Remarks at the Small Business Advisory Committee Meeting

Good morning, and thank you to Carla and the rest of the Committee for your time and input today.

This will be the last meeting for several Committee members who have reached the end of their terms.

Thank you for your service and for the time and contributions you’ve made over the past several years.

For those who will continue to serve on the committee, I urge you to redouble your efforts, in partnership with the incoming members, to advise us on the most innovative ways to better serve truly small businesses and entrepreneurs – that is, those in our country’s underserved communities that have been largely ignored.

To me, these businesses are the true unicorns, with an exceptional entrepreneurial spirit representative of the best traditions of American ingenuity.

But they face barriers to accessing venture and angel capital ecosystems and networks, and to our capital markets more generally.

Growth-oriented companies, particularly in the high tech sector, are well supported by the current regulatory system and by the focus of the policy debate in forums like these.

But these well-resourced companies are in less need of our attention than the millions of small businesses that the current capital formation system fails to support.

And while the larger, growth-oriented companies are important drivers of jobs and innovation, so are the truly small businesses that are being left out.

I hope and expect that the expertise represented on this committee can elevate to the forefront the needs of businesses with other types of characteristics, balance sheets, and models for growth.

It is also my hope that the committee’s work will result in direct recommendations to the Commission on the best ways to address these challenges meaningfully and effectively.

In the absence of broad-based access to growth capital for our nation’s smallest, most underserved businesses, the fulfilment of our capital formation mission will fall short of its full potential.

Thank you for your service and for your contributions to today’s discussion.