That's not to say I feel that way. I love that I will soon be able to invest, without being a high net worth individual. Though I've had it pointed out to me that if I were to have my company valued in some way, either by taking funding at a higher valuation or by getting it appraised, I could probably qualify as a high net worth individual and invest already...that's a process I don't want to go through.

I think this is definitely a democratizing influence on capital. Especially since the public markets have become such a late stage fundraising process....Google was already massive when it went public. Many companies I'd like to be invested in aren't public and show no signs of going public. Dropbox is a multibillion dollar company, and isn't public, for instance.

My concern is that weak companies will flood this channel, making it harder for money to be smart...which hurts the market as a whole. But, a lot of big money isn't very smart, either, so I guess we just have to deal with dumb money, no matter what.