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.
I don't mean these questions to be critical, if this service works it could turn a source of frustrating uncertainty into cash.
Sand Hill sought people to fund accounts using dollars or bitcoins. Hall and Ou did not ask users about their financial holdings or limit the offering to users with any specific amount of assets. In fact, they wrote on the Sand Hill website: “We accept everybody regardless of accreditation status.” Hall and Ou intended to pay users who profited from their contracts. "
Interesting. Hadn't heard of this. Here's the SEC link: https://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2015-123.html
Equidate's Pre-IPO Promotion: Get access to FB at $4.54!
Hi there, thanks for checking out Equidate!
We're incredibly excited about giving the world early access to high growth private tech companies. To show you what we mean, we're giving you a second chance to get in early on two of the world's most successful companies — Facebook and Tesla — at their pre-IPO prices!
Sign up here to get in on Facebook at $4.54 (the price at its Series E in May 2009 where DST Global invested $200M) instead of its recent price of over $115.
You can share the following link with your friends! https://early.equidateinc.com/
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/
YMMV.
Just friendly advice and also caution to others I guess. For a site that talks about having institutional investors and having one of the top legal firms in the world this mlm and internet riches type vibe is what I got. Again, you guys may be great, but this is very unprofessional / gimmicky in my opinion
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.
IANAL, but if I was their counsel, I would definitely advise them to keep paying me a lot of money for a 10% chance it somehow works out with the regulators.
Buyers may be scarce if too many employees are so encumbered though. Is that your concern?
The three startups you worked for probably share some venture capital firm or related board member that copy and pasted the equity contract
But it didn't mean, necessarily, that condition is so prevalent or that much of a roadblock
This all just feels wrong to me. As an employee selling shares how can I be sure I'm not getting screwed over by anyone? The entire thing just seems shady.
So... the stock market? How can this possibly be legal?
When we do flip that switch, I expect that we will offer our optionees, like other team members, early investors, advisors, and other shareholders at least as much liquidity as we expect out of the rest of the industry. All of our stock agreements to date contemplate secondary liquidity. We might have to do that via third parties — I haven't thought through the implications of trading Equidate shares on Equidate. It sounds like a Malkovich moment.