In what has been called a gift to the banks in the form of “financial reform”, Senators Chris Dodd’s bill would do a lot of different things, one of them a major blow for the start up community. 

From a post by Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures, Fred points out that there are several provisions in this bill that will hurt early stage companies. The most alarming of which to me is: 

Changing the definition of a “qualified investor” in angel and venture deals. Not just anyone can invest in a startup company. You have to be a qualified investor. A qualified investor is currently defined as anyone with a net worth of over $1mm or net income of over $250k. Dodd’s bill would increase that to $2.3mm and $450k respectively. And then index those numbers to inflation.

Read the whole post here.