August 22, 2014
To The Honorable Mary Jo White, Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar, Commissioner Daniel M. Gallagher, Commissioner Kara M. Stein, Commissioner Michael S. Piwowar, and Title III Team (Sebastian Gomez Abero, Jessica Dickerson, Division of Corporation Finance, and Joseph Furey, Joanna Rutkawski, Leila Bham, Timothy White and Carla Carriveau, Division of Trading and Markets):
Thank you for accepting my late commentary submission on the proposed rules regarding Title 3 of the JOBS Act.
I appreciate the effort required to develop the complex rules required to implement this game-changing legislation -- and hope that my personal and professional perspective, as a member of both CFIRA and AARP, as well as an investor and a Co-Founder / President / Chief Visionary Officer of The CrowdFunding Network, Inc (CF4ALL.com) can add something of value to the discussion at hand.
As the industry's only "Crowd-Powered Search and Analytics Engine" -- with a search database of almost 220,000 crowdfunding projects (including 44,000 active/ongoing campaigns -- CF4ALL essentially sits above the crowdfunding market, without a particular stake in the future any one funding type. That said, I can state with certainty that the overwhelming majority of crowdfund-savvy entrepreneurs and backers I come in contact with -- either directly or indirectly -- are eager to embrace Title 3.
Although there are some vocal nay-sayers who claim that Title III, as currently envisioned, is “unworkable," it seems that their arguments are based on sheer conjecture and/or a lack of any real understanding of the industry. In some cases the comments appear to reflect self-serving agendas from those who stand to benefit from further (if not permanent) delays -- and who hope to thwart Title 3 being finally realized as the law of the land.
I will not bore you with a lengthy recitation of the myriad reasons why the SEC's rules and regulations regarding Title 3 should be published ASAP. My many colleagues have done an excellent job detailing their arguments in great detail.
Suffice it to say that:
1) I know of many Equity-Based Platforms which claim they are ready, willing, and able -- if not desperate -- to operate under the rules as proposed;
2) The projected costs to issuers, while initially appearing to be problematical, are already coming down through a variety of market forces -- creating numerous cost-efficiencies / savings in the compliance process;
3) While I would obviously like to see a few key changes implemented in the future (as per previous comments from CFIRA and other industry experts), the proposed rules are, in fact, an important and workable first step. Rest assured, CF4ALL intends to help educate potential issuers and investors while helping equity-based platforms market / promote themselves -- and to do everything else we can to facilitate Title III crowdfunding.
Please don't let let the hard work of so many (the SEC included) -- and promise of so much innovation and economic growth -- be thwarted by a vocal minority who speak in blind support of an obviously broken system.
Sincerely,
Peter Einstein
Co-Founder / President & Chief Visionary Officer
The CrowdFunding Network, Inc
CrowdFunding4All (www.CF4ALL.com)