July 10, 2014
I agree with the comment submitted by Kiran Lingam at SeedInvest on July 8, 2014 available at http://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-06-13/s70613-546.pdf that raising the accredited investor thresholds would be disastrous for startups, job creation and the U.S. economy. I believe the SEC should refrain from increasing these thresholds and should also adopt knowledge/experience based standards for an individual to become an accredited investor.
With funding from thoughtful, helpful and astute private investors, with our recent funding we’ve been able to create immediately 10 new high paying permanent jobs which in the future will turn into hundreds and thousands. Knightscope (www.knightscope.com) is developing technology to predict and prevent crime. Crime has a $1 trillion negative economic impact on the economy and we have path to show that we will be able to cut it by 50% in a geofenced area. The outrageous proposed change in thresholds would have a negative material impact on our Company that is poised to make massive positive societal impact inclusive of actually saving lives.
The first role of government is protect its citizens and any action to change this threshold will choke off much needed capital that needs to be put to work for the betterment of our country - don’t stand in the way of American innovation. Building a company is hard enough without foolish governmental banana peels placed in our path.
Autonomously,
Bill
William Santana Li
Chairman and CEO
Knightscope, Inc.