
Entrepreneurs looking to the crowd to finance their big ideas just got a little extra help from the government. On Monday, federal legislation goes into effect to allow “emerging growth” companies — essentially, small start-ups — to ask for equity investments publicly, such as through social media sites or elsewhere on the Internet, without having to register the shares for public trading. Business owners will now be able to raise up to $1 million a year this way. The legislation is part of the 2012 “Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups Act,” or JOBS Act, meant to encourage…