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Our securities laws seem better at creating barriers to entry for startups, and generating fees for lawyers, than protecting investors.

• tptacek 18y ago
  I agree, but think we clearly need some regulation, and IPO'ing on Twitter would have to fall outside any sane regime.
  • shawndrost 18y ago
    What would happen if this kind of thing were legal?
    • mattmaroon 18y ago
      Most of the laws that pertain to small companies are designed to prevent con artists from robbing little old ladies of their pensions. I'm not really sure how much more that would happen than it does now.
• Prrometheus 18y ago
  I understand the rationale behind most securities laws, but they definitely do stifle innovation and favor the big guys that can pay the lawyers to understand them.
  • mattmaroon 18y ago
    Eh, it's not that bad really for the little guys. And the mega corporations can afford it. It's clearly gone overboard and stifled the IPO market (which I guess you'd call mid-sized companies) but the only real headache for startups is that you have to make sure your investors are accredited. And, apparently, you can't post a term sheet on Twitter.
    • Prrometheus 18y ago
      Well, we essentially have the same capital markets that we had in the 30s, frozen in time by securities laws. I just wonder how it might be easier and cheaper to raise capital today if there were the possibility for innovation.