A Right of First Refusal provision provides a startup with the right to step in place of a prospective 3rd party purchaser when a current stockholder desires to sell their stock. That is, the startup has the right to purchase and redeem any of its stock prior to such stock being
Convertible notes are a very common startup financing method. Convertible notes contain a maturity date provision at which point the notes are to be repaid with interest. This is usually set at 18-24 months after the first convertible note investment. However, repayment of the notes upon the maturity date is usually
A startup founder’s desire to hold equity better than plain-vanilla common stock isn’t new. Several years ago, Series FF stock for founders was all the rage when it came to founder liquidity at subsequent financing rounds. We implemented Series FF for a handful of clients back then but we haven’t done so recently. In the
Accelerators can certainly help a startup reach new levels. But when the relationship between the startup’s co-founders is already on shaky ground upon entrance, the only thing the accelerator (by no fault of their own) accelerates is the co-founder divorce and possibly death of the startup. The Problem In a
About two years ago I wrote “Safe and Sound? A Primer on the New YC Docs” for LaunchDFW regarding the Y-Combinator SAFE docs and their application to the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) startup community. My conclusion was that SAFE docs were likely too startup favorable to take off in the DFW
If you’ve been to accelerator pitch days, you’ve likely seen a presentation that either flat out mentions the specifics of a financing round in progress or the details of a proposed financing. In the last couple years, however, some accelerators have been concerned that their demo days constitute, for their portfolio
I am happy to present an upgraded StartupLawyer.com! While just a soft launch, we added a left-side navigation bar with the intent of making content more accessible. Early reviews have been positive: About a year ago we released a Glossary. Now with a custom plugin, we have integrated those defined terms into applicable blog posts. If a glossary
There has been a lot of talk lately that Dallas is a great environment for tech startups because of (1) the very low cost of living (especially in comparison to the California or New York) and corresponding high quality of life and (2) the very high number of tech jobs.
I recently wrote a commentary piece for the Dallas Business Journal regarding equity crowdfunding titled: “Here’s Why Crowdfunding Should Be Your Last Resort” I thought some of my readers would enjoy it. Some of the main take-homes from the article are: (1) It may not provide the boon of capital some predict
It’s that time of year again when a good portion of the startup world flocks to Austin Texas for SXSWi. This year, I’ll be involved with two events: Dallas Drops the Mic — March 14th 6pm-8pm The official blurb about this event is: “Join the Dallas Startup Community in a truly
