In general, from the board perspective, my preference is to let the CEO and outside counsel sort out any SEC compliance issues. There are two kinds of problems that pop up over and over again: first, questions about whether the company can pay a finder’s fee in connection with introductions; and second, what the company…

I recently launched a preferred financing calculations tool for you. It’s an online spreadsheet for you to enter some basic capitalization information, a target pre-money valuation, and a target investment amount. It then shows you the results for your cap table. Some inherent things about venture math that are embodied here but that you might…

The redacted email below was sent to the Cornell NYC/ tri-state community – thousands of people. Conveniently, it’s not automatically a securities law violation any more, but this is definitely how to be sure you’ve fallen under the new general solicitation rules, which require a company to take “reasonable steps” to verify that each investor…

As part of the crowdfunding regulations, the SEC created heightened standards for determining whether an investor was accredited, requiring issuers (that means the startup company) to take “reasonable steps” to determine whether each investor who is part of a general solicitation offering under 506(c) is in fact accredited. Here’s a short overview of these rules,…

Here’s a short link to one of my other blogs, Watch Rick Train. I’m raising money all year for Reed Academy, starting with the Tough Mudder in Pennsylvania tomorrow and finishing with Ironman Florida in November. My goal is $140,000. This is the start. Thanks for your support; I’ll post updates at the WRT blog.