I’ve poked around on EquityZen and was shocked at how little information is available to investors. In some cases I did not even see pitch decks, let alone one of the first companies I looked at had its top Google result: CEO recently arrested for fraud and business is almost worthless now.

Unless you are willing to take a blind punt or have insider information, those platforms are opaque minefields and I don’t fault you for not investing.

Matt Levine has a fun investment test: when presented with an opportunity, you should always ask, “and why are you offering it to me?”

Meaning, by the time it gets offered to retail investors (even accredited ones are retail) we’re getting the scraps that no one else wants.