In today’s episode of The Friday Nooner, Pete and Joe cover everything from the judge’s ruling on the Epic v. Apple lawsuit to NC TECH’s “Startups to Watch” picks to new tax proposals that could affect angel/venture investments.
Nick Jordan, the founder of Smashing Boxes, later joined the stream. For those who are unfamiliar, Smashing Boxes is a software design and development agency that works primarily with startups—or as Nick called his company, “ecosystem feeders.” (It’s a phrase made famous by Brad Feld in his book on startup communities.)
Here are some highlights from today’s episode:
- This week, NC TECH released its statewide “Startups to Watch” list, which included our new (and old) neighbors, Seguno Software. Speaking of, GrepBeat’s new and soon-to-be annual “Startups to Watch” list will be announced next Thursday at an invitation-only event. We will also announce the honorees live on Twitter.
- Pete brought up recent tax proposals from Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee, specifically an amendment of Section 1202(a) of the tax code on the percentage of gains on qualified small business stock (QSBS) that can be excluded from being taxed. Currently, one can exclude 100% of the gains—i.e. receive them tax-free—but under the proposal, that exclusion would be cut to 50% of the gain for taxpayers with adjusted gross income of greater than $400,000. This would reduce the after-tax gains of some successful angel and venture investments, and thus could affect the level of investments. Though Joe and Pete agreed that while such tax benefits are a nice bonus, most investment decisions aren’t made on the basis of a potential tax credit.
- Smashing Boxes recently opened a co-working space called Durham Bottling Company, which has been our Q3 sponsor of the GrepBeat newsletter. Nick said the space has been a great asset for the company. (And you can reserve a desk or office at Durham Bottling Company here!) This led to a discussion of how the value N.C. real estate is skyrocketing and the changes in Downtown Durham in the last few years.
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