The SEC, Web Scraping, and Material Non-Public Information

Web scraping has recently come under scrutiny from regulatory agencies that investigate securities laws. Increasingly, investment firms have been using web scraping as an alternative form of data collection. To bolster more traditional data sets like SEC filings and financial statements, investment firms have been going directly to websites and online resources to get information … Read More

Summary of Colorado Blue Sky Laws

Summary of Colorado Blue Sky Laws (Updated)

I’ve found that while entrepreneurs have an excellent sense of the law when it comes to term sheets and venture deals, they have a much more limited understanding of securities laws. What’s worse, many lawyers I’ve talked to aren’t aware of the details of Colorado’s securities laws, either. Most competent attorneys know about the basics … Read More

Accredited Investors & Sophisticated Investors: How Your Investors Affect (the Cost and Risks of) Your Capital Raise

How Your Investors Affect (the Cost and Risks of) Your Capital Raise

The type of investors you have drastically changes what you need to do to raise capital, the risks your company will incur, and how much it all costs. Understanding the difference will save you money and a lot of wasted energy. This effect is so drastic that—depending on the amount collected from an unsophisticated, or … Read More

When Is a Pitch a General Solicitation?

A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a meetup at Galvanize with a number of other attorneys (signup info for the meetup can be found here). The subject of the meetup was legal issues for crowdfunding and fundraising. We provided background on the new SEC rules for crowdfunding and discussed the ways in which we … Read More