August 19, 2013
Hi,
As a founder of two successful startups that employ close to 50 people combined, I am scared that the new rules on startup fund-raising will be extremely harmful to new company formation and job creation in the United States. The notion that a startup would need to file documents with the SEC at all, much less every time they update their investor presentation, is appalling to me.
Startups need to move fast or they fail. Having to file paperwork with a slow-moving government body any time we update a powerpoint presentation is absurd. Startup investment presentations don't exist on paper. They are living breathing extensions of the founders and their vision that dynamically change after each investor meeting based on the feedback received. Indeed, they can even change during the presentation. If we were forced to re-file with the SEC each time we made an update, we could never raise another round of capital.
Silicon Valley is a national treasure. Please do not regulate it out of existence. There are places like India, China, Chile, Sinagpore, the Philippines and many more just dying to replicate the magic we've created here. If the federal government starts meddling in the affairs of the Valley, those places will be more attractive than ever before.
Thank you for your time,
Ryan Petersen
PS If you insist on helping us, make it easier for us to hire talented engineers from other countries and bring them to the U.S., where they can help our companies grow.