2011 Spring Symposium Resources: Panel Two – Venture Finance

Regulatory Reform and Early Stage Company Growth

Steve Bochner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

To view his powerpoint presentation, follow this link.

Primum Non Nocere: The Impact of Dodd-Frank on Silicon Valley

Eric Finseth, BCLB Research Fellow

Western medicine has, thankfully, in the past several centuries advanced beyond drilling holes in the head to release evil spirits and bleeding patients to drain them of foul humors.  Advances in medical knowledge, coupled with a maxim of the profession, primum non nocere, “first of all, do no harm,” deserve substantial credit.  That same prophylactic maxim should likewise apply, mutatis mutandis, in the legislative and regulatory arena. To view a downloadable and complete abstract for Eric Finseth, follow this link

     Eric Finseth – Primum Non Nocere: The Impact of Dodd-Frank on Silicon Valley Full Paper
     Eric Finseth’s PowerPoint Presentation

A Rose By Any Other Name: How Labels Get In the Way of U.S. Innovation Policy

Mary Dent, SVB Financial Group

If one listens to the rhetoric coming out of Washington, 2011 is shaping up to be the Year of Innovation Policy.  Policymakers recognize that a real economic recovery will require real growth, and correctly see the innovation sector as the most likely source for that growth. 

Yet while policymakers have identified the right goal – and while our innovation sector does need Washington to change its approach – it is far from clear that the policymaking process is set up to tackle this challenge in a way that will yield meaningful results.

Some of this is substantive.  But some of it is a by-product of the words we use and the many, less-than-obvious ways that innovation policies bubble up through our policymaking apparatus.To view a downloadable and complete abstract for Mary Dent, follow this link

     Mary Dent – A Rose by Any Other Name
     SVB & FSOC Comment Letter – Volcker Study

Other Resources

Ken Taymor submitted a comment letter to the Federal Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) in response to the FSOC’s request for input on how it should implement the Volcker Rule part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Drawing on the legislative history of the Dodd-Frank Act and the economic evidence of the role of venture capital funds in the economy, Ken argued that FSOC should not interpret and apply the Volcker Rule to prevent banking entities from continuing to sponsor and invest in venture capital funds.