What Does the Lifting of the Ban on “General Solicitation” Mean to Cleantech Start-ups?

Here in the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the group that regulates the trading of stock in public and privately held companies, has recently lifted its ban on “general solicitation,” meaning that anyone can offer and sell securities to accredited investors.  We will soon have, and I’m not exaggerating, infomercials on late-night TV offering not only music collections of the 1970s (not found in stores!), but equity investments in start-up companies as well. 

What does this mean for the types of companies with which 2GreenEnergy has traditionally been involved?  The answer is not clear.  Just because millions of entrepreneurs just received free fishing licenses doesn’t mean the fish are biting.

Another way to look at it is to remember what Aesop told us: “A fool and his money are soon parted.” From that we should infer that very few accredited investors are fools, or they wouldn’t have achieved that status ($200K+ in income or $1M+ in net worth not including principal residence) in the first place.

I may eat these words, but I don’t believe the lifting of the ban changes too much for most of the companies (i.e., those with solid, investment-worthy ideas in cleantech) whom 2GreenEnergy serves.