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Comment by _mvuc | Hacker News Reader

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_mvuc·

"asking random people to invest in your ideas is also illegal"

1) You learn something new every day.

2) I don't want to live on this planet any more.

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Oh don't worry, you can still do it, just head over to AngleList and you can grab yourself some investors. They all meet the qualifications (have a certain income level) and since it's a platform specifically for investing it's not a random solicitation so you don't have to know them personally before asking.

Here's an example: https://angel.co/makespace?ref=startup_card

I would hate to see the legislative definition of "random".

I should have said "general solicitation" meaning "general audience". People who don't know what they're getting themselves into.

If you set up an event like "demo day" at Y-Combinator where investors and founders meet and discuss equity and terms that's perfectly legal. That's NOT general solicitation. Everyone there knows what they're getting themselves into. No one can be "tricked" into investing like the general public can.

Wouldn't that rule apply to a Winamp fund as well?

Winamp isn't an idea.

Good question... I want to say yes, but technically ewam hasn't specified that people in the fund will share equity. It sounds like a donation but it obviously isn't.

If you have $100,000 to buy a software mp3 player chances are you're not the type of person the SEC is trying to protect from bad investments. So shhhhhh, we'll just keep quiet.

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