July 16, 2014
Dear SEC, as an accredited investor under the current guidelines, a manager of a micro-seed fund for startups, and as someone who coordinates investment activity among 200+ angel investors in New England, I agree strongly 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.
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. Taking investors out of the US economy is a bad idea, and unnecessary. I cannot think of one case in the past decade where a self-accredited investor was unable or uniformed to invest the amount of money that they put at risk.
We let the average American risk as much money as they want in casinos and lotteries (and the government often benefits) without means tests or education. Yet you are spending time on endangering the single most important source of startup capital in the US. Please refrain.
Sincerely, Allan Tear
Managing Partner, Betaspring
Charter Member of the Startup America accelerator network
Angel, Cherrystone Angel Group