Comment:

I am now a card carrying member of the Venture Capital Markets Association, which if you wanted to attend they kinda forced you to pay $5.00 and sign up.

Over all it was a pretty good bitch fest about the regulators, BCSC and IIROC for the most part. There was desperation in the voices and they want to start lobbying on the political front for changes. One of the most harped on issue was private placements to accredited investors, which they would like to open up to any shareholders.

Which I agree with, if I am already a shareholder of Livengood Mining and own 10,000 shares why can't the company ask me if I want to buy 10,000 more with a warrant?

Better yet how come companies just can't offer warrants to their existing shareholders at any given time for a stipulated given time?

One thing that no one mentioned is the retail shareholder and why the juniors have lost credibility with the retail/insto guys.

Another sticking point was all the fees they have to pay to maintain a listing. My thought is if you are worth your weight in salt then these should not be an issue, but if your a lifestyle company then it looks like you are at the end of the rope.

The panel did recognize the bad apples listed on the exchange, but seriously there is a misalignment with CEO salaries/fees and the performance of the stock. Shareholders continue to be bagholders while management can expense their Vancouver lifestyle.

Which brings me to the next issue with private placements, you always need the retail (read bagholder) there to eventually sell your private placement cheap stock and warrants too. These days there is a rush to the exits from the holder of the private placements, usually showing up about a month before the hold comes off.

Any news is just used as liquidity event, no one wants to hold the stock for more than 4 months anymore.

Look, I am an accredited investor and even I can't be bothered to participate in private placements, I am at a disadvantage to others who short the paper before the hold comes off. If the deal is that good I would rather just buy the stock in the market and forgo the warrants, that way I have liquidity and most likely the warrants are going to expire worthless.

The juniors got a serious image/credibility issue and they need to fix that first. CEO salaries and fees need to be in line with shareholder returns to start.

There was issues around how many jobs the juniors create which they do out in the field or in a small town, but that is usually seasonal. In reality the junior companies keep more lawyers, accountants, waitresses, bartenders and sommeliers employed in this city than anyone else.

There was talk about getting back out in front of media to promote a better image, unfortunately the media can't be trusted anymore either as they just become PR megaphones for the industry.

The retail guy craves credibility in this world hence the ever increasing traffic volumes at thisVancouver Venture site or IKN and Myownmarketnarrative, our agenda is aligned with the retail guy out there as we are the retail guy. We are just trying to cut through the bullshit this industry pumps out and find a few decent deals to make a few bucks at.

I agree with some of what the VCMA is trying to achieve but I think they need to look in the mirror first.

I taped the whole show which did get lively at times and boring at other times as soon as I figure how to get it into a youtube video I will post it, it is about 1:15 long but the best part is in the first 45 minutes.

http://vcsass.blogspot.ca/2013/10/welcome-to-venture-capital-shareholder.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZH9kG7oWSk#t=284