To cross all the t's and dot all the i's, you might be able to join a friends-and-family round under Rule 504, but your founder friend should still do the due d

To cross all the t's and dot all the i's, you might be able to join a friends-and-family round under Rule 504, but your founder friend should still do the due diligence to ensure the participating friends and family investors reside in states where such an offering is exempt from registration/qualification under state blue-sky laws[1]. IANAL. Hopefully your founder friend will have had a startup attorney to ask about all of this. [1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/blue_sky_law https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/blue_sky_law