Over the weekend, I binge-watched last week’s congressional GameStop hearing entitled, “GameStopped – Who Wins and Loses When Short Sellers, Social Media, and Retail Investors Collide?” The all-star cast of witnesses included Gabriel Plotkin, founder of Melvin Capital, the hedge fund that needed a $2.75 billion bailout investment after getting caught in GameStop’s short squeeze; Vlad Tenev, […]
How Amending the Accredited Investor Rule Can Stabilize Markets, Enhance Portfolio Returns and Foster Innovation
On December 18, 2019, nearly 4 years after the House passed the Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act (H.R. 2187) with overwhelming bipartisan support (347 to 8), three of the five SEC commissioners voted to publish a proposal to broaden the accredited investor definition – giving more individuals the ability to strengthen their investment […]
The Dropbox IPO – Another Example of Dysfunctional Equity Markets
On November 19, 2013, I penned an article on how Dropbox’s capitalization is symbolic of how unjust America’s capital markets have become. At the time, Dropbox was raising a $250M private round of financing at an $8B valuation – approximately 68 times 2012 revenues. Retail investors, of course, were not invited to the party. In […]
Top 10 Lessons of 2017 and Some Very Bold FinTech Predictions
I once read that, in life, we encounter two kinds of people: 1) those who are blessings and 2) those who are lessons. And, in the end, we will thank them both. I believe that a similar philosophy can be applied to our relationship with time. Throughout our lives, we experience two kinds of years: […]
The Digital Investing App that will Galvanize Retail Investors
While I can’t recall the exact date, I can remember the very spot where I was standing when, in early 2015, I received a call from my good friend and crowdfund pioneer, Sally Outlaw. I assumed that she was calling to discuss the latest State to promulgate crowdfunding legislation or perhaps to bounce off a […]