Instead of the meetup at our normal time, in September, Legal Issues for Startups and Entrepreneurs will be hosting an event this year at Denver Startup Week. On Thursday, September 19th, at the offices of Polsinelli, PC, at 1515 Wynkoop, Suite 600 in LoDo, at 9 am, there will be a presentation and panel on … Read More
A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a meetup at Galvanize with a number of other attorneys (signup info for the meetup can be found here). The subject of the meetup was legal issues for crowdfunding and fundraising. We provided background on the new SEC rules for crowdfunding and discussed the ways in which we … Read More
Creating an LLC is easy. In Colorado, with a computer, an Internet connection, and $50, you can set up your business in about ten minutes. The only information you need to provide are the name and address of the registered agent, the principal place of business, and information about the person filing the articles of … Read More
Frequently, clients ask me what kind of documents they’ll need when they’re forming an LLC. The simple answer is that it depends on what type of company the LLC is going to be. There’s a misconception that forming an LLC is tantamount to acknowledging that your company is always going to be small. That’s rubbish. … Read More
With the proliferation of legal documents available online, more startups have begun putting together their own legal work. For a simple entity, this might not be a problem, but if you’re trying to do something more complicated, you may run into trouble. As one example, many startup founders have learned about the importance of vesting … Read More
“Only describe, don’t explain.” ― Ludwig Wittgenstein According to Merriam-Webster, a startup is a fledgling company. According to Wikipedia, it’s a partnership or temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, you spell start-up with a hyphen. But most people who work in the … Read More
(Updated June 14, 2017) If you’re in the startup world, you may be at least vaguely aware that most hugely successful startups are Delaware corporations. Indeed, there are many smart people who say this is the only right answer to the question, “What type of entity should I form for my startup?” I don’t think this is true, however. There … Read More
Six months ago you hired an employee. He shows up to work late more often than not. He’s always calling in sick, but never provides a medical explanation. When he is at work, he seems more devoted to updating his Facebook page than improving your company’s bottom line. He looked good on paper when you … Read More
One of the first questions that a startup faces when it begins to look outside the organization to fund itself, is what type of financing to seek. There are some who will argue that one type of financing is inherently superior to the other for startups. But to me that’s kind of like saying that … Read More
Well-run businesses have processes that work. Those who run the company have put thought into the processes. They’ve studied them, documented them, and formalized them. They leave no doubt about who made each decision and when. They leave a trail of evidence that supports the reasonableness of each decision and the methods that the company … Read More
