Prosper for Startups? MicroVentures Forms P2P Angel Marketplace

pehub.com

16 points·quant··5 comments

So will microVentures allow non-accredited angels to lend money? I've been wanting someone to figure out a way to allow that, though I don't know the laws well. I understand that the accredited investor law is intended to keep widows and orphans from gambling away their money to smooth talking men with shady business deals, but as a your person with a small amount of investment money it is frustrating that the only way I can invest in a startup it with labor.

I work at Anybots and see all the YC startups come through here and in an ideal world I would invest a few hundred dollars in many of them. As I understand it, this is illegal. It sort of feels like a tax on the poor that only rich people are allowed to invest in startups.

there's a bunch of work for each investor both at closing time as well as in terms of information and communication requirements.

also, the better angels do more than just handing over some money; the better deals are oversubscribed so you are actually in competition for a limited space.

We will allow sophisticated investors as well. The definition is on our site. You don't need to be accredited but we expect most will be accredited.

"For a nominal fee, you may fill out a preliminary MicroVentures funding application and submit your business plan."

Pay to play? Are you kidding? All my enthusiasm got wiped out as soon as I read that sentence.

The fee is $99 and we do that so that we get legitimate businesses who are interested. We also have guidelines on the site to prevent businesses from applying that we know we will decline because they don't meet our criteria.

Bill

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