Startup Lawyer

Tag: startup

  • Filing a Charter Is Not a Startup Incorporation

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    Ryan Roberts
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    I’ve noticed a lot of recent articles promoting that a startup can “skip the lawyer” and incorporate via an online service. These sites typically list about 20 incorporation tasks they’ll do for your startup for around $250 plus the applicable state filing fees. Sounds like a great deal, but there is more to a proper…

  • Angels Asking For Control

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    Ryan Roberts
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    Occassionally, a startup will get a term sheet from an angel with a pre-money valuation less than the investment amount (i.e., the angel wants control of the startup). And “control” isn’t just defined as a majority of the shares of the company — if the angel asks for approval of all budgets & hires or…

  • Series A Startup CEO Salary

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    Ryan Roberts
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    A startup’s Series A financing shouldn’t be a large liquidity event or salary payday for the startup’s founders. While a startup typically receives millions of dollars in a Series A, if too much of that $$$ flows guaranteed to the founders, various incentives get out of whack. Not all startup founders understand this tenet. Case…

  • Dallas Startup Happy Hour @ CoHabitat

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    Ryan Roberts
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    CoHabitat will be the host of the May 2010 Dallas Startup Happy Hour. The Dallas Startup Happy Hour is the talk of the startup community in Dallas. Check out the coverage in the Dallas Morning News here: http://bit.ly/aKTJDq As a result of the events, several startups have found a) employees, b) co-founders, c) angel investors…

  • The When to Incorporate Decision-Matrix

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    Ryan Roberts
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    In a recent post, I detailed some incorporation-related points of interest if I launched my own startup. The post presumed I made the decision to push forward with the incorporation of my startup. But how do you know when the time is right to incorporate your startup? Advice Varies There’s a wide range of counsel…

  • If I Launched a Startup

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    Ryan Roberts
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    Here’s what I’d do in the beginning: Incorporation (1) Entity Choice: Corporation or Corporation (2) State of Incorporation: Delaware (3) Authorized Shares in Charter: 10,000,000 Shares (4) Type of Shares: Common Stock (5) Par Value of Common: $0.0001 (6) Initial Founders Issuance: 8,000,000 Shares (7) Founders Equity Split: Depends on the Team, But Quickly and…

  • Model Seed Funding Doc Myths

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    Ryan Roberts
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    A variety of model startup seed funding docs have been released in the past year or so: TechStars Series AA Preferred, YCombinator Series AA Preferred, and TheFunded Founder Institute’s Plain Preferred. And as I mentioned last week, Fenwick & West and Andreessen Horowitz released the Series Seed model documents. The standardized seed funding document movement…

  • It Is Not Your Baby Anymore

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    Ryan Roberts
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    Many entrepreneurs treat their startup like their baby. And rightfully so. The entrepreneur has likely shed blood, sweat, tears, and some cash on the startup, therefore the entrepreneur wants to keep the startup in its grasp and control at all times. But once you issue equity in exchange for services or investment, your startup isn’t…

  • Busy Time in Dallas

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    Ryan Roberts
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    The next week is going to be extremely busy in Dallas for startups. Here’s the roster of events next week courtesy LaunchDFW: Monday March 1st – Dallas Startup Happy Hour The first Monday means Startup Happy Hour. The Dallas Startup Happy Hour is the talk of the startup community in Dallas. Check out the coverage…

  • Ignite Dallas Coming March 3rd

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    Ryan Roberts
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    Ignite Dallas is hosting its first event on March 3rd at the Granada Theater. What is Ignite Dallas? Five minutes, 20 slides. What would you say? At Ignite Dallas, 16 artists, technologists, thinkers, and personalities will take the stage to answer this challenge. Submissions are now open for speakers. If you want speak, fill out…