Allen Leinwand makes a compelling case on GigaOm why open access and Net Neutrality are a prerequisite for his industry, venture capital. Without it startup's would not get funded and innovation would be reduced to a trickle.
More importantly to a VC, imagine funding a startup whose offering depended on the use of a service provider's last mile. Without net neutrality, there would be no guarantee of a free and open market and by extension no guarantee of the delivery of goods and services. Such an environment would hinder, not foster, innovation and economic growth -- core principles of capitalism and venture capital investing. Startups need the ability to buy services from providers on a fair and level playing field -- even if their services may compete with those of the provider itself.
Service providers need to accept the fact that net neutrality is the only way that capitalism on the Internet will survive. Without it, venture capital would no longer be able to fund innovative technology startups -- the very same startups that will inevitably make service providers' offering attractive to consumers, as Google, Facebook, Twitter and countless others have done.
EPA AND DUE DILIGENCE
When someone is to invest in a new enterprise, or brokers start up an Initial Public Offering, a thorough due diligence is done. That means a good, deep investigation of who the enterprise is to serve, how they produce the service, financials, where, and what impact it has on the environment and the legal system, as well as rational estimates of profitability. In most cases, if the start-up is something new, the market for the service is as speculative as a new TV series entertainment executives think will do well. Each of the segments of the due diligence is important to the investor, and the speculative may be of interest to the gambler. But, when probable government actions are input, such as new EPA regulations, energy use, cost, allocation and emissions of carbon dioxide, the risk becomes too great for the investor. If the government acts in such ways to increase the risks to an investor in any new business, the economy is confronted with a major crippling virus. Keep in mind, new and small business accounts for close to three out of four jobs in our economy. New, small, innovative, privately owned small business is the reason America has been so prosperous, and lack of them is the reason other nations in the world are not prosperous. It sounds like our government is rushing to shut America down in order to keep the world’s playing field level. Claybarham.com