There have been at least a half dozen YC companies that I wished I could invest in the moment I met the founders...but, I'm not quite to "high net worth individual" status. I wasn't aware that the JOBS act would allow me to invest in startups. I had vague feelings of unease about the JOBS act (because anything with that kind of Orwellian name coming from government can't possibly be good), but I certainly would like to be able to invest like the rich folk. It's a damned dirty shame that us common folk have been pushed out of early stage investing entirely, even if we have a stomach for the risk and the money and connections to be useful.
So, this sounds cool, but I'm more excited to learn that I might be able to invest directly in startups soon (and sooner than reaching that $200k/year "high net worth" line).
Joe - I believe you can take your paper value of equity in Virtualmin to count towards being a "high net worth individual".
So you probably do qualify if there is any sort of valuation event for Virtualmin that sets your equity at a high enough value. I know lots of founders that do this.
Good thought, Immad. I hadn't even considered that. However, we haven't raised any additional funding after YC, so our valuation is indeterminate from a legal perspective (or way too low, since the YC money valued us at something like 300k five years ago), I guess? We'd only have revenues to go on, which would comfortably value us in the right sphere, but without a funding round or exit of some sort, I'm not sure how else to make that valuation stick.
So, this sounds cool, but I'm more excited to learn that I might be able to invest directly in startups soon (and sooner than reaching that $200k/year "high net worth" line).