This Week’s Best Reading
The JOBS Act and The Law of Unintended Consequences
Is this what happens when you put Congress and the SEC in charge of something meant to foster innovation? Should we really be surprised? Read more here.
Steve Schlaf of RRE Ventures on the personal and emotional difficulty of saying “no” to the vast majority of deals that cross his desk. Read it here.
Video: Crowdfunding Investments in Your Self-Directed IRA
We received several reader emails in response to Wayne’s essay with more questions about investing in private deals through their IRA. This interview with Jim Jones from Kingdom Trust should help. Watch it here.
How One of Twitter’s Largest Shareholders Launched His Career
File this under “motivation for aspiring start-up investors.” A very interesting profile that shatters many of our misconceptions about successful early-stage investors. Meet Chris Sacca, who not long ago was an out-of-work attorney struggling to figure out how he was going to pay off his student loans. Check it out.
Will the JOBS Act Harm Naïve Investors?
With any new asset class comes a rush of uninformed investors and the attendant sharks looking to feed off of their naivete. We believe that your best defense is a good offense… to educate yourself. Read more here.
Video: A Start-Up vs. a Company
We might figure that a start-up is simply a smaller version of a large company. Steve Blank takes us to school in this video and, in the process, explains why there are at least four totally different types of start-ups. Watch it here.
Why Start-Up Founders Should CARE About What They’re Doing
In our 10 Crowd Commandments, we encourage you to research a company’s founders to make sure that they have a track record of success and are flexible enough to pivot when things don’t work out exactly how they planned. In this piece, Ben Yoskovitz argues that there’s another trait that’s equally important to look for in a founder. Read it here.
The 18 Mistakes that Kill Start-ups
Another great bit of insight from Paul Graham. As you create your own filter for evaluating early-stage investments, keep in mind that the #1 way for a start-up to succeed is to create something that users want. Here are 18 things that cause a start-up to miss that mark. Find out what they are.
Short-Term Profit Taking vs. Long-Term Value Creation
Many people think that within equity crowdfunding is a culture clash between returns-oriented Wall Street and innovation-centered Silicon Valley. We think you’ll enjoy Reid Hoffman’s take on things, as he breaks down one very high profile case-in-point. Read it here.
Chinese Flock to Crowdfunding Sites
As crowdfunding continues to grow and evolve, it’s fascinating to see the differences in how it’s being used across different cultures. See how it’s taking on a distinctly different flavor in China here.
