Investing in stupid stuff: our inalienable right
Lawyers will know the name of Louis Loss, one of the gods of securities regulation. From one of his key works, writing about the Securities Act of 1933: In short, Congress did not take away from the citizen “his inalienable right to make a fool of himself.” It simply attempted to prevent others from making […]
Is securities crowdfunding going to be impossible for some small businesses?
Got your attention? Good, because it doesn’t seem that anything else has. Look small businesses, here’s the thing. Congress told the SEC to propose rules for securities crowdfunding. The SEC’s rules have been posted here for a while and the comment period ends in a few days. There have been quite a few comments. Some are sensible, many […]
Regulation CF: funding portals can charge commissions!
Not everyone outside CrowdCheck HQ has finished reading the SEC’s 6,000 page proposals for securities crowdfunding yet. So they may not have picked up on the fact that yes, indeed, crowdfunding portals would be able to charge commissions to companies raising money on their platforms under the proposals. (And although the SEC hasn’t said it, they will […]
Entrepreneurs: build your crowdfunding networks; just don’t talk to them about crowdfunding!
The SEC’s proposals for crowdfunding are out, and entrepreneurs are getting advice about how to be ready for securities crowdfunding. One good piece of advice is to start building that crowd now. Another piece of advice that is sometimes omitted? Do not tell the crowd that you will be pursuing crowdfunding. See, telling people that you are […]
Investors: Know your online securities platforms
Exciting times, eh? With the lifting of the ban on “general solicitation” for offerings to accredited (rich) investors, all sorts of great start-up companies are advertising for investors. Who knew there were that many organic ice cream companies out there? So accredited investors looking to invest small amounts to boost America’s small businesses are able to see […]
What due diligence really looks like
There’s been a lot of discussion about what due diligence is (and isn’t) in the crowdfunding context. As we get closer to going live on crowdfunding, we thought it might be a good idea to start a series of blog posts that explain what good “due diligence” really looks like, and the things that investors […]
The perils of the pivot
Everyone in the startup world knows a good pivot story, right? The wedding planner site that became a peer-to-peer boat rental outfit, the “gay Groupon” that became a fabulously successful retailer. It’s not that unusual for a team to find that their original concept just isn’t going to work, but they have this other idea that is going to […]
Sara Hanks quoted in The Street article on crowdfunding
JOBS Act Creates Crowdfunding Industry but No IPOs
Sara Hanks quoted in Businessweek article on crowdfunding
Crowdfunding’s on Hold. So is Crowdfunding Fraud.
Investor protection: not just avoiding fraud
There’s a lot of talk in the crowdfunding community about investor protection. Folks in the regulatory community and in the press are focusing on the potential for fraud. And at CrowdCheck we absolutely agree that preventing fraud is vital. After all, we were founded with the mission of avoiding fraud. But you know what? Investor protection […]