On September 23, 2013, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act or JOBS Act, is a law intended to encourage funding of United States small businesses by easing various securities regulations went into effect. It passed with bipartisan support, and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on April 5, 2012. The sound of “the Jobs Act” going into effect was reminiscent of a 21 gun salute, as the sounds of continued email arrivals entering my inbox began promptly at 12:01 am yesterday morning.
The new rule lifts a longstanding ban on broadly advertising a private stock placement, a restriction that had been in place since the Securities Act of 1933, also known as the Blue Sky law. Companies use private placements to issue stock without registering the offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By avoiding registration, a company also avoids having to make the disclosures necessary if it were offering the stock to the general public. However, with a few exceptions, this stock may be sold only to an institutional buyer or accredited investors — as defined by the SEC is someone with annual income of at least $200,000 or net worth exceeding $1 million who is presumed to be a sophisticated investor. The company must file for a Regulation D, SEC exemption. A Regulation D offering is intended to make access to the capital markets possible for small companies that could not otherwise bear the costs of a normal SEC registration. Reg D may also refer to an investment strategy, mostly associated with hedge funds, based upon the same regulation (Title 17 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 230, Sections 501 through 508).
What does this mean for startups and other entities looking to legally raise capital?
Companies:
Still must file a Regulation D exemption;
Must still file in the states whereas they are looking to raise the capitalization;
May solicit or generally advertise the investment opportunity;
Can only take investment dollars from accredited investors, whereas investor introduction came through general solicitation.
Crowdsourcing Portals:
Has limitations on the amount of capital raised on a per investor basis which are $2,000 or 5% (whichever is greater) for people earning (or worth) up to $100,000, and $100,000 or 10% (whichever is less) for people earning (or worth) $100,000 or more.
The Jobs Act Bill mandates reviews of financial statements for offerings between $100,000 and $500,000, and audits of financial statements for offerings greater than $500,000 (noting maximum offering of $1,000,000).
Can’t be used to raise capital for an investment fund.
To my amazement, I have only heard of a few companies preparing to take advantage of this new ruling. Ironically, I found most investment banking firms unaware that that this ruling existed or what impact if any it may have on their bottom line as more companies take their private capital offering into their own hands. It is my belief that in the next 5 years we will see billions in private funding’s under the Jobs Act. Moreover, I can see this ruling being combined with other government backed investment initiatives that could usher in a new economic bubble is several sectors.
My B2B marketing event was barely saved by social media…. but I did learn a few things concerning last minute B2B social mobilization
Last night I hosted the “Atlanta Marketing Executives Forum” at the W Hotel. As a novel twist to a normally closed presentation, and to test the value of my own social network, I decided to only advertise the event electronically via Social Media. Ok, the truth be told, I had the wrong date in my head, I did not get physical invitations out in time, nor did we have time to run an outbound telemarketing campaign, and physically advertise within any traditional publication like the Atlanta Business Chronicle , etc., to insure butts in seats, so in essence I was screwed, not to mention the thoughts in my head of how to explain last minute equipment purchases, travel expenses, and 50 pounds of catered food to be found in the company refrigerator the next day, but you did not hear that from me.
So with 96 hours to do, and NO RSVPs, I was a little stressed, plus I already had a lot on my plate, so I embraced a rapid plan tap into my social network. So within a limited period of time, we placed event notices on over 20 different social networks, Tweeted to over 2,500 B2B friends, and emailed 8,000+ market makers and brand managers. I was actually amazed at what I discovered.
MeetUp converted by far as the best physical medium for mobilizing 12 attendees into a physical space. However, the qualifications of over 80% in attendance were suspect as potential clients of the agency, though I think we found a new employee. This medium also cost the most, given hard costs such as people, equipment, catering, room rental, etc.
My linked-In network of over 1,000 executives, delivered 1 person, which I thought would convert the best, yielded the best qualified lead, which actually drove an hour to attend the event.
My 1,957 Twitter friends, in conjunction with live conference streaming via UStream, yielded 21 live viewers that were engaged for 1 hour, moreover 10 viewers remained online listening to our side rants post conference, including a VP of MGM, a brand manger from Toyota, and one of my board members. There were also 9 questions that came to me through twitter concerning the subjects in the presentation.
Facebook was by far the largest disappointment, given that their event marketing got a lot of clicks, but 0 conversions.
Anyway the best lesson learned from last minute event marketing:
1) Though social media turned lemons into bitter-sweet lemonade, NEVER wait until the last minute to plan an event. It makes you look cheap, ill prepared, and rushed.
2) Social media plays its best role, when used in conjunction with other mediums to fill your venue.
3) Always broadcast the physical venue WITH a link to either download the presentation, or use GotoMeeting or like service, so people can follow along from the comfort of their own home, office, country, etc. J
4) Always give your virtual views a way to interact. May it be Twitter, SMS, IMs, Chat, emails, or even a multitude of options.
5) And as a golden rule, ALWAYS FOLLOW UP. Even if there were not a qualified lead, they did show up. In the world that is now socialized, you never know who they know, so never burn a bridge. Everyone who gives you their time deserves to be treated as a VIP, or at the very least, a thank you card.
I promise I will never to that again…. This year… LOL, Cheers, John
Twittiquette, most get it, some don’t, this post may not save your life, but potentially your reputation. This is my personal RANT on Twitter Twittiquette, or the lack there of. Personally, first, I like to Tweet. For those less familiar with the medium, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as Tweets. As a social media tool, Twitter adds additional depth to social suspect of interest, whether that be an individual, group, celebrity, sports team, political candidate, etc.
Recently, I heard Twitter dubbed as the “SMS” of the Internet. Just then it all became clear, SOME Twitterers treat their Tweets as if it was a personal journal of communication between friends, though what most fail to consider is unlike SMS which can selectively send to an individual or select group, Twitter is a broadcast medium. Based upon your user name, subject criteria, and freshness of tweets, you may attract the wrong type of follower.
Thus the Twitter Rant on the Subject of Twittiquette:
Twittiquette Rule #1: THINK SAFETY: Always put your safety first. NEVER give out personal information. June 24th 2009, Man tweeted that he was going on vacation, gave dates of his departure, even syndicated his post to his Face Book page, good post, right?! Well is may have been, but in the end his home got robbed, which was a likely result of Twitter’s ability to reach hundreds of thousands of people, by making his post searchable to everyone, including the thief.
Twittiquette Rule #2: DON’T TWEET ACTIVITIES YOU DON’T WANT TO TELL YOUR MOM: What goes on the Internet, stays on the Internet, especially when you may be syndicating your message to the dozens of search bots that will help add your posts in the form of search queries to leading search engines and social networks. Case in point, when I am looking to hire new talent or research a potential business relationship, I use social media as a research tool. For twitter, doing an advanced twitter search is easy http://search.twitter.com/advanced . A few weeks ago I was interviewing new candidate for a sales position. The young man that posted, “omg it was only 10 thirtay and im already drunk!!”, did not get the job.
Twittiquette Rule #3: I DON’T CARE IF YOUR BOWELS ARE REGULAR: Please be interesting, NOONE Cares that you clogged a toilet from your big dinner last night, and we certainly do not need a picture or GPS location of the offending download to the porcelain receptacle. Yes, share yourself, write about the interesting things that shape your life, random thoughts that make your laugh, the places your go , the people you meet, but for god sake, sometimes there is REALLY NO NEED TO SHARE!
Twittiquette Rule #4: FRIEND COLLECTORS BE GONE: Your no TOM, you don’t need to be everyone friend just for the sake of saying you have 100,000 friends, Really stop it.
Twittiquette Rule #5: DON’T BE A TWEET WHORE: There is no need to dominate a conversation, in person or on Twitter. If you send more than 2-3 tweets out at a time, you will come off as obnoxious, and I don’t think that is the look you were going for.
Twittiquette Rule #6: LESS SELF PROMOTION MR MARKET GURU: Twitter is a good way to promote your business. I have made both relationships and real dollars though the responsible use of social media. Tweeting gobs of self plugging is just wrong….. in Twitter terms… bird poop.
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