The Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, has scheduled a roundtable discussion of crowdfunding for Wednesday, January 15, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon. A call in option is expected to be available as well.
The Small Business Roundtable on Crowdfunding will be held at the U.S. Small Business Administration, Eisenhower (Concourse level) Conference Room, 409 Third Street, SW, Washington, DC 20416. The event is open to the public.
The Office of Advocacy takes its direction from small businesses and hosts roundtables to receive input on what issues are of greatest importance. The Roundtable has been organized to aid in setting SBA Office of Advocacy priorities related to the issue of crowdfunding. While no agenda has yet been distributed the expected topic of discussion will be a review regulatory actions by the SEC regarding crowdfunding and a discussion on which issues are of key importance to small business. Recently the SEC has released a series of proposed regulations regarding elements of the JOBS Act including popular crowdfunding.
The Office of Advocacy is an independent voice for small business within the federal government and is the watchdog for the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). Advocacy advances the views and concerns of small business before Congress, the White House, the federal agencies, the federal courts and state policy makers. Small Businesses, as defined by the SBA, make up over 99% of employer firms and 64% of new private sector jobs. The dire need of capital for startups and small businesses is a key issue for the Office of Advocacy. Crowdfunding, if reasonably regulated, has the potential to improve the efficient allocation of capital for small companies seeking to raise funding.
Individuals interested in attending this event should email Dillon Taylor, Assistant Chief Counsel for Advocacy, SBA Office of Advocacy. Anyone interested in attending this event or anyone would like to receive roundtable agendas or presentations, or be included in the regular distribution, should forward such requests to Taylor as well at dillon.taylor@sba.gov