The goal of the campaign is to drive awareness among individual investors and employees, and we're doing so by contrasting the opportunities of today with opportunities in successful companies of the past. We've gotten a great response so far, but thanks for your candid feedback.
Each person is limited to one certificate. The certificate is redeemable either for securities (i.e. a share of Facebook at its closing price as of July 13, 2016) through a broker-dealer for those who setup an account, or else for merchandise. It's structured like this specifically to ensure that we're compliant with relevant regulation.
Yes, it is legal. As per the event page: The promotion is not an offer to buy or sell securities, nor are the certificates sold in the promotion securities.
Once your purchase is confirmed, we'll send you information via email on how to fulfill your purchase and your certificate. The certificate is redeemable either for securities through a broker-dealer for those who setup an account, or else for merchandise.
All of the proceeds from our Early Is Everything Pre-IPO Pricing Event are being donated to MissionBit, a Bay Area nonprofit that sponsors underprivileged high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area to learn computer development skills.
We're running a promotional event called the Early Is Everything Pre-IPO Pricing Event this Thursday (7/28) and next (8/4) to celebrate the launch of our new trading platform.
We'll be giving over 100 people the opportunity to get in early on Facebook ($4.54) and Tesla ($2.97).
As per the Event FAQ on the linked site, we're taking a loss on every certificate to prove a point — that when it comes to investing in the most successful companies in the world, early is everything.
The "Early is Everything" promotion offers eligible participants the opportunity to purchase a certificate at the pre-IPO price of either Facebook or Tesla Motors, redeemable for securities through a registered broker-dealer, or for merchandise, at the current price of these companies as of July 13, 2016. Offer good while supplies last. Other terms and restrictions apply, please see event page for full details. See: https://early.equidateinc.com/
Sure thing. We share information about companies' stock prices, share counts, and valuations — data that has historically unavailable, inaccurate, and/or very expensive (tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year). We show you real-time news about these companies, and let you track the value of your portfolio if you're an investor or employee.
We've built tools to use this data: https://equidateinc.com/browse
Without even signing up, you can answer questions like: "Show me Series B/C companies that have raised $10-100M, have a valuation of $100M-$1B, have less than 200 employees, with a B2B business model in the Transportation industry." We think that's awesome — whether you're an investor looking for investment opportunities, an employee looking for a new job, or a just doing research on companies, it can be incredibly powerful for the entire ecosystem to have access to this data and the tools to use it.
Companies don't IPO for a variety of reasons. Going public is a source of financing for companies — in recent years, with hedge funds and private equity firms participating in Series B/C/Ds++, there is a lot more capital available in the private market. New regulation has made it far more expensive to go public and to stay public. Going public is arduous on the company from the perspective of the time and attention it takes from management. And finally, once a company is public, they are subject to the whims of the market and have to answer to new investors who have a short-term focus on quarter-to-quarter earnings, often at the cost of not being able to have full autonomy to execute on their long-term vision.
Hey! All very fair questions, thanks for pointing them out. We've tried to make our FAQ as comprehensive as possible, and it has answers for all of your questions: https://faq.equidateinc.com/
Feel free to reach out to [email protected] if you have questions that are specific to you and we'd be happy to help!
Hi there, co-founder of Equidate here, happy to answer any questions you have.
We're well aware of Sandhill Exchange — they were akin to a prediction market — we're a market where employees and investors who own shares are able to get liquidity, and accredited investors are able to invest.
We've worked with our primary outside counsel, Lowenstein Sandler (an internationally-prominent securities law firm), to ensure our compliance with all regulation. As the article mentions, we've discussed Equidate with regulators since 2014, and this past January FINRA approved our purchase of a broker-dealer.
Finally, we've gone above and beyond to make sure our customers are protected. We have an exclusive underwriting agreement and insurance policy with Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurance company, to protect our investors from fraud.
It's very rare for a startup our size to have a full-time Chief Legal Officer & Chief Compliance Officer, and it's a testament to our efforts to get this right.
Given the nature of secondary transactions, many people don't want to talk publicly about their experience. That said, if you're interested in working with us, I can make introductions to a couple shareholders or investors that have worked with us in the past (and have agreed to share their story).
I'm also always happy to chat and answer any of your questions. Feel free to email me: sohail at equidateinc dot com
"It exists for one reason only - shareholders of pre-IPO companies don't want to wait years and hence are willing to trade their shares for immediate cash."
Yes, secondary markets are designed to provide liquidity to shareholders in pre-IPO companies. At the same time, most investors who want access to pre-IPO stocks have no ability to participate. Value creation has increasingly shifted from the public markets toward private markets. Consider eBay, which was valued at $32 million in 1996 and went public with a $1.9 billion valuation in 1998 (a 60x gain), compared to Twitter which went public in 2013 at a $24 billion valuation, a 657x gain from their $35 million valuation in 2007.
Why should those who are extremely wealthy and well connected be the only investors with access to such investments?
I'm the CEO of Equidate, one of the companies profiled in this article.
The article raises excellent points on the pitfalls of trading pre-IPO stock on secondary markets. The opportunity is risky to be sure, only for educated investors as ready and able to lose money as to make money. Information is limited and protections are only as good as the integrity of the participants. That puts a premium on honestly, transparency, and strict adherence to securities regulations.
The American economy is built on liquidity and rapid turn-around of investments: new company founders, investors, even venture capitalists and private equity fund managers got where they are because an early exit allowed them to cash in early gains in order to re-invest in the market. This used to take a few years, but now, due to market changes, they will no longer see a penny until their company goes public after an average 7.5-year wait. More likely, their company will fail despite years of hard work and success, leaving them nothing. Secondary markets are a relief valve for these founders, early angel investors, and current and former employees.
When shares cannot be traded, even the most ambitious and brilliant entrepreneurs are locked in for the better part of a decade, waiting for something to happen. If they have liquidity they can start something new — perhaps a cure to disease, a new media company, or one that launches rocket ships. This liquidity is how many of today’s great companies got their start.
Collectively, we owe it to founders and investors, and the economy, to create reliable secondary markets. That’s why Equidate was founded.
The New York Department of Financial Services is requesting public comments for the BitLicense regulation. The Bitcoin community is requesting a 45 day extension to the public comment period. We feel it's necessary to have the additional time to constructively respond to the proposed rules and regulations.
Plenty of people say "oh I called it" after the fact. "I knew it was going to be big."
I wanted to publish my list publicly (esp. given YC W13 Demo Day) so I can publicly see my performance over time. No cheating and calling it after the fact. Trust me, if I had access to money to invest, I'd keep this list to myself and put my money where my mouth is.
Definitely, and many deals are based on some kind of personal relationship with the founder. It's funny: over time I've built up better access and relationships, but have no money to invest... So this will have to do for now :)
I'm looking forward to keeping the list updated and looking back in a couple years.
It's not about being a spectator sport. It's about identifying (potentially undervalued) opportunities early. I didn't make this list to speculate, it's where I'd put my money if I had money to invest.
That's expected - after all, everyone think's they're above average (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57568186/everyone-thinks...), it's the phenomenon known as illusory superiority... "On a scale of one to 10, you probably think you're a seven. And you wouldn't be alone."
(Disclaimer: though granted, I'd hazard a guess that most HN readers are generally above average.)
Metaphorically speaking, the cops around town that "keep people in line" are just like people in life who "make the rules." They're there to enforce social norms; thus people who say "this is just how it is" when faced with a new situation. Point being, not enough people are willing to ask "why?"
Not arguing the technicalities of crossing the street or why laws are made, just noting parallels between a decision that people make unconsciously every single day and its relation to life and the "big picture."
To clarify: I loved building Hiptype and building a startup from the ground up. I still believe in Hiptype's vision, but as we wrote in our post, "In the [...] world of start-ups, [...] being too early is the same as being wrong" (http://sohailprasad.com/what-we-learned). When deciding what to do next, I realized that I didn't want to just "do another startup" for the sake of it.
I wrote about elements of improving someone's everyday life because it's something I keep in mind for my endeavors in the future.
I consider myself incredibly lucky to be able to join the RMG team at Zynga, and trust me, I'm really excited about what we have in store. If there was any place I'd rather be, I'd be there.
As a CMU student who just took a leave of absence to join a startup, the one thing that really disappointed me was the total risk-averse mentality that exists at CMU.
Based on my conversations with other CMU alumni, I think there is a collective feeling that CMU students need to be encouraged to take risks, not the other way around. Fundraising campaigns like "Inspiring Innovation" and press releases with headlines like "Greenlighting Startups" are wonderful, but there's too much of a campus culture focusing on just doing whatever it takes to "get a good job."
Personally, I feel that it's the one place where CMU stays true to its roots: It was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1900 as the Carnegie Technical Schools, and till date remains best at doing just that: being a technical school. That's why companies love to come to CMU to recruit: CMU students make great employees. CMU's doing exceptionally well given its relative youth, but I fear that if it keeps trying to be what MIT and Stanford were 10 years ago, it'll always be playing catch-up. As a university it needs to take a risk - a leap of faith.
On the bright side, having been in the Bay Area I've seen an increased percentage of CMU alumni come here and realize that taking risks isn't so bad, and then leave their nice job at Twitter/Facebook/Google/LinkedIn to go for it. It just takes exposure to the right environment for them to realize it. Hopefully as more and more CMU alumni are exposed to (and involved with) startups, they'll help bring awareness to CMU as a whole - I know I'm going to try my best.
Side note: In pg's essay, "How To Be Silicon Valley" (http://www.paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html), he says: "The university is just the seed. It has to be planted in the right soil, or it won't germinate. Plant it in the wrong place, and you just create Carnegie-Mellon."
Outsourcing generally depends on what project specifically you want to outsource, and the work quality varies immensely. Personally, I've had a reasonable experience dealing with an outsourced logo development project, but a terrible (and relatively expensive) one with an outsourced web development project. I learned the hard way: when you hire an outsourced web developer, you get a web developer (read: they'll make you a webpage), not a designer or product engineer.
The key theme is to be involved every step of the way and have a clear idea of what you're looking for.
It really is a great model/value proposition. We've started a similar program, Development Solutions Organization (DSO), with the first pilot held at Carnegie Mellon University.
DSO's focus is consulting in the realm of international development. We have teams that focus on management consulting, software consulting, and (in the near future) security consulting. One key benefit, compared to the Business Solutions Group mentioned in the article however, is the fact that we pair up students with professionals in related fields. We currently have professionals with experience from many companies, including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, PwC, The Gates Foundation, to name a few. This helps create accountability and reliability for the client, while allowing students to network with and get mentored by experienced professionals. We also offer sponsorship opportunities for companies who want to get the opportunity to recruit top-talent students with a proven track-record.
In our last recruiting round, we accepted 13 out of over 140 applicants. The pilot has gone well at Carnegie Mellon, and we are rolling out the program at other universities.
We have opportunities for current students at any university, as well as opportunities for professionals who want to volunteer their time, network, and gain experience in international development.
Each person is limited to one certificate. The certificate is redeemable either for securities (i.e. a share of Facebook at its closing price as of July 13, 2016) through a broker-dealer for those who setup an account, or else for merchandise. It's structured like this specifically to ensure that we're compliant with relevant regulation.