Tagged: perspective

On SEC Proposed Regulation A+: Has Commissioner Stein Succumbed to the NASAA Kool-Aid?

Though SEC Commissioners Daniel M. Gallagher and Kara Stein may have travelled on the same plane on the way to the Los Angeles County Bar Association Annual Securities Regulation Conference to address a room of securities industry professionals on October 24, judging by their public… Read More

Every US Politician & SEC Regulator Should Watch this Video

Dr. Richard Swart, of UC Berkeley and Crowdfund Capital Advisors,  recently addressed the Deep Impact Conference in the UK via video to address the hot topic of crowdfunding and regulation.  Swart is a frequent speaker on crowdfunding and is a highly respected researcher on the… Read More

The Big Boys Say Crowdfunding is a Drop in the Ocean: And They’re Right

Crowdfunding ­is ‘hot & happening’. So ‘hot & happening’ in fact, that a lot of valid criticism, however badly formulated at times, is discarded. One of the points made that is taken as an outright insult, is the mention that “Crowdfunding is just a drop… Read More

Illinois Intrastate Crowdfunding Exemption: The Reasoning Behind The Bill

As noted in my prior post, “Draft Bill: Illinois Intrastate Crowdfunding Exemption,” an official draft of my proposed Illinois Intrastate Crowdfunding Exemption was recently finished. To my surprise, people actually read it and I have been getting a lot of questions as to why I… Read More

Small Business SEC Regulatory Reform in Washington, DC: “All in on Red” on Election Day 2014

The place was Washington, D.C. The occasion was the Annual Meeting of the Angel Capital Association at the Hilton Hotel in March 2014. Hundreds of attendees were gathered for lunch in the main Ballroom, the largest in the City. The lineup of luncheon speakers was… Read More

Ron Suber’s Guide to Improve the Crowdfunding Industry

Recently I participated in the Third Annual Global Crowdfunding Convention and Bootcamp in Las Vegas and Ron Suber, President of Prosper Marketplace, a peer to peer or “marketplace lending” platform, spoke about the nine actions or initiatives that the marketplace lending industry in general and… Read More

An Open Letter to Chair White: It’s time to Lead the Crowd (funding)

  The place: Washington, D.C. – the occasion: the swearing in of a new federal agency head – one charged in part with regulating the flow of capital to small businesses.  President Obama and others listened with a hopeful ear. Her words were inspiring, especially… Read More

Convertible Loans as a Band-Aid Solution to the Valuation Problem in Equity Crowdfunding

What’s happening: the industry wants equity It’s ironic that crowdfunding makes it possible to set up companies that otherwise never would’ve come into existence, only to ruin them later by postponing the valuation issues that any start up will have to solve sooner or later…. Read More

Crowdfunding Industry Advocates Respond to IAC Recommendations on Accredited Investor Definition

Last week the Investor Advisory Committee met at the Securities and Exchange Commission to review and make recommendations on several issues regarding investors.  At the top of the list was the hot polemic on how an accredited investor should be defined. As it stands today… Read More

Perspective: Permanent Crowdfunding and Sustainable Growth

Indiegogo recently announced the launch of a new pilot program called Forever Funding  that will allow campaigners to raise money indefinitely, a sort of never ending crowdfunding round. If the rewards campaign closes with a successful result the platform gives the organizer the opportunity to… Read More

Paul Niederer: Investing from the Crowd Starts with Friends and Family

Paul Niederer and his investment crowdfunding platform, The Australian Small Scale Offerings Board (ASSOB), started doing equity crowdfunding before the term was even coined.  The entire global crowdfunding industry has looked towards Australia for their experience garnered from years of actual practice.  ASSOB has raised… Read More

Tribune Op-Ed: Bring Equity Crowdfunding to Illinois

As retail investment crowdfunding has stalled in regulatory limbo at the federal level, many states have moved foreword with homegrown initiatives to bring investment crowdfunding to companies operating within their state borders.  The old media maven Chicago Tribune has shown they are interested in bringing the… Read More

Seedrs: Equity Crowdfunding Makes Sense for Publicly Traded Companies

Seedrs recently chalked up another first by offering shares of Chapel Down in an equity crowdfunding campaign on their platform.  Chapel Down is a publicly traded company listed on the ISDX growth market in the UK.  The funding closes on October 1st but stands at… Read More

Harvard: Prodigy Network is Democratizing Real Estate Investment

Last month Harvard Business School published a case study on the real estate crowdfunding platform Prodigy Network and its founder Rodrigo Niño.  Authors Karim Lakhani, Katja Hutter and Greta Priar, reviewed the dramatic rise of Prodigy Network and the vision of Niño that “crowdfunding will… Read More

Equity vs. Debt Crowdfunding

There is a lot of media focus on crowdfunding, but sometimes the types of crowdfunding are not properly distinguished. You hear a lot about the Kickstarter’s and Indiegogo’s of the world and people are confusing these with actual investments in companies. To understand debt (lending)… Read More

KPMG: Banks Wonder if Crowdfunding is Friend or Foe

Global tax and advisory firm KPMG recently commented on the crowdfunding industry and how traditional banks are sizing up the new, innovative form of finance. As we all know the finance industry is absolutely enormous.  Crowdfunding, along with peer to peer lending, is still quite… Read More

Investor Protection: Why You May Want to Reconsider Your Real Estate Crowdfunding Investment

Do you remember that scene from the movie Tommy Boy where the store manager rants about the importance of having a guarantee on the product box “calling out, I’ll never let you down, but if I do I’m gonna make things ALL better.” I can’t… Read More

Release Title III: Securities Based Crowdfunding Rules – The New Investing Model

Some Issues in Title III Crowdfunding Regulations Require Modification. Recently, there has been a renewed call for action on Title III (Regulation Crowdfunding) to go-live. And there are some proponents in the industry that just want the rules to go live ‘as-is’. However, the Crowdfunding… Read More

Perspective: Investors and Markets Could Benefit from Revising the Accredited Investor Definition

When Congress passed the JOBS Act lifting the ban on general solicitation in offerings under Rule 506 of Regulation D, it turned these so-called “private” offerings into potentially very public ones.  Since Reg D offerings involving general solicitation can only be sold to “accredited” investors,… Read More

John Mullins: The Trouble with VC Funding (Video)

Professor John Mullins, from the London Business School, authored a book entitled “The Customer Funded Business”. He recently visited the studios of CNBC to share his perspective on how some VCs can be injurious to a business. Mullins states that running a business is a… Read More

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