12 Best Strategies for Vetting Potential Investors and Venture Capital Firms
Ascertain Their Sophistication
“While VC firms are by definition sophisticated investors, not all angel investors understand the space.”
How to Talk to Investors About Your Competition
3. Portray competitors as exit opportunities.
“While many founders dream of someday ringing the bell at NASDAQ the day of their IPO, most exits are done as private sales. Each competitor in your field, especially the major players, is a potential acquirer of your business.”
9 Incentives to Offer Execs for Joining Your Board of Advisors
5. Future Opportunities
From SBT: “While on day one you may not have a lot of options for incentives for executives to join your board of advisors, they should be sophisticated enough to know that opportunities will arise as your company grows.”
13 Surefire Tips for Attracting Your Ideal Investor
Know Your Risks
From Startups.co: “Sophisticated investors understand that investing in a startup or early-stage company is a risky venture. No investment is a “sure thing,” and while confidence is appreciated, hubris is not.”
16 Entrepreneurial Books Successful CEOs Swear By
Venture Deals
From Small Business Trends: “[‘Venture Deals’] is accessible enough that people who are not attorneys or professional investors can understand the basics of the transactions we focus on, while… [also] a worthwhile read for my attorneys.”
10 ways to use competition to your advantage
Use the association of professionals
From Time: “As fellow professionals, other attorneys are actually one of my best sources of clients and can be great resources for my practice and clientele.“
8 Ways to Prepare for Your Startup’s Next Board Meeting
Prepare Discussion Items Regarding Company Strategy
From ReadWrite.com: “This is your chance to get advice and input from a room full of very experienced individuals who are highly invested in seeing your company succeed.”
Ten ways to use competition to your advantage
Use the association of professionals
From The Chicago Tribune: “As fellow professionals, other attorneys are actually one of my best sources of clients and can be great resources for my practice and clientele.“
7 Things to Consider When Raising Money from Family or Friends
4. Have Objective Third-party Advisors
From Bplans.com: “By having an arms-length negotiation, professionals can protect their client’s interests and even the relationship by acting as the bad guy when necessary.”
10 Things You Should Never Do While Pitching an Investor
6. Not Knowing Your Risks
From Business.com: “Knowing the risks specific to your venture and being upfront with your investors is a strong way to show your understanding of your business and its industry, as well as your honesty and integrity.”
12 Things You Should Do Before Entering a Business Partnership
Do a Background Check
From ReadWrite.com: “To protect your company or investment, do a thorough job diligencing the backgrounds of anyone who will be in a position of power within your company.”
8 Reasons Equity-Based Crowdfunding Isn’t the Answer
5. Legal Expenses
From Business2Community: “A large portion of whatever you raise will immediately go out the door to your professional advisors.”
9 Books to Read Before a Fundraising Round
7. What Every Angel Investor Wants You to Know
From Vergestartups.com: “Written by Brian Cohen, Chairman of the New York Angels, early investor in Pinterest and current cofounder of Launch.It, the book ‘What Every Angel Investor Wants You to Know‘ gives great insight and concrete advice to startup founders on how to find an angel that is a good match for their company”
8 legal documents every startup needs
Assignment of Intellectual Property
From Startup Business Journal: “Every person who works in any manner for the company, including the founders, should execute an agreement assigning all intellectual property they create to the company.”
11 Tips for Avoiding Startup Legal Battles
6. Invest in Liability Insurance
From Small Business Trends: “Although it may not keep you out of court in our litigious society, a general business liability insurance policy may mitigate your exposure when you end up there.”
How to Get a Partnership Deal for Your Business
11. Have a Strong and Clear Deadlock Provision
From Bplans.com: “There must be a strong and clear provision in the contract on what will happen if there is deadlock on a key matter… it is essential that both sides know what happens when they cannot agree on something fundamental.”
Revenge of the Interns: Why More Interns Are Suing Businesses
From Amex: “At its heart, the question is, who is getting the most out of the internship relationship? … If the intern is getting the benefit of the bargain even without being paid, the company is on the right track. But if the company is getting more out of the relationship, the intern needs to be paid to balance the scales.”
12 Ways to Legally Protect Your Brand
4. Create a Distinctive Mark
From Business2Community: “Trademarks in the U.S. are subject to varying degrees of protection based on the distinctiveness of the mark. A generic name will receive less protection than a name that is unique.”
7 Questions to Ask Your Startup Lawyer
4. What Is Your Focus?
From GeekWire: “If you are working in a metropolitan area, the answer to the question, “What’s your focus?” should never be, “I’m a generalist.” In any startup ecosystem, there should be practices (both large and small) that focus on entrepreneurship.”
What’s one way that early-stage entrepreneurs can minimize the risk of employee theft and fraud?
3. Be Careful in Your Hiring
From Yahoo! Small Business Advisor: “The best protection is to avoid the situation in the first place by thoroughly vetting your employees, creating and maintaining a strong oversight regime and putting the kibosh on any undesirable behavior as soon as it is spotted.”
21 Books That Will Change the Way You Sell
“Getting to Yes” by Roger Fisher and William Ury
From Business 2 Community: “First published in 1981, “Getting to Yes” by Roger Fisher and William Ury shows that a good in-person sale is really nothing more than a negotiation in which everyone comes out ahead.”
7 Ways to Cut Costs at the Office
2. Negotiate a Flat Fee
From Under30CEO.com: “Some spaces will tempt you with a low rent and then nickel and dime you on everything. Negotiate a flat fee for electricity, telephone, Internet, conference rooms, copying, faxing, answering services and the myriad of other amenities your landlord provides.”
Drafting Your First Employment Agreement
Decide: Employee or Independent Contractor
From Business on Main: “There is a major difference in the way the law treats employees and independent contractors. Decide which category fits your worker, and then tailor the agreement to that relationship.”
12 Tips for Crowdfunding Your New Business
Understand the Downsides
From Yahoo! Small Business Advisor: “Crowdfunding is not a panacea for first-time entrepreneurs. While it can reduce the regulatory burdens of initial capital raising, it comes with downsides.”
12 of the Hardest Questions Venture Capitalists Will Ask You
Debt or Equity?
From AlleyWatch: “Many investors will know going into a deal whether they want preferred stock or a convertible note. Sometimes, however, they will leave it up to the company.”
How Do You Identify Speaking Gigs That Boost Your Brand?
1. Look at Who the Event Targets
From B2C: “Look at who the event is advertising itself to. Are these your customers, colleagues or thought leaders?”
13 Ways to Stay Productive on Your Darkest Days
4. Take a Step Back
From LifeHack: “Remember why (and for whom) you are working so hard, take that deep breath and attack that next challenge.”
8 Things to Include in A Startup Confidentiality Agreement.
3. Have a Set Termination Date
From KillerStartups.com: “[I]t is important to have a set termination date and clear provisions regarding what the party’s rights and responsibilities are once the agreement has terminated. A gray area here is bad news all around.”
6 Legal Requirements For Unpaid Internship Programs
From Forbes: “[T]here are some very serious legal considerations every for-profit company – including startups – must be aware of before attempting to use unpaid interns.”
13 Surprising Startup Challenges
There’s too many options
From FreeEnterprise.com: ““Leaving the large law firm to go out on my own, I was inundated with possible revenue streams to chase and spread myself too thin. However, once I picked a few narrow customer bases and focused my marketing efforts, I really started getting traction.”
11 Ideas for Financing Your New Company
10. Incubators and Accelerators
From KillerStartups: “[T]he access they provide to industry experts, startup attorneys and venture capitalists greatly improve the chance of your startup becoming a success.”
7 Things to Consider Before Selling Your Company
5. Practice Due Diligence
From ReadWrite.com: “[P]eople looking to sell should practice due diligence on their own companies before handing things over to a prospective acquirer.”
7. A Team Orientation
From Monsterthinking.com: “Know that every project is a reflection of you and your team. To create the best product, learn your team’s strengths and weaknesses.”
In Business, You Need to Adapt and Overcome
There are too many options
From Upstart Business Journal: “[O]nce I picked a few narrow customer bases and focused my marketing efforts, I really started getting traction.”
16 Values All Startup Employees Should Share
11. Integrity
From KillerStartups: “There is nothing that will sink a startup faster than a founder abusing the trust put in him by his co-founders, employees and investors.”
14 Tips for Keeping Your Brand Name Intact When a Reporter Calls
13. Understand What They’re After (It’s Not You)
From Yahoo!: “A reporter is not interviewing you to catch you in a ‘gotcha’ moment — he wants to write a story about a topic on which you have expertise that his readership will find interesting.”
13 Ideas to Make Classrooms More Entrepreneurial
2. Programming
From UpMarket: “Every startup needs someone who can fulfill its technological requirements, and there simply are not enough good programmers to fill this demand.”
How To Get the Most Out of a Startup Accelerator
8. Do Your Due Diligence
From ReadWriteWeb: “Not all accelerators are created equal. . . Some are worth their weight in gold, while others are just looking to churn and burn their clients.”
How to Finance Your Startup Without Loans
10. Incubators and Accelerators
From Fox: “Not only do they provide you with the capital to get your idea off and running, but the access they provide to industry experts, startup attorneys and venture capitalists greatly improve the chance of your startup becoming a success.”
The Perils of Legal Self-Help Websites For Entrepreneurs
From Forbes: “[T]too many people are finding out the hard way that a legal self-help website ‘is not a law firm and is not a substitute for an attorney’…”
How Do I Make the Transition to Online Retail?
How Far Will You Go?
From MSN: “Engaging in buiness with people in distant lands means exposing yourself to the regulatory regimes of those faraway places. . .”
15 Unique and Inexpensive Ideas to Promote Your First Product
Industry Publications
From Under30CEO: “While a new product may not warrant a spot in a national daily, there is publication somewhere that targets your core customer base. And that publication wants to talk about you, for free, to the people who are most likely to become the first movers on your product”
8 Real-Life Ways to Measure Startup Success.
6. Clients.
From ReadWriteWeb: “While revenue, profit and deal flow are easy metrics to “measure success,” as a service provider, the number of satisfied clients is the ultimate indicator of how my company is performing.”
Ask the Entrepreneurs: 11 Tools to Easily Manage Business Finances
6. Microsoft Excel is Still Relevant!
From Lifehack: “It is the industry standard for spreadsheets for a reason. With a little training, you can run circles around any closed source software.”
This Means War: 24 Small Business Attorneys Share How to Deal with a Business Breakup
21. Agree on the ground rules beforehand.
From YFS Magazine: “Agree to the steps that will be taken and the format of the dissolution long before things get acrimonious…”
Debt vs. equity: Which is right for your startup?
Be thankful you have a choice.
From VentureBeat: “At the end of the day, when you need money for that next big step and you have found someone willing to fund you, your say in the matter is rather limited. Remember the golden rule for startups — he who has the gold often makes the rules.”
4 Unintended Consequences of the JOBS Act for the Startup Community
From Forbes: “Last month, President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act into law… While [the JOBS Act’s] goals are laudable, the possibility of some negative outcomes may actually cause startups harm.”
Ask the Entrepreneurs: 15 Signs You’re Working Too Much and Burning Out
14. Didn’t I Go to Work Already?
From Lifehack: “If you are ‘at the office’ even when you are at home asleep, it is time to take a breather.”
11 Major Public Relations Mistakes (and How to Learn From Them)
10. Know Your Grammar Rules!
From TheNextWeb.com: “If people are analyzing your word usage, they are not thinking about your message. Nobody is immune; when Steve Jobs once called an iPod the “funnest” ever, the following buzz was not on the features of the new product, but on the correct usage of “fun” in the English language.”
Choosing Your Legal Status: What Kind of Business Are You?
… But an LLC isn’t just for big companies with multiple subsidiaries, either. “Whether you are a giant or one person, you still want to protect your personal assets,” advises Peter Minton, president of Minton Law Group, P.C. …