Category: Regulation A Offering Circular

WRITE YOUR REGULATION A OFFERING CIRCULAR WITH ADVERTISING IN MIND

Write Your Regulation A Offering Circular With Advertising In Mind

On By crowdfundattnyIn Advertising, Regulation A, Regulation A Offering CircularLeave a comment

Too many issuers think of the Regulation A Offering Circular as just a dry legal document between the SEC and the lawyers. It should be more than that.

As I’ve said once or twice before, Crowdfunding is a marketing business. Creating a great company with a great product isn’t enough. “Build it and they will come” worked for Kevin Costner but it doesn’t work for most companies trying to raise capital.

Here are some examples of things you’d like to say to attract investors:

  • We have a terrific track record in this industry going back 15 years.
  • Our performance during the last five years has doubled industry averages.
  • Our Founder has had successful exits from her last three companies.
  • Experts forecast that our market will triple over the next seven years.

Those can be very powerful messages for prospective investors. But here’s the thing:  you’re not allowed to say them in your Facebook ads unless you’ve already said them in your Offering Circular.

You spend all the time and money to have your Regulation A offering qualified by the SEC, only to learn that you’re not allowed to say what you’d like to say to attract investors. 

Write your Offering Circular with advertising in mind. Make your lawyer speak with your marketing team and vice versa, even though they speak different languages. Create your marketing materials — your website, your Facebook ads, your email campaigns — in conjunction with your Offering Circular, so all the pieces are working together rather than pulling in opposite directions.

Questions? Let me know.

RULE 10b-5: THE HIDDEN DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT IN REGULATION A

Rule 10b-5: The Hidden Disclosure Requirement In Regulation A

On By crowdfundattnyIn 10b-5, Regulation A, Regulation A Offering CircularLeave a comment

Preparing a Regulation A Offering Circular is as much an art as a science.

An issuer offering securities using Regulation A can choose from several disclosure formats, including Form 1-A, Form S-1, or Form S-11. Each of these SEC forms includes a list of information that must be disclosed. For example, Form 1-A lists 17 items, ranging from the cover page to the Exhibits, each with sub-categories and special rules. Transparency and disclosure have been the touchstones of U.S. securities laws since the 1930s, and each form includes hundreds of pieces of information that must be disclosed to prospective investors. 

But even an issuer that made a list of all those items and completed the form meticulously wouldn’t be finished, because 17 CFR §240.10b-5 effectively imposes a catch-all requirement for disclosure.

Rule 10b-5(b) provides:

“It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly. . . .[t]o make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a  material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.”

The first part of that statement is easy:  you’re not allowed to make untrue statements of material facts, i.e., to lie.

It’s the second part that requires some thought. A couple simple examples:

  • You’re raising money for a grocery delivery business and there’s a guy on your board named Jeffrey Bezos. You’d better tell investors he’s not that Jeffrey Bezos.
  • Your Offering Circular describes the patent with which you expect to revolutionize the world of online payments. You’d better mention the letter you received alleging that your patent is invalid.

In practice, Rule 10b-5(b) means that no matter how many times you compare the SEC form (Form 1-A, Form S-1, Form S-11) to your Offering Circular, checking off all the boxes, if investors lose money a plaintiff’s lawyer can snoop around, with the benefit of hindsight, looking for something else that should have been disclosed. 

That’s why preparing a Regulation A Offering Circular is as much an art as a science.

Questions? Let me know.