I thought I would expand upon and update my “If I Launched a Startup” post from 2010 to include recent issues such as incubators and crowdfunding. So in 2014, here’s what I’d do in the beginning: Incorporation (1) When: As soon as I was serious about making my startup a
I typically advise issuing 50% to 80% of the authorized shares of Common Stock to the initial founders upon incorporation. Thus, if the certificate of incorporation authorizes 10,000,000 shares of Common Stock, an aggregate of 5,000,000 to 8,000,000 share should be issued at incorporation. If the startup plans to bring
By the time a startup compensates an advisor with incentive equity, it is best practice for startups to also have a written agreement typically called an “Advisor Agreement” or “Advisor Letter” in place to protect the startup. The Advisor Agreement also has the side benefit of managing expectations on both sides.
One asset that startups should consider taking advantage of is advisors. Luckily for startups, advisors are prevalent and can be readily found through incubators, networking and/or personal contacts. The best advisors are in it to pay it forward or give back to the startup community. If you want to take
On January 22, 2014, my law firm is putting on a seminar on the topic of Convertible Notes. I will be the presenter and will discuss topics such as the pros and cons of a convertible debt round to specific terms and structural tactics. The seminar is free for entrepreneurs
When your startup goes through due diligence for an investment round or an exit, investor’s or buyer’s legal counsel will typically send a laundry list of document requests. These documents range from the startup’s bylaws to stock option agreements to third party contracts to prior financing documents. Quite often, these
There will never be a single standard set of financing documents, whether for seed or venture capital rounds. And interestingly, the variance in documents increases as the deals get smaller. The closest to a standard set is the NVCA forms, but those are for larger Series A/B/C type rounds. Regardless, it
I wrote an article for LaunchDFW titled “SAFE and SOUND? A Primer on the new YC Docs“. It’s somewhat geared towards the Dallas Fort Worth startup scene, but I believe it’s probably relevant for most of the country/world.
There are a ton of positives that mentors provide startups, as no one person innately has the skill set and/or experience to run a successful company. But if there is an incubator bubble, does that beget a mentor bubble? Mentors at incubators should be in it strictly to pay it
If you are going to be in the Dallas area on December 13, my firm is putting on a seminar for startups titled “IP 101 for the Entrepreneur – the basics of IP and debunking common misconceptions“. David Foster, a patent lawyer, will be presenting along with Anna Benefiel, a
