David’s Research

Past Research and Overall Themes

My research focuses on the governance of entrepreneurial ventures and the financing transactions that fuel those new ventures in their earliest stages of life. My past research has largely focused on high-growth ventures seeking capital from angel investors , venture capitalists , and everyday Americans. Related past projects have expanded the scope of these financing transactions to nonprofits seeking donations and small business purchasers seeking various financing instruments to purchase an existing small business. Within each of these projects, entity structure and corporate governance processes are considered with the goal of helping entrepreneurs optimize their outcomes through legal best practices.

Current Research

My most recent article accepted for publication is titled Accessible Financial Data for Equity Crowdfunding Investors, which will be published in the University of Colorado Law Review in 2025.  In this article, I build on my past works of Equity Crowdfunding and the Lead Investor and The Local Nature of Equity Crowdfunding to explore ways in which the SEC can better regulate equity crowdfunding to ensure that nonaccredited investors have access to reasonable investment opportunities and high-quality information on those investment opportunities.  This article builds on my previous work by contemplating which types of quantitative data are necessary to provide investors with insightful information, and further, how that technical quantitative information should be required to be presented to investors.  Additionally, this article proposes minimum standards for companies raising capital via equity crowdfunding, that must be enforced by the equity crowdfunding portals hosting these fundraising campaigns.

Also in the realm of securities law, I am currently working on an early-stage project titled The Role of Societal Attitudes in Securities Law Rulemaking. This article will analyze the securities laws of the United States and compare those laws to those of other jurisdictions like Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Using the foreign jurisdictions as sources of alternate paths for the securities law to take in the United States, the goals of this research are simple: to find better alternatives to specific laws and regulations that do not work well in the United States. In doing so, this research seeks to balance three aims: investor protection, capital formation for new ventures, and the use of securities law as a tool for sustainable business policy.

This article also will consider a confounding variable in the comparative analysis of these securities laws: the attitudes that each society has toward entrepreneurship, innovation, and capital formation.  Using various academic surveys and data sources, this article will compare each country’s attitude toward entrepreneurship to the balance it strikes between protecting investors and encouraging capital formation for startups.  In making this comparison, the article will work to ensure that suggested changes to the securities laws of the United States are in line with societal expectations and norms.

Importance of Research

The legal aspects of entrepreneurship are a relatively understudied area of the law.  My research seeks to fill many of the gaps related to core legal issues startup founders encounter with respect to corporate governance, financing transactions, and the company’s innovation efforts generally.  Since startup ventures have a major impact on economic growth in the United States, my research seeks to provide new and accessible insights to researchers, startup founders, and investors to help them optimize their behaviors for entrepreneurial success.