Obama Announces $2B Fund for Startups
whitehouse.gov
Obama Announces $2B Fund for Startups
1–10 of 175 posts
Re: Obama Announces $2B Fund for Startups
#2$1 trillion for banks, $1 billion for startups, you can really see how important this administration feels startups are. Why not just tell banks, lend half the money we're giving you to startups, instead of using it to prop up your balance sheets.
Re: Obama Announces $2B Fund for Startups
#3Let a thousand Solyndras bloom!
But seriously, exempting smaller firms and fundraising efforts from costly regulations is a good part of this initiative. Routing public funds through private investors, not so much.
While they're at it, they should completely eliminate the wealth tests for 'accredited investor' status. If some fig leaf of 'accreditation' is still needed, it should be experience-based or net-worth proportional. For example, everyone with certain business/economics/legal degrees or certifications (Series 7?) should be 'accredited' as knowledgeable enough for private investing. Or, anyone who has an equivalent amount of money in public investments or government-approved retirement accounts, should be able to invest that same amount with 'accredited' status in private investments.
Re: Obama Announces $2B Fund for Startups
#4$1 trillion for banks, $1 billion for startups, you can really see how important this administration feels startups are. Why not just tell banks, lend half the money we're giving you to startups, instead of using it to prop up your balance sheets.
The bailout was a mess, but I feel there's some truth to what Kissenger wrote a while back: basically, a leader will never be given credit for choosing between two evils (a possible crisis, or a poorly-executed bailout) because you will never be able to prove with certainty how bad the other option would have been. We have no way to truly know what things would be like without the bailout, and we really ought to think of long-lasting solutions. Like funding startups, right?
Frankly, your comparison doesn't make much sense. The administration is making an obvious effort, but there's a big difference between investing in startups and attempting to patch an economy that looks like it will collapse. Investing in startups is quite literally an investment for a future economy. The bailout was a bit of the opposite -- a quick-and-dirty patch up.
Re: Obama Announces $2B Fund for Startups
#5"Specifically, the President has called for increasing limits on “miniofferings,” allowing “crowdfunding,” and phasing in some requirements for small firms as they go public."
They are going to ruin a good thing.
Re: Obama Announces $2B Fund for Startups
#6It's going to be interesting to see how companies themselves deal with the concept of having a slew of shareholders (fiduciary duty, reporting, etc.)
Re: Obama Announces $2B Fund for Startups
#7$1 trillion for banks, $1 billion for startups, you can really see how important this administration feels startups are. Why not just tell banks, lend half the money we're giving you to startups, instead of using it to prop up your balance sheets.
The bailout was a mess, but I feel there's some truth to what Kissenger wrote a while back: basically, a leader will never be given credit for choosing between two evils (a possible crisis, or a poorly-executed bailout) because you will never be able to prove with certainty how bad the other option would have been. We have no way to truly know what things would be like without the bailout, and we really ought to thin…
Yeah, one is an accounting trick that penalizes everyone who saved money and the other has a serious chance of working.
If startups were important they could have just cancelled the V-22 Osprey program which eats $2.8 billion per year, or ballistic missile defense at $9.9 billion, or DHS at $60 billion.
$1 billion dollars over three years is probably less money than the gov't spends on toilet cleaning. It's equivalent to withdrawing from Iraq a week early. Sorry, if I'm unimpressed it doesn't look like effort, it looks like a PR campaign.
Re: Obama Announces $2B Fund for Startups
#8Obama should've done this on the first year of his presidency. And I agree, $2B seems like a low number compared to the bank bailout.
Re: Obama Announces $2B Fund for Startups
#9$1 trillion for banks, $1 billion for startups, you can really see how important this administration feels startups are. Why not just tell banks, lend half the money we're giving you to startups, instead of using it to prop up your balance sheets.
Is money really the limiting factor for startup growth right now? I feel like it's skill and experience. Maybe if students or recent grads could get apply for student loan sized-stipend (~$6K at a time, renewable every 6 months, up to 3x total for $18K)? $1T would cover 50M students (or $1B would fund 50K students) and people would get a chance to work on something, learn, make stupid but risk-free mistakes, and either get something successful, learn that entrepreneurship isn't for them, make connections that would help them in a career, or who knows what. Wouldn't be the worst way the govt ever spent $1B.
Re: Obama Announces $2B Fund for Startups
#10If they want to help entrepreneurs then they should give contractors more tax relief. 1099 tax payers get shafted.