Helping Angels Lead Our Startups Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.

The United States leads the global economy on innovation. There are a lot of pieces of the innovation agenda, some that Republicans and Democrats disagree on, some that they agree on. I am pleased to be here today on a small but important piece that can help move the innovation agenda forward, help America retain and grow its competitive advantage.

Let me set the scene. This could be a ballroom at a university, it could be a theater that is rented out for the night. There might be 5 or 10 teams of entrepreneurs who worked hard on their business plans. Perhaps they were part of some business plan competition to refine what they call their pitch deck. The audience fills out.

Who is in the audience?

It wouldn't be a worthwhile event if there weren't potential investors there. So, of course, the bulk of the audience--it could be half, it could be three-quarters, it could be most of it--will be accredited investors. They are the only people who can invest in these companies.

Who else should be in the room? Who do we want to make sure that we don't seal off the opportunity to learn and gain from that experience?

Well, it could be university faculty, graduate students, professors. They don't happen to be worth $2 million, but they might have technical expertise. They might be able to be consultants. They might be professionals, lawyers and bankers, who might be able to assist the companies develop, patent their ideas, and raise money. It might be students and future entrepreneurs who want to learn about the pitch process so they, too, can refine their ideas and be on the stage the next time around.

That is what this bill allows, for us to make sure that the great opportunity that this country offers reaches people from all economic backgrounds. We can't lock everybody except for the millionaires and billionaires out of the room that helps form the seed capital for tomorrow's great company.

HALOS does not change the existing law about who can and can't buy private securities. What it does do is allow folks who are not accredited investors, who are not there as a potential investor to be in the room, to learn from the experience, to perhaps get a job if they are an aspiring programmer, to have to team up with one of the companies that presented as a cofounder to complement some of the competencies that the other founder has, to make sure that they, too, are in that great room of opportunity.

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Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I believe our startup communities will be strengthened. Startup ecosystems like the ones that I am proud to say exist in towns like Fort Collins and Boulder in my district can be made more diverse through this law and will inevitably make sure that those in the room can expand opportunity beyond people who are already millionaires and billionaires.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

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