The rise of alternative financing platforms and methods such as Microfinance, Crowfunding and Peer-to-Peer Lending have clearly set a paradigm shift in motion.  We seem no longer need a financial institution to sit in between people to transact and move money.   This shift seems to permeate in many areas of financing such as helping a family in a third world country lift themselves out of poverty, fund a gallery display from an amazing artist from New York City, invest in creditworthy consumer loans or even provide venture capital to entrepreneurs.

Four companies that have pioneered in this space will meet to debate the future of financing: how will this shift transform the way we exchange money, who will benefit or need to evolve?  What does it mean to the existing financial models and industries?

The Next Generation Financing MarketPlaces panel will take place in New York City on Tuesday November 30th with @LendingClub @SecondMarket @IndieGoGo @davidsrose from New York Angels.

What? Next Generation Financing MarketPlaces
When? Tuesday November 30th at 6:30 PM
Where? Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

1540 Broadway
New York, NY , NY 10036

Space is limited. Register now >>

You are cordially invited to join the Lending Club Running Team this coming Thursday, November 25th (Thanksgiving day) and run (or walk, or trot) the Silicon Valley 10k Turkey Trot with us.

Yes, you! Our loyal investors, partners, borrowers, or simply a follower.

Perhaps this is the excuse you were looking for to justify all the eating you'll be doing that afternoon. More importantly, you'll score a special edition "Lending Club team" dry-fit performance running shirt.

Race will benefit Santa Clara Family Health Foundation, Housing Trust of Santa Clara County and the Second Harvest Food Bank.

So put your running shoes on, get excited, and join the Lending Club running team on Thanksgiving day!

But hurry, space is very limited.

@RobGarciaSJ

Next week, we'll be hosting a fantastic opportunity to connect with the Lending Club team and learn more about peer investing.

On Thursday, join Patrick Gannon, SVP Investor Services and myself, Sr. Marketing Director to discuss recent and upcoming developments at Lending Club.  Topics will include diversification, the importance of stable returns, loan recovery rates, investment strategies and more. There will be ample time for Q&As following a short presentation.  This session is recommended for new investors, as well as existing investors who want to fine tune their investment strategy.

Don't miss it!

WebCast: Investor Forum
Thursday, November 18^th
4:00-5:00 pm PT
Register Now >>

Lending Club's team will be at Canaan Partners' Web After Dark: the official Web 2.0 Summit opening night party.

Web After Dark is a very exclusive event that takes place once a year and gathers the best and most innovative Web 2.0 startups from Silicon Valley and beyond.

This year, it’s all happening at The Bentley Reserve, right in the heart of the financial district in San Francisco.  Such a suitable location: the classic style of the financial district's most distinguished building will host the innovative and paradigm-breaking Lending Club.

On24, Blip.TV, LiveU, Plixi, Zoosk, Zuberance and several other Canaan portfolio companies will be in attendance.

If you are attending the Web 2.0 Summit, and want to meet the Lending Club team at this private event, please contact Lending Club's investor services team, or myself directly for an invitation.

See you there!

@RobGarciaSJ

It's a fact of today's economy and society that consumer behavior has been evolving in unexpected ways ever since the Internet became available.  We seem to be moving from an voracious consumerism to a consumption based on collaboration, sharing and community.

From the moment marketplaces such as eBay and Craigslist started to become well known and became part of our day-to-day, a new movement of sharing and collaborating was born.

Collaborative Consumption is the phrase coined by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers to describe the rapid explosion in traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping redefined through technology and peer communities. In their book, What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption, Rachel and Roo go deep into the origins, reach and future of this movement.

Four emerging branches of this movement are peer travel reservations (airbnb), ride sharing (zimride), peer-to-peer lending (LendingClub in the US and Zopa in the UK) and co-working (The Hub) .

Listen to executives from these four companies discuss the rise of sharing and collaboration tonight.  They will lead an interactive panel discussion in San Francisco, CA on Wedneday October 27.

The panel will explore how we are moving into a new realm of consumerism, one marked by trust between strangers, shared access instead of ownership, and the primacy of experience over “more stuff”.

It's going to be a thought-provoking, mind-bending, intimate conversation.  Tickets are only $12 and there are only a few left.

Get your ticket now >>

In the mean time, I leave you with a cool short video showing what Collaborative Consumption is all about:

See you there.

@RobGarciaSJ