Ask HN: Startup Feedback – Hub for investing in startups app | Hacker News

[This is not a product shill, only a feedback and brainstorming thread!]Hi there, thanks for taking the time! I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts here:TLDR: Robinhood x Reddit for investing in and building communities around startups. Everyday people investing in startups just became legal a few years ago. No product like this exists for this new industry yet. Would like feedback on how you currently interact with startup investing and how this app might appeal to you, or not.----CONTEXT: The 1933 Securities Act in the US permitted only accredited investors (net worth > $1m, > $200k+ / yr income) to purchase private securities (equity in non-public companies). That was changed in 2016 and 2020 with the JOBS Act Title III and IV, which allows Reg CF + RegA crowdfunding where now anyone can purchase equity in startups through a registered Funding Portal. Think Kickstarter but you get equity. This movement has not hit mainstream yet since it's so new, and the incumbents in the space have shady business practices and 0 brand loyalty - but they still bring in lots of $. My team and I have a registered Funding Portal (took 1 yr to get approval), and we're now wondering where we should take the product. Our website just went live with nobody using it yet, and a couple of companies listed that have active funding rounds.THE VISION: Our vision is attaching a social media hub (similar to Reddit and LinkedIn in format) to make our app "The Home for Investing in Startups." Think Robinhood and Reddit had a baby for startups instead of public markets. People create communities about anything investing related. Anyone can post once KYC (Know Your Customer, SSN required) verified. Posts are encouraged to be more long-form and thought out, so I see content creators building their private investing brands on our site, more like Substack / LinkedIn rather than Twitter / X. Once invested, you get access to exclusive investor channels and perks from the company.MY ASK OF YOU: I'd like to know if this resonates with anyone, why that might be, and a) if people are aware of / excited about this new ability to invest in startups, and b) where you currently get startup news and discussion. Does an app that serves both as the investment platform and the forum for investing in startups excite you? Why or why not?TIMELINE: We have 3 full time fullstack devs (including myself), and a good designer on hand, and a website already launched with a fully working and legally compliant API, so a good app will take 1 month at the longest.Thank you so much for your time. I really do believe that we will build a product that is at the forefront of this new wave of startup investing. We're looking for help from other people who see the same vision, so please leave a comment if you're interested in helping us get off the ground in any way. :)