Tagged: perspective

Engine’s 2014 in Review: The JOBS Act – What’s Happened & What’s Next for Startup Capital Access

With overwhelming bipartisan support, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act—or the JOBS Act—was signed into law on April 5, 2012, and for entrepreneurs and startup investors, the bill was easily one of the most promising pieces of new legislation to come out of Congress in… Read More

2015: The Ascendency of Small Business & the Middle Class in Washington, DC

As 2014 comes to a close, this is the time of year when all good journalists look back at the year’s events, and then look forward – typically with a list of bold predictions for the year ahead.  For those of you focused on small… Read More

Engine: Dear SEC, Finalize JOBS Act Rules Now

Today, Engine sent a letter signed by more than 200 entrepreneurs, investors, and members of the startup community to the Securities Commission to tell the agency it’s time it fulfills its statutory obligation and finalize rules to make the JOBS Act a reality. You can… Read More

Consensus Forming in Washington, DC on Accredited Investor Definition

  Momentum is building towards a consensus on the highly controversial updates to the accredited investor definition (currently a person who has over $200,000 in income (or $300,000 jointly with spouse) or over $1M in net worth, excluding personal residence). Initially, there was some suggestion… Read More

Perspective: Profiting from the Crowdfinance Revolution

A financial revolution – ignited by hordes of individuals who have grown leery of conventional financial institutions, and powered by contemporary P2P and crowdfund marketplaces – has been germinating across the planet. In the same way that the Industrial Revolution redefined manufacturing and the Internet… Read More

On the Misplaced Priorities of Dodd-Frank & the SEC: A Call for a “New Deal” in Washington for America’s Small Business

It could have been the kickoff of a grand political campaign – a slogan that would be proud to adorn a bumper sticker for the most ambitious of politicians – and a sound byte that would be sure to grab the next day’s headlines in… Read More

SEC Chair Mary Jo White: “Small Businesses Play a Crucial Role in the Growth of Our Nation’s Economy & the Creation of New Jobs for Americans”

The week of November 17th should be officially designated “SME Regulatory Week” due to the number of events that occurred in our nation’s Capitol over several days.  The primary draw was the SEC Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation. In contrast to past years,… Read More

Dear Congress: Please Help Our Small Businesses

My friend Dan Lear and I wrote the attached letter to Congress to try to encapsulate in one place our various public policy suggestions to help startups. What you will find in the letter are 13 very specific and detailed public policy initiatives that Congress… Read More

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

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