Are there any compliance requirements for the Story page?
The content of this page is generally left up to the Company to decide how they want to make their story compelling. However, we do have a few guidelines for the information you choose to include:
- Stats, facts, and graphs are great, but require a source. This can be included via hyperlink, (parenthetical notation), or *footnotes. For example, “As of July 31, 2017, companies have raised nearly $52M through Reg CF.”
- Statements of opinion or prediction need to say so, unless you can provide a source to support them. For example:
- OK - “We believe that we are the first of it’s kind in the industry.”
- NOT OK - “We will be the largest company in the industry!”
- NOT OK - “Widgets are the greatest product ever!”
- Statements about intellectual property (patents, trademarks, etc.) require internal verification because they are highly compelling to investors. This can be done by emailing proof of ownership and existence (i.e. patent number, PDF of patent applications, etc.) to compliance@startengine.com with the subject line: “IP Verification”
- Statements about future returns require detailed support providing a reasonable basis for your projections. This may be achieved through explanation of major growth assumptions or by hyperlink to web-hosted financial statements (i.e. Google Sheets).