Chicago tech incubator 1871 visited the White House this past week and took the crowdfunding gospel to the Obama administration asking for help. As part of an entrepreneurial summit, five of 1871’s most successful businesses joined 1871 CEO Howard A. Tullman in our nation’s capital on Thursday, April 10th.
In a statement Tullman made the point about the need for crowdfunding to move forward;
“We’ve been waiting for more than a year to get the regulations done for Jobs Act crowdfunding,” Tullman said. “If they ask us for our opinion, that’s a huge help for entrepreneurship.”
It has been over two years since the bi-partisan JOBS Act was signed into law by the Obama administration. While the intent was to lower regulatory barriers to ease capital formation for startups and small companies the process has been bogged down by the rule making inertia and the diverse special interest and constituencies impacted by the new law.
“It is always exciting to be at the White House with the opportunity to help the administration understand the challenges facing technology entrepreneurs in the Midwest,” said Tullman.
The other entrepreneurs and businesses that visited the White House included:
- Feyi Olipade, CancerIQ
- Lotika Pai, Q-It
- Corbett Kull, 640 Labs
- Canh Tran, Rippleshot
- Rajesh Karmani, Zero Percent
“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to visit the White House and talk about the many opportunities facing entrepreneurs here in Chicago and how the government can help us,” said Corbett Kull of 640 Labs. “I expect to see some valuable examples about how things are working for entrepreneurs elsewhere in the country that can be useful as we continue to grow and expand our business. And, I’m sure we can teach them a thing or two about Chicagoness while we’re there.”