Subject: File No. S7-06-13
From: Gary Levitt

August 17, 2013

As a startup having to be subject to this potentially punishing limitation, I would naturally be afraid to raise money publicly. It would be significant because the way startups work is quite different to typical Wall Street operations, in that at the outset, far less formality exists. Preserving this sense of freedom and flexibility is critical because creativity is at its peek, while business experience and conformity is not. Investors are sophisticated enough to be able to be able to deal with startups raising money publicly, and the SEC's potential ruling does far more to cause confusion and havoc and hurt to budding businesses (I'm one of them) raising funds in a modern and appropriate way, creating a draconian dimension to a space that's anything but.

Angel Investor in many U.S. startups.