A Call to Action on Important Seed Capital Matters!

Frequent readers of this blog know that I prefer to write on topics of interest to entrepreneurs that seem somewhat removed from the practice of law (e.g. musical theatre, my travels, Shark Tank and even the occasional comic strip). Yes, it’s true, I also sometimes post on “mundane” legal topics like Regulation Crowdfunding.

This time, I’m asking for your action on a couple of important matters. The good news is that it won’t involve attending any political rallies or making you dig in your pockets for extra cash (something entrepreneurs often don’t have anyway). 

Here are two places where your help is needed:

First—we just last week started asking for respondents to our next Seed Capital reVIEW survey. As you know, Seed Capital reVIEW is our semi-annual report regarding capital raising by Minnesota’s start-up and early-stage companies.  The current survey, which can be found here, is for deals completed during the second half of 2015. The more respondents in the survey, the better and more useful the information will be in our report. Please forward the link on to anyone who was involved in raising seed capital during the second half of 2015.

Second—as you may know, the Minnesota Angel Tax Credit program (a frequent entreVIEW topic), which has consistently been recognized as an important tool facilitating access to capital for early-stage companies (see the summary of this issue beginning on page 14 of our most recent Seed Capital reVIEW report from the first half of 2015), is scheduled to expire this year and needs legislative support. I note that the Governor’s just-released supplemental budget proposal did not include anything related to the Angel Tax Credit. The Minnesota High Tech Association has provided access to these online tools that can help facilitate taking action with state legislators.

Thanks in advance for acting on these important matters!