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Dear TECNA Members,
I hope you all are off to a great start to 2022!
If you follow me on LinkedIn, this is something I’ve posted about. Legislation always has unintended consequences. Sometimes the consequences are good, sometimes they are bad. Sometimes they are very minor, and sometimes they are massive and reshape entire systems and economies.
There are several bills in both the U.S. House and Senate addressing antitrust aimed at controlling company size and ability of “Big Tech”. Not only do current laws like the Clayton Act protect and regulate against monopolies, but these bills could have huge detrimental unintended consequences for the start-up and innovation ecosystem in North America. Put another way, these antitrust bills, while aimed at “Big Tech” could put TECNA’s members’ companies in the crosshairs of the unintended consequence of these bills.
This Wall Street Journal opinion piece written by serial entrepreneur Bettina Hein provides a founder’s view of what these antitrust bills could do to the startup-investor-acquisition system. This business strategy, the startup-investor-acquisition model, is the business plan for countless startups in both the U.S. and Canada. While these are U.S. bills, the consequences of it could impact venture capital and angel investors’ current business models, thus potentially causing them to cease investment when acquisition options are severely limited.
Since early fall, TECNA has been a part of a coalition of pro-startup organizations meeting with U.S. legislators with a goal of educating them on these unintended consequences of this antitrust legislation. They have been receptive to our concerns. Often, unless a Senator or Member of Congress has been very close to the startup-investment-acquisition business model, there are misconceptions and ignorance on how important this business plan is for innovative startups to thrive and unaware of how this legislation would unintentionally impact the innovation economy.
Startups make up TECNA’s member organizations. TECNA members work tirelessly to provide startups with support and resources to prosper and grow. I encourage all TECNA members to talk to your members and ask them if they are familiar with this legislation and if they aren’t, send them Bettina’s story. If they are interested in contacting their legislators to tell their story and do not know who to contact, please let me know, and I will get you the appropriate contact information to do so.
TECNA will be offering members two great ways to activate your membership and weigh in on important legislation. First, in the weeks to come, TECNA will be providing members with access to a grassroots software tool, making the process seamless to quickly activate your membership on important legislation like these antitrust bills. Second, TECNA will be hosting our annual Fly-In on May 11-12, 2022, in Washington, D.C. More details to come soon on both the software and the Fly-In so be on the lookout!
I’m happy to discuss these bills or any other issues of importance with you.
Have a wonderful winter weekend.
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