Yes, exhanges is where you can buy companies that meet certain criteria, such as publishing earnings forecasts and many other things to the public and not to an

Yes, exhanges is where you can buy companies that meet certain criteria, such as publishing earnings forecasts and many other things to the public and not to anyone ahead of time. Devices to protect small fish against being ripped off by company insiders. A sale isn't forbidden, but soliciting is. SpaceX cannot solicit the general public. If they can explain that they reached you because you're Elon's former secretary's cousin and you met Elon at a birthday party, they may choose to include you in a financing round. Otherwise, they'll just say no, because you're not worth the risk/cost of having to answer pointed questions from the regulator. (The regulator might not punish them, but just having to answer questions quickly eats up expensive lawyer hours. And then there's the whole question of who you are. If you're a shareholder you're entitled to answers, so pedants owning a single share can be a real bother.)