<story><title>The SEC Just Voted To Lift The Ban On General Solicitation</title><url>https://wefunder.com/post/36-the-sec-just-voted-to-lift-the-ban-on-general-solicitation</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ChuckMcM</author><text>I think this is a mixed blessing. I agree that the ban has been a hindrance on people trying to find investors but lifting it may not be the best solution.&lt;p&gt;If you look at the way YC demo day works, its a pretty reasonable way for potential investors to find startups which are compatible with their investment goals. I think this addresses the challenge of the general solicitation rule (finding the startups) without the negative of creating a bunch of unvetted startups advertising for dollars. Basically, I believe lifting this ban increases the noise significantly without much boost to the signal.&lt;p&gt;The analog I thought about when I saw the SEC was thinking about going this way was the lift on advertising prescription drugs. That really hasn&amp;#x27;t been a &amp;#x27;win&amp;#x27; for me, while I&amp;#x27;m sure some folks have discovered there are drugs available their doctor didn&amp;#x27;t know about (signal), a whole lot more people are asking their doctors to give them drugs which aren&amp;#x27;t really appropriate to their symptoms (noise). It has made the national news shows practically infomercials for a variety of meds for &amp;#x27;old people problems&amp;#x27;.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jmj42</author><text>&amp;gt; I think this addresses the challenge of the general solicitation rule (finding the startups) without the negative of creating a bunch of unvetted startups advertising for dollars.&lt;p&gt;Not really.  We, here on HN, tend to frame things around tech startups, but there&amp;#x27;s a larger world out there that incubators don&amp;#x27;t (and often can&amp;#x27;t) address.  Consider this (real life) example:&lt;p&gt;Recently a local pub came up for sale.  The asking price was $200,000.  The purchase would include all current equipment and supplies, existing vendor contracts (subject to state transferability rules on the alcohol contracts), and local liquor license (the state license isn&amp;#x27;t transferable).  It also included the building which housed 3 occupied (at the time) apartments.&lt;p&gt;The question, of course, is how to raise the $200K.  Standard business loans were out (not an established business).  There&amp;#x27;s SBA, but the loan amount we were looking for was a bit high for SBA.  Friends and family, of course, but we wouldn&amp;#x27;t even come close.&lt;p&gt;In the end, we had to pass (though funding was only a  part of the decision to pass).  Here&amp;#x27;s kicker:  If we could have spread the net wider, we may have had a chance to raise the money (with less effort), and been able to go ahead with the purchase.&lt;p&gt;While this is one story, I see these kinds of things al the time.  A few years back, a founder looking to start a paintball facility got nailed by this (he was advertising the investment opportunity).  It ended up shutting down the project.&lt;p&gt;The point is, outside of the technology world, getting investment funding for small businesses is very hard.  This rule change makes it much easier.</text></comment>
<story><title>The SEC Just Voted To Lift The Ban On General Solicitation</title><url>https://wefunder.com/post/36-the-sec-just-voted-to-lift-the-ban-on-general-solicitation</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ChuckMcM</author><text>I think this is a mixed blessing. I agree that the ban has been a hindrance on people trying to find investors but lifting it may not be the best solution.&lt;p&gt;If you look at the way YC demo day works, its a pretty reasonable way for potential investors to find startups which are compatible with their investment goals. I think this addresses the challenge of the general solicitation rule (finding the startups) without the negative of creating a bunch of unvetted startups advertising for dollars. Basically, I believe lifting this ban increases the noise significantly without much boost to the signal.&lt;p&gt;The analog I thought about when I saw the SEC was thinking about going this way was the lift on advertising prescription drugs. That really hasn&amp;#x27;t been a &amp;#x27;win&amp;#x27; for me, while I&amp;#x27;m sure some folks have discovered there are drugs available their doctor didn&amp;#x27;t know about (signal), a whole lot more people are asking their doctors to give them drugs which aren&amp;#x27;t really appropriate to their symptoms (noise). It has made the national news shows practically infomercials for a variety of meds for &amp;#x27;old people problems&amp;#x27;.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>JumpCrisscross</author><text>My instinct is to lash out against this move. General solicitation lowers the amount of social vetting a manager must go through before being able to raise funds. It also makes un-accredited investors more aware of the investment barriers around them, which could loosen resolve for maintaining those walls.&lt;p&gt;But 2013 isn&amp;#x27;t 1933. The average sophisticated investor is more versed in finance, more wary of solicitation if they are not, or closer to one of the former.&lt;p&gt;What this is, is a boost to non-conventional assets and managers. The ones too young or crazy to have made it through the traditional vetting process.  There&amp;#x27;s already plenty of noise if some idiot broker put you on a mailing list...</text></comment>