gbelote

12 ms·

61.
by gbelote 13y ago
Hey Dan, no question just a small gush: this is one of the best KickStarter campaigns I've seen in a while. The video is great, it's fun reading the story and seeing the extra content, and I think more toys like this should exist
62.
What Founders Need To Know About Accredited Crowdfunding(wefunder.com)
13 points by gbelote 13y ago|0 comments
63.
by gbelote 13y ago
Cofounder of Wefunder here. I disagree with the author. He makes a few assumptions that I believe to be false and makes a strong conclusion that crowdinvesting as a whole is doomed to low quality startups. Some points of disagreement: - Sta
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by gbelote 13y ago
People are working on it: http://www.terrafugia.com/ :)
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by gbelote 13y ago
To amend: two new rules were proposed as investor protections. They will have their own comment period and may or may not be adopted. They are: - Companies need to file with the SEC 15 days prior to generally soliciting. - Compani
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by gbelote 13y ago
That's correct. I changed the post to say "accredited" - thanks!
67.
by gbelote 13y ago
You don't need to comply with the blue sky law investor limits. And the 500 investor limit has been increased to 2000, which doesn't include non-accredited investors (once that part of the JOBS act is implemented).
68.
by gbelote 13y ago
The accredited investor requirements are a little silly and outdated. Good news is that more change is on the way in the form of Title III of the JOBS Act, which was signed into law last year. Removing the ban on general solicitation was Ti
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by gbelote 13y ago
Good catch, I've s/qualified/accredited. Thanks!
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by gbelote 13y ago
I think you're right this will be a mixed blessing. There will be companies desperate to raise money, and when a "million bucks of funding" is at stake some companies will spend a lot of time and energy creating noise and spa
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by gbelote 13y ago
Yes
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by gbelote 13y ago
There are no new protections for accredited investors. To be accredited you need to either have over $1m in net worth (excluding your primary residence) or have earned an income of $200k/yr as an individual (or $300k/yr as a joint
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by gbelote 13y ago
No. Our expectation is within 30 days, as that's usually the delay, but we don't know for sure.
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by gbelote 13y ago
Good questions. The Facebook/Goldman style investment vehicles have been blessed by the SEC in the form of a No Action letter back in March. For readers unfamiliar: an LLC fund is created that investors invest in, and that fund makes a
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The SEC Just Voted To Lift The Ban On General Solicitation(wefunder.com)
229 points by gbelote 13y ago|99 comments
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by gbelote 13y ago
When you're ready you should check out Microryza: https://www.microryza.com/ They do crowdfunding for science stuff like this.
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by gbelote 13y ago
This article seems link baity. It doesn't talk about the Snapchat servers not deleting photos, but the Snapchat app storing photos locally in a "hidden folder". It then advertises a $300-$500 service to remove the photos in the hidden folde
78.
by gbelote 13y ago
It's a surprise to see my dead startup TutorialTab as #6 in weekly growth! Seems like your algorithm is sensitive to fluctuations in sites with really low Alexa rank (TT is at 13,890,005 right now). FYI!
79.
by gbelote 14y ago
Right. It can be dangerous if reckless crowdinvesting platforms become prominent. There are already shady platforms out there today, but there are a few forces and barriers to entry that I hope will shape the space into a healthy one: There
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by gbelote 14y ago
These are good concerns. There's a whole bunch of companies trying to move into the crowdinvesting / online VC space, and there's going to be a whole spectrum of platforms and startups trying to get some action. Sites like Wefunder (disclos
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by gbelote 14y ago
It's great to see progress with the SEC and crowdinvesting. Even though we (Wefunder) aren't dependent on the JOBS act and the SEC, it's great for everyone that they're making this grey territory lighter!
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by gbelote 14y ago
Yep - we (Wefunder) already have a broker dealer partnership and one of my cofounders has taken the Series 7.
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by gbelote 14y ago
This makes me wonder if there's a perception issue: many of the companies are doing very well and delivered solid presentations, so no one really looks "10x" ahead of the rest. Especially since each company gets only 2:30 and many share the
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by gbelote 14y ago
It's not because YC companies are in stealth, but announcing you're a part of YC is a newsworthy event, and that can be used tactically in coordination with something else. For example, launching a new product or campaign.
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by gbelote 14y ago
You might find something internationally, but in the US there isn't anything on my radar. It's technically possible, we used state law ourselves to dogfood from unaccredited investors, but there are a number of issues that make it too much
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by gbelote 14y ago
Cofounder here. We hide the identities of the companies for regulatory purposes (complying with current general solicitation rules). We can talk about general things, and if you do some light research you can probably figure out who's raisi
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by gbelote 14y ago
Haha - maybe we'll do something like that for the next batch, we'll see! We do have a few batchmates on our platform, you can always create your own index and invest in all of them. :) (Unfortunately due to regulations we can't publicly say
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by gbelote 14y ago
This post is great. Having been through YC and TechStars (separate companies) and founding a crowdinvesting platform, it seems to me that early stage investing is very much about who you are and the relationships you've built. You can raise
89.
by gbelote 14y ago
Kickstarter sucks at preorders because (a) people use them for preorders and (b) they don't embrace the fact people use them for preorders. Why does it matter what they say in a blog post? Swish is reacting to how they see some people _use_
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How Solo Founders Beat The Odds and Get Into Top Accelerators(blogs.wsj.com)
102 points by gbelote 14y ago|35 comments

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