailing list.
- You should reach a third of your goal in the first couple of days. (That kind of pace generates the buzz that produces viral growth.)
- In general, about five percent of your mailing list will participate in the first couple of days.
For a given contribution amount, then, you can do the math to determine how big a list you need. Alternatively, you can use your current list to determine how big a crowdfunding goal you can reasonably reach.
And that, fundamentally, is why you need paid marketing assistance–to use the tools at their disposal to reach a given audience, trying different appeals to find the ones that work best.
The alternative is to have a thought-leader or celebrity in your corner, with a sizeable list of followers. Or develop that list yourself, in time.
That is pretty much the only way to make a crowdfunding campaign work!
Email Exchanges
As I write this at the end of 2019, I have had some pretty terrible email exchanges with people who claimed to be victims in the comments, and one from a fellow who offered me an (unspecified amount) of money to take down this page. (He asked me how much I wanted. I had a figure in mind, which scared me. I could have done a lot of good with the money. But in that case, how many others would be hurt?)
One lady’s comment said that she had found a company that “worked great”—send her an email, and she would tell you who it was. I asked her to share her link, and disabled her comment when the company she mentioned looked to be the same group of people operating under a different name. (My thanks to other commenters, who did the research on that.)
When I disabled her comment, she complained bitterly that “she had not wanted to share the name in the first place”. (Why? She was happy to share it privately. But she didn’t want to post it.) She went on to say “she knew that doing so would cause problems”. (Again, why? If the company was so great, why would she expect that naming it would cause problems?)
After several of those exchanges, I got an email from another “victim” I had been interacting with.
In his message, he tells me that:
- He “received a call” from Julia this morning.
- He is the one that recommended InventureX to her.
- She and her husband lost over $150k.
- She has the name and contact info of someone who works at the company (an interesting talking point. She said so, as well. But why repeat it?)
- She is outraged, because she didn’t want to share the name of the company in the first place, and only did so at my insistence. (Right. She asked people to call her so she could tell them privately. But why didn’t she want to share the name of the company?)
- As she has mentioned in her messages, she was “afraid that giving the name” would lead to problems like this. (Why? If the company was so great, why was she afraid?)
- She and her husband helped him get a full refund in less than a week. (How, I wonder?)
Perhaps most indicative of all is the fact that neither of them would share the name of their product or company, Meanwhile, he too, has never shared the name of his less a link to either or a link to a crowdfunding page.
It is of course possible that I have become overly-suspicious, and am over-reacting. But the fact of the matter is that I don’t any entrepreneurs who would even hesitate to brag about their product offering.
Even in a one-on-one exchange, who knows what it could lead to?! It might result in a sale, or better yet, an investor.
Then there was the fellow who said the company hired him to “improve” things. It took a while, but I finally got him to admit that he was willing offer me money. (The company gave him money, he said, and he was willing to give some of it to me, if I would take down the page.)
He wouldn’t make a specific offer, though. He wanted me to specify a price. (I had one in mind, but I was afraid for my soul! Had I named it, and they met it, I would have been facing the dilemma of how much good I could do with the money, versus how much harm could continue to be done to others.)
In the end, I told him no, and told him to stop writing. That’s when the exchanges with the other two started.
At this point, keeping track of these shenanigans is becoming a full-time job. I have other more important work to do, so I have disabled comments.
Just know this: If you write to me directly, I will need specific information about your product, service, company, or crowdfunding page. It will need to be information I can confirm. Otherwise, your message will simply be stored for future reference, with no response.
I apologize to those of you who have stories you would like to share. Some of you, having spend your hard-earned cash, may well having nothing whatever to point to—no product page, no company site, no crowdfunding page—nothing.
If you are in this camp, I am truly sorry! But I can no longer take the chance that there are people posing as “victims” on this page who are out to take your money a second time!
More Scams!
Apparently, people who have posted comments on this page are being contacted by companies who claim to have helped TreeLight.com with a social media marketing campaign. I am here to tell you: THEY ARE LYING.
Absolutely no social media marketing has been done to push this site. So any outfit that says they have is making a false claim.
More Stories
- One correspondent pointed me to this page, recounting their story: https://dirtyscam.com/reviews/inventurex/
- The same correspondent indicated that Del at del@asfaleiadesigns.com is collecting testimonials from victims of InventureX in order to organize legal action. (The site looks legit, or I wouldn’t pass it on. But I cannot honestly vouch for it, either.)
Copyright © 2017, TreeLight PenWorks
45 Comments
Hi all. I wanted to share with you all that I got scammed out of $20,000. After 7 months of nothing being done by InventureX/Crowdfund Rescue, I cancelled the contract and asked for my money back. When they (Mark Campbell) refused, I hired and attorney and sued. The contract stated we would have to go to arbitration and the decision would be binding. We did, and after 4-5 months, I received notice that the arbitrator awarded me my $20,000 plus my expenses to file the lawsuit, plus 10% for non payment so far. Almost $28,000 awarded. Doesn’t mean much as now I have to collect but I’m taking to every social media platform and telling my story. Kevin Harrington and crew should be investigated by the FBI, Attoeney General , etc for theft by false pretenses, wire fraud, mail fraud, and embezzlement. Absolute scammers. All of them. I’m happy to share anything I have if it might help your case.
Report commentHello, I am also scammed by InventureX and have been in contact with Kevin Harrington’s team.. InventureX lied about his involvement and he is no longer affiliated with the company. Feel free to reach out to me. I have been trying to find other victims too to try and get a refund and stop this from happening to other people. Power in numbers. There is got to be a way to make this right again.
Report commentI am another victim of inventurex.com. I decided to do business with Inventurex last year because they associate themselves with Shark Tank and Kevin Harrington. So I didn’t worry about the companies credibility and check here first or for negative reviews. WHAT A MISTAKE!!!! What a shame Shark Tank is associated with them and I will be filing a complaint with them also. I gave a 28k to start my project which they said was perfect candidate for their service. They said we need to get moving because this will be for the first quarter campaign. They show urgency to get moving and make sure we could get this thing campaign running in March. When they were trying to get my money I received 14 emails staying contact and then when they received my money it got real quite. Then three weeks later I didn’t hear anything so I emailed asking how things were going and they said they were waiting on my info which I sent. I send it again and again they said they didn’t receive. Three days this goes on and then they finally receive it saying sorry sent the “didn’t receive it to the wrong person”. From January to now I have sent 20 emails with many ignored, I only received 7 emails. So that tells you how many of my emails were ignored and not answered. I kept asking for an update and to see where we are in the process and they were basically ignored. Never received anything showing me were they were in the process. No Video, Press releases, or anything. Just two lists of organizations and Facebook groups that would be a good fit. I could have created this list within hours. The last email they responded to was me saying I better hear something, or I am getting an attorney. They respond within the same day saying they understand my frustration and the team will get back to me with an itinerary of the progress by Friday. No surprise NOTHING!!!! When they associated themselves with Shark Tank and Kevin Harrington and saying they will talk to Kevin about getting me on Shark Tank because I have such a great campaign. I never thought I would have to check the credibility of this company. I cannot wait to see what Shark Tank thinks about them using their name as a reference.
If you been cheated by them send me an email or phone call. Schoolsneedsupport.com is the cause we tried to promote. I can be contacted that way. I am prepared to start a lawsuit against them and who they represent. I one person and more the better.
Report commentHello, I saw your post. Please contact Del at del@asfaleiadesigns.com (he is collecting testimonials from victims of InventureX in order to organize action against them).
Report commentThey have taken 10K from me and have not provided service!!!!!
Report commentAnyone ever notice the J’s ? Jack, joe, Jake, Jason. The women are Amy, Lilly, Sarah, Bianca. They also operate beyond buzz, which also uses crowdfund LLC to collect payment
Report commentHello, I saw your post. Please contact Del at del@asfaleiadesigns.com (he is collecting testimonials from victims of InventureX in order to organize action against them).
Report commentHas anyone contacted an attorney because I’m all in for suing to get my money back as I have had the same horrible experience as everyone else. I Contracted with InventureX in May 2019 and they have continually missed launch dates promised and never bothered to contact me and my project still HAS NOT launched.
Report commentThe campaign page is mediocre at best and the changes I requested have not been done. I also paid for a website after one of their team members convinced me it would be great for the campaign; however, I have yet to even see a sample of it. They have NEVER sent me any PR pitches to review and approve prior to sending out so I have no idea how they represented my company. The marketing plan is very important so wouldn’t you think they would share this information with the business owner prior to it being sent out?? This leads me to believe none has been sent out. I emailed Mark Campbell and team last month (February) and told them if my campaign wasn’t launched in 30 days that I expect a refund. Needless to say it was not launched. I filed a complaint with the BBB and a few days later I received an email from Mark Campbell stating they are ready to launch my project. WHAT??!! The project page, video or website aren’t done but they are ready to launch???!!! That just solidified the fact that I do not want to work with this company so if anyone has contacted an attorney please let me know.
Are you on Fb or instagram? How do I contact you I am bringing all the duped clients together so we can figure out how to shut them down.
Report commentHi Antoinette. It appears we’ve also been scammed! Like many other people in this thread, we thought we’d done our research before signing up with InventureX but only now are we finding such negative reviews. After sending them all our marketing assets, we’ve been ready waiting to press the launch button for our campaign for the last few weeks but have absolutely no evidence that they’ve done any work, so we’re not feeling confident to do this. Their lack of communication with us (and between each other) has been appalling, despite our multiple requests for updates, and at the very least, some reassurance! We’re wondering if your PI has found out anything in their investigation to confirm that their business is fraudulent? Any advice is most appreciated.
Report commentHello, I saw your post. Please contact Del at del@asfaleiadesigns.com (he is collecting testimonials from victims of InventureX in order to organize action against them).
Report commentHello, I saw your post. Please contact Del at del@asfaleiadesigns.com (he is collecting testimonials from victims of InventureX in order to organize action against them).
Report commentHi they took 10 K from me!
Report commentI hired a PI to investigate. I am going to bring all the clients together. Any one planning to work with me to fund a web page and social media page to warn others about this business is welcome to msg me. Afund an Inventure x scam campaign NEEDS TO CIRCULATE. I have sent a link to a few of their clients on Instagram. I think we all need to come together under on fb page and instagram page AND MORE IMPORTANTLY TWITTER. I am following fb threads and reddit threads to bring everyone together to see what can be done to shut down this fraudulent Inventure x business.
allergyland.com
Report commentNegative comments by Luke Sais were removed, at his request, as he was able to get much of his money back, in return for removing his negative review.
Report commentCooper Lopez’s negative reviews were removed at his request, as part of the refund he was able to obtain.
Report commentInventureX appears to be a BIG TIME Scammer for the New Market Entrants….
I am going through it at present, I will update as the situation progresses.
Hired InventureX on Dec. 19th, 2019, no work done in past two months at all, as it was promised on the contract. Working on getting my $10K back.
I did researched them before hiring, but it appears now that, it wasn’t thorough enough.
Report commentHi Pradeep. Just wondering if you’ve had any success in organising a refund from InventureX? We’re going through the same thing and have spend the last of our life savings trusting they’ll do their job and help get our project off the ground. Any updates or advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
Report commentNo, I haven’t yet.
Here is the update: On Feb. 28th, I spoke with the VP of the InventureX, Mark as listed on their website and mentioned total intension on delivering the committed work. I gave then extension till March 17th, 2020 with added conditions of not only delivering the pre-launch work in total completion but also, I need at least twice a week project progress on how much work is completed, how much is done, and how the remaining work will be completed in this time period. Additionally, I specifically mentioned that I will only accept the quality work, which can be defined or compared against and better than the successful campaigns in the similar category of the similar campaign.
Thought behind this was, as he (Mark) or the InventureX people running this business from past more than 5 years, they may have faced challenges delivering my work, at least I should give a chance. Also, check the latest update on their website they are claiming that they are recognized as public benefit state recognized company of 2020. Ironically, their actions suggest complete opposite story.
Guess what, as per their previous record with working on my project, again no committed weekly update on the project progress, no completion of any committed work at all. Only, one questionnaire was sent to me which was supposed to be sent on the day one.
I also put my hard earned money with them in the hope of getting their services for my product launch. If they could’t deliver even with the extensions applied, I expect my money to be received back by March 18th, end of the day. For my case, this day will define what kind of the person, Mark is, what kind of people work at InventureX, and my further actions will depend on March18th. Because someone in this thread has said that Mark, has returned his/her money back. I will find out what happens in my case.
After March 18th, one of the following will be happening:
1. Either, I receive my money back in total, or
2. Not
Depending on any of the above, I will explicitly list my outcome here on this platform, and the next steps that I will be taking.
In any case, whoever on this forum wishes to receive input from me, I will provide my feedback or opinion to them with email conversations with the InventureX team, so that they can make better decisions for their circumstance. If the picture attachments are an option here on this forum, I will upload those pictures here too, in as much details as needed. Because this is what I think, I reached out to InventureX to help me make my product come in-front of the people. But instead, if their scamming behaviour comes in-front of me, at the least, I will open it up to the people, to make them better decision and avoid them getting scammed by InventureX, and may be more. At the end all of our actions are for better community building, that’s all.
I would like to thank Eric here, as he has made this platform available to express and share the experiences for the people or the inventors or the ones who are trying to create jobs and welfare in the community, by bringing their product or invention in the market, but go through rough, mislead, and miserable journey while working with the marketing firms such as InventureX, (as that’s the case in most of the people on this forum including me). It is fundamental necessary for true community building, as we go ahead in this era of A.I., internet, and the scammers.
Report commentHello, I saw your post. Please contact Del at del@asfaleiadesigns.com (he is collecting testimonials from victims of InventureX in order to organize action against them).
Report commentInitially, I was extremely impressed by all the communication. I received reminder calls and spoke to Sarah before each call. I was not at all put off by the $500 because I had researched them and couldn’t find a bad review.
My company had a couple setbacks with our developer’s visa and asked them how to proceed based on a new launch date. I started seeing several emails were not being responded to. The first stern communication I sent to them had a three day delay and advised me to sing up for a meeting through their scheduling app and advised that pushing the launch date was just fine.
From that point on we continued to see little responses to our emails. I scheduled THREE meetings and each were ignored, having no email response to my emails asking why they were not meeting us. At one point, I actually asked them “FOR THE LOVE, WILL SOMEONE RESPOND TO ME” NO word for 4 days. When they finally responded, they didn’t even address the fact that they were not communicating.
They advised in our early talks to that all the apps they run campaigns for easily acquire $100k. Before I gave them the full $13k, I asked them why they thought we could raise $100k when the research shows that successful campaigns raise under $9k. They balked at this and said that was absurd. So we made the goal $100k and throughout the campaign (which they did not do any pre advertising for).
I asked for ways we could improve and they didn’t even respond. I asked if we should be acquiring funds prior to the campaign launch to help it look successful and they ensured us that they have a list of investors so we do not need to do such a thing.
Lies. All lies.
Our campaign was closed 30 days ago and I still have no communication.
DO NOT HIRE THEM!
Thank you so much for writing this blog about them. Something needs to be done.
http://www.ridme.com
Report commentWARNING: It has come to my attention that some of the comments posted here may only be pretending to be victims of InventureX. They claim the company took advantage of them, and then attempt to steer you to another site—one which may actually be a similar operation. The goal of those comments seems to be to steer you to an outfit that will take your money a second time!
I have removed the suspect comment that have been identified. In the meantime, here are some rules you can use as a guide:
Report comment1. If they are saying that some other outfit “worked really great” for them, be wary.
2. Look for a link to the product they are offering, their company, or the crowdfunding page they created.
3. Get in touch with the company that is supposed to have been funded. Verify that the person who posted the comment is actually affiliated with it.
4. Examine the product. Is it something you would buy? Is it available in the marketplace? (If not, on what basis should you trust what they have to say?)
5. If possible, when you contact the allegedly-funded company, verify that the recommended outfit actually helped them with their offering.
Anyone in this post interested in a class action law suit against InventureX?
Report commentHello, I’ve recently had a HORRIBLE experience with InventureX and was hoping we could speak.
Report commentLet’s set a time. Email me: eric@treelight.com, and I’ll give you a phone number.
Report commentI got lucky and got my money back, so there’s no benefit for me in a lawsuit–
other than putting another predator on notice that they can’t get away with it!
Thank you Eric, I emailed you. I’ve reported them to the BBB and I think everyone in this thread should do the same. Someone even made an anti-inventurex page on Instagram. I guess folks are sick of getting taken advantage of
Report commentI reported them to bbb as well as other entities. I have created a Facebook page called “Inventurex Scam.”
Please visit and like the page thanks
Report commentI reported them to the BBB as well. They closed the complaint, saying “they could not find the company”. (!) Perhaps better luck will be had by filing an Internet Crime Center Complaint at https://www.ic3.gov/
Please post a link to your page, to make easier for others to find.
Richard, at your request I removed your original comment because, as you stated in your email, “they have offered to give me and a handful of others refunds”. I was glad that my site seemed to have helped optimistic entrepreneurs like yourself get back money that was invested under false pretenses. Even though the company is clearly working hard to cover its tracks, I had hopes that others who cannot afford to lose the money they invested would benefit, as well as yourself. However, since you wrote that “the company did not follow through”, I have restored your original comment.
Also scammed me out of 15k. Missed 8 launched dates. Tried to force a political party on my project. Worst experience ever. Stay far away!
Report commentIt’s fascinating that the one person who supposedly had a positive experience never provided any details about the product they were allegedly offering.
Report commentI cant believe I’m just finding these posts..I searched and searched and found no complaints and now they have SCAMMED me, I’m finding all kinds of posts. Total scammers. Can I sue?
Report commentThey’re major scammers. We shouldn’t have given them our money. They continued to postpone our launch and the quality of the work they did complete was that of a 5th grader. Plus, a simple reverse image search of their so called ‘Joe Parker’ brings up other Belarusian LinkedIn profiles. Same goes for a couple other photos of their ‘team members’
Report commentOuch. Makes me glad I listened to the hairs on the back of my neck…
Report commentI’m trying to get the most out of my lost money. The money that we lost was out of our saving account. If you want to scam someone, scam a rich person not a poor entrepreneur who is already under tons of pressure. I’m interested in joint legal action. Let’s save other people from falling into this trap.
Report commentI’ll join you. I totally agree. They take advantage of small businesses
Report commentIm interested
Report commentWe worked with inventure-x and they did a huge raise for me, it was nothing but professional all the way and they went way over our dialed in goal that we discussed.
To me sounds like a different company, we crushed it with our pet based product, we were skeptical and scared to invest but for us it paid off big time and has been the driving force behind our whole brand.
Report commentThanks for that note. I’m glad it worked for you!
Report commentIt might still be a good idea…
I’m willing to believe you, but some details would really help! What pet-based product are you talking about? Is it in production? Do you have a link to it? Did your company get off the ground? Where is it? Is there a way to see the funding page? How much did they do for you? What did it cost you? How much did you raise? (Lacking detail, I’m afraid your comment doesn’t carry much weight, alas.)
Report commentHmmm. Fascinating. Just tried sending you an email, and the account no longer exists–a gmail account, no less.
Report commentApologies if I’ve over-reacting, but your comment is looking less and less like the real thing.
https://www.reddit.com/user/TimothyBrooks/
1 month ago
Word on the street is that they are a scam.
TimothyBrooks
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TimothyBrooks
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29 days ago
We partnered with InventureX in November of 2018. We had a phone meeting with their core marketing crew headed by Rodney Fife and Joe Parker. Fife quit soon afterwards. Parker completely BS’d us the whole way. They were supposed to kick off our campaign on March 27, 2019. Didn’t start until late May. They lied to us and said that they finished the marketing plan and Kickstarter page and submitted it to Kickstarter. We found out 2 weeks later that they didnt. They didn’t tell us, we found out from Kickstarter. After submitting the page to Kickstarter, InventureX did nothing. These “Marketing Guru’s” were unable to sell out a benefit concert featuring Kevin Hart, Drake, J. Cole, and 21 Savage in the Bay Area of California! Nobody even heard that we had a page on Kickstarter! Do not waste your money! Do not waste your time! I have ALL of the emails and proof. Just ask me. Round 12 Boxing in Sacramento. I’m Timmythedon on IG.
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Inventurex is a scam. Took us for 10k. Laid back and did nothing.
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