Fund Our Economic Immune System
Hand Up, Not a Bail Out
Decisions made today will have a lasting impact on the future health of our economy.
Any Government program to lesson the impact of COVID-19 needs to include an investment in the future, as well as softening the impact of the present.
Entrepreneurs and small businesses are the solution. They have been, and will be, how this country heals our economic wounds.
It is well known startups and small businesses create the jobs and innovation in our economy. They take the biggest risks facing uncertainties every day. Even in the best of times.
Yet entrepreneurial capitalism is sub-optimal today, as the venture model is largely unchanged since the first fund was launched in 1959. Concentrated portfolios, GP-driven decision-making and opaque processes all largely define the conventional venture funding model.
This model was not structured to mobilize capital efficiently across broad business models and geographic regions around the country, and tends to follow (and fuel) boom/bust cycles.
Entrepreneurs need a better way to source the important early stage risk capital. They need more capital available;
- for the earliest stages,
- from more sources than currently invest,
- and they need it available in more communities around the country.
This has been labeled Place Based Impact Investing (PBII).
A Solution
AngelSpan & The Legacy Funds were specifically architected to be the necessary tools, tactics and strategy to bring the best practices of the public markets investing into the private asset class, so more capital can be deployed, at institutional scale, more efficiently and effectively across a broader universe of startups:
- More diverse business models
- More regions around the country
- More diverse entrepreneurs
HOW
Step 1.
- The Govt. needs to index the levels & limits of the Qualified Small Business Stock under Sec 1244 to inflation. Do it NOW as part of the Fiscal Stimulus Plan. Then pass the ‘New Business Preservation Act’.
WHY
- This will mobilize the private sector to support the private sector. The ‘1%-ers’ can invest in the solution to our economic immune system, while a thoughtful public/private ‘Marshall Plan’ can ‘vaccinate’ our economy quickly.
HOW
Step 2.
- Accelerate the launch of QSBS Funds around the country. Similar to the Opportunity Zone Funds model, except targeted ONLY at startup funding, leveraging the de-risking incentives of both QSBS Sec. 1244, with the rewards of Sec. 1202.
WHY
- Private foundations, family offices and Community Foundations have been exploring ways to solve for PBII. They care about legacies — the legacies of the families, the communities, and the people.
We can’t wait any longer.
The future of our economy hinges on how quickly we can inject the necessary resources into our economic immune system — the entrepreneur.
