Stoel Rives Attorney Mary Hull on Panel for Discussion on Crowdfunding a Startup

Corporate partner Mary Hull was a panelist for “OEN PubTalk: Beyond Kickstarter – Crowdfunding Your Startup,” presented by the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network. The panelists explored a variety of crowdfunding mechanisms, including regulation crowdfunding, community public offerings, Regulation A+, crowd lending, and others. As well as Hull, panelists included Amy Pearl, Director, Hatch Innovation, who acted as moderator; Doug Campoli, CFO, Arcimoto; Hanna Scholz, President, Bike Friday; and Jim Mingey, Founder, Veterans Business Services.

The participants discussed which method they had used for their money-raising effort and what worked well and didn’t. Mary Hull said that using crowdfunding sources such as Kickstarter, which is donation based and thus not subject to SEC regulations, is a “no brainer” for some companies. She said that an advantage of regulated sources of crowdfunding such as the Oregon Intrastate Offering Exemption (OIO) is their ability to raise money quickly, while minimizing legal fees, but the downside may be the presence of many small investors, which may make investing unattractive to angel or venture capital investors.

Hull cautions for the need to seek the advice of an attorney or at the very least look into the rules for equity crowdfunding, particularly before making an announcement seeking funding. “…you can really kind of screw up if you don’t do it right. So for the OIO, before you make any kind of offering you’re supposed to make your filing with the state.”