Startup businesses in upstate New York, a region that sometimes struggles to attract big investors, are anxiously awaiting permission to begin soliciting funding from a new type of investor.
The Jumpstart our Business Start-up – or JOBS – Act, passed last year by Congress, allows for more flexibility for crowdfunding investors – individuals making smaller investments in return for a stake in the company.
Right now that type of investment is limited to only very high income people like angel investors or venture capitalists.
Less restrictions on crowdfunding opens up a whole new arena of investor.
“Everybody that you went to college with, everybody in your high school that you knew. Just people that you don’t even know that heard about a really cool idea on the street that happens to be yours,” says Doug Gorman, a partner at Crisafulli Gorman, a boutique law firm that advises startups in upstate new York. “That’s the biggest game changer.”
Those close to the startup scene in upstate New York often site a lack of available capital as a hurdle for entrepreneurs to get off the ground.
Read More at InnovationTrail