[aptwebapps]

> There is nothing preventing you from creating your own private company and sell equities only to poor people.

That's not actually true, which is what the people upthread were referring too. It's not that companies simply don't elect to sell equity to poor people, they aren't actually allowed to in most circumstances.

[kenrikm]

Being an Accredited Investor (in the US) is 1Mil in net worth not including the value of your primary house. Indeed that seems to exclude most "poor people" I know

[vidarh]

Being an Accredited Investor in the US involves stating that on a form. If you badly want to buy these shares, and they're available to buy, then from experience bypassing that is trivial.

The bigger challenge is that most private companies you've heard of won't even consider taking your money unless you can put in a lot more than any poor person would realistically be able to.

[colordrops]

Not true. Check out AngelList (http://angel.co). Minimum investment is $1000, and millions have already been raised.