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Table of Contents

• The Day the SEC Came Calling

My name is Gerry Hays, Founder & CEO of Doriot® (pronounced “Doe-ree-oh”), named after French-born American U.S. General Georges Doriot, the father of Venture Capital. I’m also an author (First Time Founders’s Equity Bible), inventor (U.S. patents for ads on t-shirts, coat checking, and VentureStaking® - pending), and 21-year professor of venture capital and entrepreneurial finance at Indiana University.

Democratize Venture is my platform to explore the venture markets and share the insights, strategies, and frameworks I bring into the classroom. It’s also a way for me to share principles of prosperity — because at the end of the day, venture is a pathway to prosperity.

The Day the SEC Came Calling

Happy 2026, everyone.

It’s been over three months since I last posted an article or shared an update. I could offer a dozen explanations, but the real one is simpler: I was exhausted by the trajectory of where things seemed to be heading.

I had run out of things worth saying. The momentum felt stalled. After Doriot completed the first-ever VentureStaking® Round — a historic milestone by any measure — there was this strange silence. No clear next chapter. No obvious narrative. Just questions I didn’t yet have answers to.

It was a period of reflection and skill-building — during which I logged more than 500 hours working with AI and building software.

Then, on a Friday morning in mid-January, walkingback from a workout, I opened my inbox.

There it was.

A letter from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

And just like that, 2026 began.

The letter was from the Office of Enforcement.

They were requesting that I voluntarily provide information about our VentureStaking® Round, which closed in August 2025, to evaluate a potential violation of securities laws.

Now, as you can imagine, receiving a letter like that is jarring. Your heart skips for half a second. Your brain runs through every possible scenario in under three.

But then something interesting happened.

I took a deep breath.

And I followed my coach’s advice and said out loud:
“Best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Why?

Because scrutiny creates clarity. And clarity creates momentum.

I picked up the phone and called the SEC officer listed on the letter. We discussed the request, the parameters, and what they were looking for. He was cordial. Professional. Direct. Exactly what you would expect.

And here’s the thing: I have nothing to hide.

Based on existing case law and the structure we built, I am confident we did not offer a security for sale. If the SEC ultimately reaches a different conclusion, it would reflect a novel interpretation of how this structure fits within existing frameworks.

That conviction isn’t bravado. And to be clear, I’m not trying to skirt securities laws or engineer something in the gray to do anything nefarious. Our model is built to operate within — and in many ways depend upon — the SEC framework.

Frankly — and I know this isn’t always the popular view — I believe the SEC has laid a strong foundation for making venture investing accessible to retail investors. The real issue hasn’t been overregulation; it’s been a lack of innovation in capital formation. Ecosystems around the world keep trying to replicate the Silicon Valley model, forcing a square peg into a round hole.

VentureStaking® represents a different capital formation architecture — one designed to address structural inefficiencies that traditional venture models have struggled to solve.

As structured, and based on our analysis of existing case law, we believe it does not constitute a security.

It also helps that I’m a lawyer and spent three years inside a regulatory permitting and enforcement agency. I understand how these processes work. I understand that if there are questions, the only department equipped to fully examine them is Enforcement.

That’s their role.

So about a week later, I sent them everything they requested — and more. Not defensively. Not reluctantly. Proactively. I provided additional information to help them reach a conclusion efficiently and transparently.

If you believe in what you’ve built, transparency isn’t threatening. It’s validating.

As I write this, I don’t know what happens next.

Maybe a Wells Notice.
Maybe nothing.
Maybe more questions.
Maybe a precedent-setting moment.

But here’s what I do know:

This is an invitation.

An invitation to move forward with Doriot at a higher level.
An invitation to stop building quietly and start building boldly.
An invitation to seek the capital required to commercialize VentureStaking® across the globe.

We own the trademark.
We’ve filed the patent.
And today, I’m excited to say we’ve launched our new website and prototype.

You can visit us at www.doriot.com.

For the first time, we are inviting Funds, Angels, and Retail investors to express interest as we conduct a formal “Test the Waters” campaign.

Eight years.

Eight years of building in the soil.
Designing. Structuring. Testing. Refining.
Explaining an idea that didn’t fit neatly into existing boxes.

For a long time, nothing was visible.

And now — I can see the first shoot breaking through the surface.

It reminds me of bamboo. For years, it grows underground, unseen, building its foundation. Then when it finally emerges, it can grow 80–90 feet in a matter of weeks.

People think it grew overnight.

It didn’t.

The roots were forming the entire time.

2026 feels like emergence.

If you’ve followed this journey, thank you.

If you’re curious, come take a look.

And if you believe the venture ecosystem is ready for a new structure — one that aligns incentives differently and expands access globally — this is the moment.

The roots are deep.
The foundation is built.

Now we grow.

— Gerry