This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess
Fish Promotions. Carine Schneider will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn
winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Facebook, Uber, Robinhood: all were private companies at
some point. Historically, there has been no way for investors to easily buy and sell shares in private
companies. With the introduction of blockchain technology, digital securities, and decentralized
financial solutions, the ability to grow the private market is on the horizon. Regulators around the world
are rushing to catch up and understand how to protect investors who want to participate in this market.
This book reviews the regulatory, technical, and societal challenges to open this asset class to more
investors in the future.
Read an Excerpt
Currently, US residents who want to invest in the private market need to have a certain net worth to
participate. Under the cover of this exclusive private club is access to investment opportunities,
supporting innovation, and extreme risk. As the private market has grown, the types of investment
instruments and the complexity of the investment structure has increased significantly. Unlike investing
in the public market, investing in private ventures can be complicated and requires an understanding ofsecurities law, tax strategy, and, in many cases, future technology that can only be envisioned by
innovative entrepreneurs. The key characteristics of the private market are: • Less company regulation •
Limited public reporting requirements, especially for smaller companies • A lack of information
symmetry • Only investment professionals, or the ultra-wealthy, can invest (accredited investors) With
the changes in technology solutions, the advent of new financial solutions, and a change in the way
some founders approach building their companies, these characteristics may change as the private
market grows. Dan Gallagher, General Counsel of Robinhood and a former Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) Commissioner, describes the private market as “a vibrant ecosystem.” Capital is key
to growth in a private company, and it can come from various sources — professional individual
investors (sometimes called “angel investors”), venture capital firms (VC firms), friends and family, and
crowdfunding campaigns. Private equity (PE) is sometimes confused with private company investment.
PE firms tend to acquire mature companies and recapitalize and re-organize their targets. PE firms
generally aren’t looking to make individual investments alongside other investors. For the purposes of
this book, we will mostly focus on non-PE owned companies, although we do discuss liquidity in PE
funds. The private market is attractive because investors in privately held companies hope to quickly
increase the company’s value, then sell their stakes later through a buyout, trade sale, recapitalization,
or listing on a public market via initial public offerings (IPOs).
About the Author:
Carine Schneider, FGE (Fellow of Global Equity) is an experienced
and well-connected leader in the private market and global compensation industry with deep
experience working in consulting, technology, and financial services. She is the President of AST Private
Company Solutions (AST PCS). She was named one of the 100 Influential Women in Silicon Valley by the
Silicon Valley Business Journal and one of 17 “Women to Watch” in 2017 by Brown Brothers Harriman
Center on Women and Wealth. Carine was formerly the President, Nasdaq Private Market and has been
the founder and CEO of Global Shares, CEO of Certent, and Partner at PwC. She has also held senior level
positions at Morgan Stanley and Willis Towers Watson. She was the founding Executive Director of the
National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP) and founded the nonprofit Global Equity
Organization (GEO) where she is now Chair Emeritus, after serving as Chair for eighteen years. She 103
started her career as Manager of Shareholder Relations at Oracle Corporation where she assisted in the
IPO. Ms. Schneider was born in The Netherlands and received her degree in psychology and sociology
from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a frequent speaker at conferences around the world,
including at President Obama’s 2016 Global Entrepreneurial Summit, and has authored various articles
and chapters in industry publications. She currently serves as a member of the Board of ProfessionalBusiness Women of California (PBWC). In 2019, she received the UK ProShare Award for Service to
Employee Share Ownership.
The Bait, a fast-paced and thrilling romantic caper from New York Times bestselling author M.J.
Rose and international bestselling author C.W. Gortner is available now!
A year after THE STEAL, Ania Throne is determined to take back what
the Leopard stole from her. Together with her lover and partner, Jerome, she stages a spectacular heist
during the Venetian Carnival, to lure out the treacherous mastermind they unmasked. She’s willing to
risk it all—until her revenge takes a dangerous twist that could cost her what she loves the most.
Jerome Curtis has given up everything for Ania. She needs his help and
he’s fallen head over heels for the world’s most eligible jewelry designer. But when their daring scheme
to catch the thief who escaped turns on them, he’s targeted for a crime he never wanted to
commit—and he has to find a way out fast.
From a glamorous costume gala to the winter canals of Venice, Ania
and Jerome must confront the choices they’ve made and bait a new trap to catch the Leopard, before
the Leopard springs his trap on them. This time, the stakes are personal, but with more than diamonds
on the line, can they escape the bait or will it separate them forever?
There are a lot of perks to having a rich girlfriend. I’ve never thought
about it before, how easy money makes things. In my line of work, it isn’t something I tend to think
about because I never have any extra dough to throw around. Sure, I know how rich people live. It’s my
job to know and deal with their dismay when their perfect lives are upended. I also know, more or less,
how much they spend on stuff I’ve never considered essential. I mean, who really wants to eat a bunch
of tiny, salty, black fish eggs from Russia at four hundred dollars a serving? A rich person, that’s who.
Not because it tastes great, but because they can. I suppose when you have so much money you don’t
know what to do with it, Russian fish eggs can taste pretty damn delicious. I still don’t get that
part. But the rest of it? I’m starting to understand. The private plane, for one, and the five-star
hotels with fancy monikers and white-glove service. Suites bigger than any apartment I’ve
rented—which isn’t saying much, considering my London flat is about the size of Ania’s walk-in closet.
She insists on fresh flowers and always gets them, says they inspire her creativity—not that she’s doing
much designing these days. Still, fresh flowers are her rule. And the other stuff: the fancy boutiques
that don’t look like they actually sell anything—all polished glass, creamy leather, and pristine displays
with a single handbag, like a museum. No price tags. No money exchanged. It’s all on account, or so Ania
tells me. The restaurants where a phone call instantly opens her preferred table, no matter if it’s a
crowded Saturday night. Trust me, it’s something to see. So is the astonished look on the maître d’s
face—she taught me that word after I called him “the host guy”—when she walks in with me at her side.
That look is worth the prices not listed on the menu. I never knew there were places you could eat a
steak and have no idea what it costs. To her, it’s normal, even if she can tell it’s not normal to me.
That it makes me uncomfortable. She says, “It’s what money is for.” Because that’s how she sees it.
She’s never known differently, so I can’t really blame her. So, yeah. A lot of perks. For me, it’s like
hiding out in first class and wondering when I’ll get caught. I keep thinking . . . anytime now, they’ll come
around to check my ticket and find out I only paid for steerage. I’d say it’s wonderful. And, mostly, it
is. How many guys can say the same? Not many, I’ll bet. I sure never thought I’d be one of them. Not in a
million years. Except for two things. She doesn’t like me calling her my girlfriend. And we’re
both thieves.
About M.J. Rose M.J. Rose grew up in New York City mostly in the labyrinthine
galleries of the Metropolitan Museum, the dark tunnels and lush gardens of Central Park and reading
her mother's favorite books before she was allowed. She believes mystery and magic are all around us
but we are too often too busy to notice... Books that exaggerate mystery and magic draw attention to it
and remind us to look for it and revel in it. Rose is a the Co-President and founding member of
International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.
She runs the blog, Museum of Mysteries.
In 1998, her first novel Lip Service was the first e-book and the first self-published novel chosen by
the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Club as well as the first e-book to go on to be published by a
mainstream New York publishing house. Rose has been profiled in Time magazine, Forbes, The New
York Times, Business 2.0, Working Woman, Newsweek, and New York Magazine.
She has appeared on The Today Show, Fox News, The Jim Lehrer NewsHour, and features on her
have appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, including USAToday,
Stern, L'Official, Poets and Writers, and Publishers Weekly.
Rose graduated from Syracuse University and spent the '80s in advertising. She was the Creative
Director of Rosenfeld Sirowitz and Lawson and she has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in
NYC.
About C.W. Gortner C.W. Gortner holds an MFA in Writing with an emphasis
on Renaissance Studies from the New College of California and a degree in fashion marketing. In his
extensive travels to research his books, he has experienced life in a Spanish castle and danced in a Tudor
great hall. Half-Spanish by birth, his novels have been translated in over 20 languages to date.
C.W. enjoys talking to book groups. To schedule a chat or find out more about his work
