I was fortunate enough to be invited to this year’s Fashion Group International’s Rising Stars Award Ceremony by a dear friend and founder of Applied Brilliance, and a few  nominees were new additions to my radar. 

The first, Brooklyn-based DS & Durga,  were winners of the Beauty and Fragrance Entrepreneur Award. They base their products off of Native American ritual medicine, Americana culture, “outdated lore”, geography, history and gastronomy. We particularly like their use of nineteenth-century botanical prints throughout their branding.

The second was Torrubia & Torrubia, a pair of Spanish sisters and third generation goldsmiths who’ve taken their family’s workshop tradition into a very architectural, minimal modern era. Be forewarned, I sat across from these incredibly nice sisters, and began to compliment one of them on her gorgeous necklace only to find out that the black pearls were not dipped (Thank you Gigi) and the necklace I had begun to develop a soft spot for was $60,000. 

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When I heard CEO Jay Finch pitch SocStock (short for Social Stock) by Common Equity at Applied Brilliance’s 2011 event, I thought two things- first that I had never heard such a Gen Y-meets-finance proposal, and second that Brooklyn is about to face total take over. Never have I heard of such a timely tech launch.

So how does SocStock work? Say a local business that you love- perhaps a sandwich shop that makes things that taste like heaven- is hypothetically trying to expand and needs a new oven to keep up with demand of their immaculate sandwich The Singing Angels. Instead of applying for a small business loan that they might not get, The Sandwich Shop would ask their loyal patrons to invest something like $100 each of SocStock to be able to buy a new oven and keep up with demand. I, the loyal customer, would go to SocStock’s website, buy $100 worth of SocStock via my PayPal account, and would be reimbursed over the coming months with what could be behind the scenes tours, sandwich-making classes, or even discounted or store-credited Singing Angels sandwiches. 

As an alternative for small businesses applying for small business loans that are virtually impossible to come by these days as banks continue to constrict, it’s simply Brilliant.