August 16, 2013
I run a website called www.TheGreatStartupWiki.com and I am very close to entrepreneurs doing thier startups. I know it is difficult to start a new business venture and we as entrepreneurs were very happy to know that changes were going to be happening in regards to crowdfunding. HOWEVER the current standards below massively hurt entrepreneurs while making a new business and gathering funding.
When making a new business, you do not have long stretches of time to make decisions. You have days or even hours to make a decision in order to keep your new business alive.
A new offering may come up within hours because of a comment or post on a social networking website and that comment may ripple outwards and very much hurt the new startups reputation for not being quick acting if they cannot be quick acting.
Startups also are hurting for funds and therefore cannot afford legal help when trying to aquire funds. The purpose of aquiring funds is largely to have funds in order to buy protection and aid of professionals so that legal issues don't affect the new fledgling business.
I am in front of hundreds of thousands of enterpreneurs every day and know that this is going to be hurting them.
You don't get a new website popping up all the time when people are upset but website are popping up and they are dedicated to making sure you hear our voice as entrepreneurs that the changes being made will still not help entreprneurs but will hurt them.
The concerns I am refering to are:
1) Startups must notify the SEC 15 days before they publicly discuss raising money
2) Startups must file documents with the SEC every time they update their offering materials
3) Startups must include legal boilerplate every time they talk about their financing publicly