Earlier quoted context omitted.
> some people (like me) probably just got tired of waiting for the SEC to do their part Yeah, same. Last I checked, the rules they did come out with were pretty restrictive. This article almost makes it sound easy, but if you read the full text, it basically comes down to "If you can raise money from any other source, like VC, private equity, institutional investors, or angels--do that instead because it's easier." Y…
Sadly, the SEC is fairly correct on this one. At least in terms of the history of finance. If you let companies raise either a lot of total money or a lot of money from one person the incentives to make a company are less than simply get good at raising money and then skim as much as possible. Then run for the hills or repeat.
> the incentives to make a company are less than simply get good at raising money and then skim as much as possible
I worry that, with the rules the way they are, the only people who will use them are people that are trying to do this. For instance, the company the OP is about. If you make it actually easier to raise money, more legitimate companies (that want to spend less time on raising money and more time on the company) will use that system.
The internet and reputation effects are enough, I think, to mitigate the valid downsides of past experiments with "very free markets".