Except the JOBS Act would only let granny and gramps invest $2000/year in startups. Folks making over $100k/year can invest 10% of that. [1]

I'm still not sure it's a good deal for the classical web startup, but it seems like it has reasonable protections to keep less sophisticated investors from losing their shirts.

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2012/06/06/what-you-ne...