

Crowdfunding bill passes in the House - uripom
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/191669-bills-easing-sec-rules-advance-in-house

======
tptacek
Huh. That would be a big change. I'm surprised I haven't seen more advocacy
for it from HN.

A question, though: in a post-"crowdfunding" world, what would a "crowdfunded"
round do to your prospects of getting venture capital down the line? Wouldn't
it gnarl up your cap table? How long will it take to shake the legal
intricacies of this out?

------
phil
On it's face, it sounds like the bill would also remove the accredited
investor requirement in <$1m angel rounds.

Anyone who understands this thing have a read on whether that is actually so?

~~~
100k
That was my read too (due to what "crowd funding" brings to mind, e.g.,
Kickstarter). However, this does not seem to be the case. In fact, it only
changes the rules about general solicitation.

"the prohibition against general solicitation or general advertising contained
in section 230.502(c) of such title shall not apply to offers and sales of
securities made pursuant to section 230.506, _provided that all purchasers of
the securities are accredited investors_ "

<http://democrats.rules.house.gov/112/text/112_hr2940_txt.pdf>

~~~
HistoryInAction
There's the second bill, HR 2930, that concerns crowdfunding:
[http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr2930rh/pdf/BILLS-112...](http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr2930rh/pdf/BILLS-112hr2930rh.pdf)

~~~
100k
Ah, cool. If I'm reading that right, you can raise $10,000 or up to 10% of the
investors annual income (whichever is less) as long as you're raising less
than $1M (or $2M with audited financial statements, whatever that means).

That will open up a lot more people as potential funders.

~~~
clavalle
This makes me wonder what the paperwork is going to look like.

Can you imagine gathering and verifying paperwork on potentially thousands of
investors at an early stage? Talk about a time suck that people trying to get
a company off the ground won't want or need.

~~~
danbmil99
Sounds like a nice niche startup to me

~~~
mattblalock
Sounds like a whole bunch of niche startups are on the horizon...

------
clavalle
Sweet! I was hoping they would break this part out into its own bill.

This is true economic jet fuel. Most of the jobs package was not terribly
exciting but when I came across this bit I truly got jazzed about the
possibilities. I hope the SEC doesn't drag their feet after this is passed.

Even if we end up with a ton of failed companies from this and a lot of burned
investors the individual risk will be low and the entrepreneurs that come out
of the other side will be that much better the next time. It really opens up
the game to a huge number of people that otherwise would not have much hope of
even getting 'friends and family' seed money.

~~~
nobody31
We will end up with a whole bunch of pyramid schemes advertised on lamp posts
that use this as a way of separating idiots from their money

------
dashr
H.R.2940 did pass the House today

<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR02940>:

<http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h2940/>

\--

H.R.2930 (CrowdSourcing one) still making its way

<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR02930>:

<http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h2930/>

------
ph0rque
So... when can we mere mortals join Yuri Milner et al. in investing in YC
companies?

~~~
billclark
you already can at microventures.com

~~~
ph0rque
_For a $100 fee, you may fill out a preliminary MicroVenture Marketplace
funding application and submit your business plan._

I doubt any YC companies are using this service with these kind of terms...

------
Lukeas14
After actually reading the short article, NO it did not pass in the house. I'm
not a legislative expert but it sounds like it passed through the rules
committee and will be debated today and tomorrow. Crossing my fingers...

~~~
HistoryInAction
According to Majority Leader Eric Cantor, it passed the House:
<https://www.facebook.com/ericcantor/posts/10150453309005530>

------
dashr
This one is more interesting: Can this be called the Facebook bill? It moves
the 500 shareholder limit to 1000.

<http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h2167>

------
Gladrobot
HR 2930 passed today by a count of 407 to 17.

<http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll825.xml>

