UPDATED: The JOBS Act passed Congress and was signed into law by President Obama. Final bill text here. I’ve previously posted (here and here) about the crowdfunding measures that have been working their way through Congress. The House has now passed the JOBS Act (text here, for the truly wonky), which contains these measures, and […]
Crowdfunding – the aggregation of small payments from a broad base of funders – has been enabled by the technologies of the Internet, particularly social media and easy electronic payments. Filmmakers have been bootstrapping movies with crowdfunding for some time. It has been widely used in the non-profit arena. Kickstarter operates a popular crowdfunding platform […]
Companies that have private investment documents drafted prior to passage of Dodd-Frank in 2010 should be very careful before reusing these documents. Section 513 of Dodd-Frank brought about an important change to the definition of “accredited investor” set out in the Regulation D exemptions to registration under the Securities Act of 1933. The $1,000,000 net worth standard […]
In order to take their companies to the next level, many company founders will seek money from individual investors. Before doing this, it’s important to know the basics of the regulatory framework enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Running afoul of the law here can have serious negative consequences. Conversely, knowing what you are […]
There seems to be a lot of discussion among VC’s and lawyers on the coasts about the proper legal vehicle for seed-stage deals (e.g., here, here and here) and ways to streamline the legal documents (and thereby to minimize the legal fees) . As the founder of a legal practice devoted to serving startups at […]