Gearing Up To Improve Small Business Capital Formation - Stacey Bowers, Director, SEC Office Of The Advocate For Small Business Capital Formation, Opening Remarks At The SEC’s Small Business Forum, Washington D.C., April 10, 2025

Good afternoon and welcome to the SEC’s 44th Annual Small Business Forum. I’m Stacey Bowers, Director of the SEC’s Small Business Advocacy Office, and we are thrilled to welcome you to this important event and to be doing so in person here at the SEC’s headquarters. I want to extend a warm welcome to all of our attendees and exhibitors for joining us this afternoon, whether here in the auditorium or online.

The Forum provides a venue for small businesses, entrepreneurs, small public companies, and their investors to come together and collaborate as a team on ideas to improve small business capital formation. If you haven’t noticed already from the agenda titles, knowing that the Forum would be just days after the NCAA March Madness finals, we have had fun with this year’s theme of sports and teamwork. And while this auditorium can’t hold those kinds of crowds, the Forum does create an opportunity for the small business community to come together with the Commissioners, Commission staff, other government agencies, and thought leaders as loyal fans.

Before I say more, on behalf of myself, the Commissioners, and my colleagues here at the SEC, I want to state that the views expressed today are each speaker’s own – in my case in my capacity as the Director of the Small Business Advocacy Office – and do not necessarily reflect those of the Commission, any of the Commissioners, or any of our colleagues on the staff.

We all know the importance of small businesses to our economy and our country, but were you aware that small businesses created 80% of net new jobs since 2011?[1] Many of these businesses need support from others to build and grow their companies. You may know that entrepreneurial support organizations, like incubators and accelerators, play a key role in supporting and mentoring early-stage companies, but did you know that entrepreneurs who work with those organizations are likely to raise more capital and generate more revenue?[2] Later-stage companies are also finding support. More than 62% of VCs engage with their portfolio companies at least one time a week.[3] However, 77% of small businesses are concerned about accessing the capital they need.[4] And, while VC ecosystems are growing across the country outside of the traditional hubs, many areas do not have a strong community to support small businesses.[5]

Turning to the public markets, IPOs ticked up in the first half of 2024 – 101 as compared to 83 in the first half of 2023 – but they were still well below their 2021 peak.[6] Looking specifically at smaller company IPOs, they accounted for 40% of the number of IPOs since 2022, but only 4% of the deal value.[7]  So, we continue to see challenges across small business life cycles.

The SEC’s Small Business Forum is designed to bring together a wide range of voices from both the public and private sectors, so we can huddle up to discuss different ideas and perspectives and to strategize about ways to support small businesses raising capital from investors. During our time together today, we will have the opportunity to hear insights from our Commissioners, as well as the voices and stories of our speakers – founders, investors, industry specialists, small public company executives, and lawyers. Equally as important, is hearing from all of you who took time out of your busy schedules to attend. The shared experiences from participants in the small business community often provide the impetus to reevaluate our playbook and consider ideas in different ways or from different points of view.

A key purpose of the Forum is to provide a pathway for the public to shape policy recommendations to improve capital formation for small businesses and their investors to the Commission and Congress. At the end of the program today, we will invite participants here and online to vote through the portal to prioritize the recommendations. Recognizing that companies and investors have different needs at various points in their lifecycle, we have grouped the recommendations into three life cycle sections: “Early-stage,” “Growth-Stage” (which includes smaller funds), and “Small Cap and the Public Markets.”  We will include the top five recommendations from each life cycle section in the SEC’s report to Congress on today’s Small Business Forum.  

With those logistics out of the way, I just want to say that it's hard to believe I am well into my second year as Director of the Small Business Advocacy Office. I continue to be amazed at what I learn from our stakeholders and others who play a role in the vital small business ecosystem. I am excited to hear more from our speakers today, as that information assists all of us at the SEC in understanding how we can continue to support capital formation for small businesses.   

I know I say something along these lines at almost every event where I have the privilege of speaking, but the Small Business Advocacy Office is made up of an incredible team of individuals whose passion and dedication in supporting small businesses and their investors on the capital-raising journey is unwavering. I want to thank each and every one of them for their commitment to this event, the Office, and in leading the charge to be a voice for small businesses everywhere.

Now, I’d like to welcome Acting Chairman Uyeda to the stage to share his thoughts with us, followed by Commissioners’ Peirce and Crenshaw.