If you read this blog, you don’t need to be reminded that I’m an entrepreneur, or that CitySquares has been funded by angel investors from eCoast Angel Network, to Jonathan Kraft, and Mark Cuban, among others. The bottom line is that CitySquares would not be here today if it were not for our angel investors, but more generally if it were not for Angel Investing as a whole. Most importantly though, angel investing is good for America, that simply cannot be disputed. So why is Senator Chris Dodd trying to make it harder for entrepreneurs and companies to raise angel financing, and why is he going to raise the minimum requirements to be an accredited investor, and on top of it all make the SEC review every angel deal before it can get done?
Is the Democrat from Connecticut out of his mind? What is he trying to achieve here, raising revenues for the federal government? I don’t get it – where’s the logic in this provision? Maybe someone smarter than me can help me understand, but in the meantime if you are for entrepreneurship, for innovation, for job creation, for small business, then go here and sign the petition to stop this nonsense.
More information can be found here on The Huffington Post, in a well penned piece from Robert Litan. A quote follows:
Various studies published or sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation have made it abundantly clear how dependent the U.S. economy has been and will continue to be on the formation and growth of new companies. Angel investors are important funders of new companies. There is no good time to make it more difficult for them to invest in startups, and now — when the economy is struggling to recover from what may be the deepest recession since the Great Depression — is the very worst possible time to discourage angel investment.
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