My (and Nader Ghaffari's) Idea on How to Bailout The US: Startup America

The Obama transition team has setup a website: Change.gov, to help distribute both news and ideas about the incoming president. They setup a "Citizen's Briefing Book" on the site, which has allowed people to submit ideas they think the incoming President should embrace. Ideas are voted on, Digg style, and they bubble to the top of the book. The idea is that the most voted on ideas will be looked at by the President and worked on as potential policies.

I brainstormed an idea with my good friend, Nader Ghaffari, and we came up with this submission which we think will ensure continued growth of the US economy as well as ensuring innovation remains an American invention.


Startup America: Bringing Innovation Back to America (A Government VC Fund)

I have been watching the government bailout with intrigue for several months, wondering why America is investing billions in industries mired in uncertainty, merely prolonging the inevitable. Therefore, I propose Startup America, an initiative for the government to invest $1B in venture capital financing to startup companies in a variety of different industries, with up to $1M per company. The fund would work in much the same way a typical seed stage investment company works, whereby there would be a board to review each idea on a variety of metrics, and upon submitting a term sheet, the government would receive equity for their investment. This would allow the government to recoup their investment and potentially more while providing a great financial resource for our citizens.

Startup America would ensure that innovatiion remains America's strongest asset. It would create jobs and industries for thousands, if not millions of people. It would certainly jumpstart the economy. It would create tremendous value for depressed areas all across the nation, providing people with resources to turn their dreams into reality. It could be the first step in solving our energy crisis, curing cancer, improving education, eradicating homelessness and malnutrition, improving foreign policy, increasing security, and vastly improving current technologies . The possibilities are endless. Our minds are our only limitation.