Must Know for Entrepreneurs and Angels- Upcoming Events

One need that we are focusing heavily on is funding. Early stage funding is a critical component to accelerating companies to find out if they will succeed or fail.   If you are a budding entrepreneur looking for funding or a budding angel investor looking to go through our training program – you need to be a part of these events! This is exactly what the Angel Conference specializes in! The conference itself will be in November; however, the investors and startups need to be registered by the beginning of September.




This event we are focusing on the Eastside, and we'd like to thank Thinkspace for sharing their start-up facilities with us.

So here's the schedule -

Spaces are limited, so sign up now at Eventbrite

Date	Speaker	Topic & Registration	Location	Time
8/5/2013	Joe Wallin	Agreements Entrepreneurs Need in Place for Angel Investing	SURF Incubator	3:30PM
8/13/2013	Rudy Gadre	Angel Investing with Rudy Gadre	Think Space Redmond	6:00PM
8/15/2013	Current.ly, Cairncross, & TechCafe	Pioneer Square Rooftop Social	Cairncross Rooftop	4:00PM
8/19/2013	TA McCann	Data Vault - Entrepreneurs Preparing For Due Diligence	TBD	5:30PM
8/27/2013	Greg Gottesmann	5 Important Things for Angel Investing Term Sheets	Think Space Redmond	6:00PM
9/9/2013	Tolis Dimopolous	How to Pitch to Investors	SURF Incubator	3:30PM

Yes that is A LOT of events!! You'll notice the specific speakers and topics that are focused on the issues related to funding.

Follow us on twitter @nwangelconf or on facebook and get the latest updates, and share this with a friend, you'll be doing them a favor!

The Jobs Act- The Hidden Grenade for Angel Investing

 The Jobs Act- Unexpected Rules Proposed in addition to General Solicitation

Bill Carleton  spoke to us last night at the first SAC IV event, held at ThinkSpace.

We billed it as "The JOBS Act Consequences, New Rules for Angel Investors."  It could just have validly been called, "The Hidden Grenade in the JOBS act, propsed rules that will drive entrepreneurs and angels crazy"

Bill has summarized some of his key points and resources in his post titled #SaveRegD

#saveregd

#saveregd

on his blog here: www.wac6.com.

The proposed rules will not fufill the intent of Congress to make Angel Investing easier, but will in fact do the opposite.

disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I am merely trying to summarize what I understood from the conversation 

What you (entrepreneurs and angels) need to be aware of:

1. When the SEC allowed for General Solicitation under the JOBS act, which we all celebrated last week, some proposed rules related to  slipped in under the radar.  
2.  These rules, if they stand, (they are currently in the comment period)  will make operating under the 506c General Solicitation both onerous and dangerous.
3. What constitutes general solicitation is still unclear, so firms may find themselves inadvertently crosswise of the new rules
• A.  it is quite possible that participating in a pitch night, or an open competition could be construed as general solicitation.  
• B. it is possible that having an investor or someone else discuss your company during a round could inadvertently, with or without your knowledge put you in "general solicitation" and under the  auspices of the proposed Reg D rules.
4. The proposed rules require that the start up firm doing general soliciation  disclose the manner in which the investors are accredited, and keep verification of accreditation.  This is inconvenient, and will add cost for compliance both to the Angels and the start-ups.  It may scare away some angels who are very focused on privacy.
5. the proposed rules also require that all firms doing general solicitation disclose the manner of solicitation, REQUIRING A FORM D filing PRIOR to solicitation for any and all communications during the open round.
6. Unlike before under 506,  PENALTIES will apply.  This is where it gets really ONEROUS.  Should the firm not file BEFORE the solicitation- use the appropriate disclaimers (how do you do that in a tweet), they have ONE chance (in a lifetime) to file within 30 days and meet the requirements. If you miss the 30 days or have used up your ONE chance to file late (either the original solicitation or amendments or final notice of closing) or predecessors have used up their one chance- no I don't know what predecessor means with serial entrepreneurs), you are really messed up. 
7. Penalities include rescission rights for all investors (we had a brief discussion about how this could be used maliciously to undo a round)
8. and a PROHIBITION of raising additional funds using the 506 exclusions for a full YEAR. (what start up and Angel would want to be forced to NOT raise money for a full year?

So Please TAKE ACTION!   #SaveRegD

A.  Comment on the proposed rules!

• Electronic comments Use the Commission’s Internet comment form (http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed.shtml);
• Send an email to rulecomments@sec.gov Please include File Number S7-06-13 on the subject line;
or
• Use the Federal eRulemaking Portal ( http://www.regulations.gov ). Follow the instructions for submitting comments  
• for all comments refer to the file number S7-06-13

B. Tweet and blog about this, pass the word around.   www.saveregd.org has some great suggested  content.

C. Ask your questions of the SEC about your situation or concerns at list.ly 

For  more information:
Here's Bill's post on the subject  http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/19/lets-have-general-solicitation-as-congress-intended-it/

Bill's blog is www.wac6.com, here's his post on this topic there http://www.wac6.com/wac6/2013/07/startups-and-congressional-intent.html

 and the website regarding the new regulations, with some suggested topics can be found at: www.saveregd.org

Dan Rosen has written an opposition letter here: http://blog.drosenassoc.com/?p=23

Venture beat has posted a letter here http://venturebeat.com/2010/03/26/angel-investing-chris-dodd/

SAC IV: The Jobs Act Consequences: New Rules for Angel Investors

Today was an important day for Angel Investing. The SEC announced some of the details for the new rules for investing based on the JOBS ACT. There are some critical changes, including a relaxation for Regulation D Rule 506(c), which currently prohibits public solitication for investment. There are also new rules around how to validate accredited investors. These rules do not take effect for 60 days. 

We will hold a workshop with William Carleton to explore the details of these changess, our next workshop will be:

       The Jobs Act consequences: New Rules for Angel Investing.

        By William Carleton

        July 23rd (tuesday) 6:00PM 

        Think Space

        8201 164th Ave NE, Redmond Washington 

Register here: http://sac-iv-jobs-act.eventbrite.com/

Details:

 

With the passage of the JOBS Act over a year ago, there are new rules around Angel Investing. On July 10, the SEC announced some of the details around the new rules. How will Angel Investing be impacted by these new rules?

 

Join us in an exploration of the consequences of the new JOBS Act rule making.

 

The session will be led by William Carleton, an internet lawyer whose blog, Counselor @ Law, is America's #1 ranked securities law blog and #5 ranked intellectual property law blog. Bill is an angel investor himself, and serves as the Vice Chair of the Angel Capital Association's Public Policy Committee Advisory Council

The Seattle Angel Conference is planning for the fourth conference on November 2st. Our deadline for applying to present will be September 1st. If you know companies who would find the Angel Conference feedback helpful and would benefit from an investment of around $200K, then please ask them to register for the conference at http://www.seatleangelconference.com

We will hold a series of workshops to support the Angel Conference process, keep an eye on the Seattle Angel Conference website for new workshops.