May 2013
1 post
Launching Funding Community
This is just a quick post about some big news!
Last week we launched Funding Community to the world. This had to be one of the most nerve wracking moments of my life. I knew we were ready to go, but there were so many “what ifs”! We launched Wednesday with only a few minor glitches and a lot of great feedback! The reason I am so excited about Funding Community is that I really think...
April 2013
1 post
Grant your stock options - Seriously, grant them...
I have this pet peeve that’s come up half a dozen times in the last year. As most readers of this blog know I don’t really practice these days (I still have my license so can do work from time to time, but don’t practice regularly), but I end up giving a lot of “free” advice (usually for a cup of coffee).
The issue that keeps coming up is the timing of stock option...
January 2013
1 post
How I Learned to Stop Eating and Love the Fight
This post came about from a conversation I had with Jake Sattelmair, a former teammate and founder of Wellframe. You can find his version at jacobsattelmair.com.
8 tall skinny men stand near me. No one is talking. We haven’t eaten in the last 24 hours. No one has had more than a sip or two of water since we woke up this morning. One by one we step on a scale and an official calls out our...
August 2012
2 posts
SEC Acts on Title II of the JOBS Act
The SEC took a big step yesterday. Using the mandate set forth in the JOBS Act, for the first time since the promulgation of Rule 506, the SEC has taken a step towards allowing Rule 506 offerings that are conducted through a general solicitation. The SEC proposed an amendment to Rule 506 that would add a section 506(c) as follows:
“(c) Conditions to be met in offerings using general solicitation...
Rule 506 General Solicitation Prohibition Removal...
This post is being cross-posted to FundedCommunity.
In all the brouhaha about the Crowdfunding exemption of the JOBS Act I think we often forget about one provision that is nearly as revolutionary: the removal of the general solicitation prohibition from Rule 506 of Reg D.
Let’s start with what Rule 506 is. First things first, in order to issue securities, those securities either need to be...
July 2012
3 posts
Should Lawyers Take Equity in Startup Clients?
Here’s a situation I’ve seen over and over again: A prospective client walks into the office and tells me about her business. She spent months planning and developing, she quit her day job and is working full time on developing the best product she can. Finally, she is “ready” to talk to a lawyer, so we meet and discuss what she is working on and how I can help.
Then...
What to expect when you're expecting... a...
I had a conversation yesterday with someone raising money for the first time and it reminded me about the black box that is the financing process. He understood “go talk to people and raise interest”, but he was not really sure about the next steps from a practical perspective. This is someone working on an angel round (so no big VC is going to lead by drafting a term sheet) that...
Crowdfunding: What You Need to Know About the JOBS...
As many of you know, on April 5, 2012 President Obama signed the JOBS Act (“Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act”). Because startups are so freakin’ trendy right now and the media is making a huge deal of this Act I thought I’d get out some thoughts.
First, the basics:
What is Crowdfunding?
Basically, crowdfunding is funding a project or company through many (usually small) payments by a large...
June 2012
3 posts
You Are Not a Millionaire
So you own 40% of your startup and just raised $1 million at a $4 million pre-money valuation. This means you’re a millionaire, right?! Time to break out the Dom and buy a house in Aspen!
Hold your horses and let’s do a little math. Sorry to break it to you, but you’re probably not a millionaire…
This post comes from a discussion we were having on the twistlist...
On Living in the Startup Ecosystem
I looked in the mirror today and noticed something that made me very proud.
Let me back up. A couple years ago, when I was deep in the midst of lawyering, the partner I was working with placed her order for Birchbox. We’d been pushing to really build our startup practice in NYC (after having mostly acted in service to the firm’s startup companies from other regions) and were...
Working With Lawyers Part 1: How to find a startup...
Working with lawyers is a huge pain in the ass. They’re expensive, you never know exactly what they’re doing with all that time they’re billing you for and you never know exactly when they’re going to get back to you. In some ways working with lawyers is like outsourcing your work to a foreign country - you don’t know the language or the customs, yet you are...
May 2012
3 posts
I Would Like to Congratulate Facebook on an...
There has been a lot written about how the Facebook IPO was a huge flop because the stock price did not “pop” the day of the IPO, and in fact it went down (and is still dropping). Far from being the sign of a flop, I think this is actually the sign of a great IPO.
A company’s IPO generally serves two purposes, first and foremost it is designed to raise money for the company....
Both Sides of the Billable Hour
Mark Suster writes a great blog called Both Sides of the Table about being an entrepreneur then a VC. When I first used a law firm for my own startup I got to thinking about the similarities between going from entrepreneur to VC and lawyer to entrepreneur. Besides moving up the foodchain from very uncool —> cooler —> super cool (admittedly I started a little further down that...
"How does it feel to not have a paycheck anymore?"
I think this is the most common question I received for the first few weeks after quitting my law firm job to run FitPack. It makes sense, but truthfully it was kind of an odd one. To me it didn’t feel any different… because I hadn’t actually missed a paycheck yet.
I used to get paid on the 25th of every month, so until last week I was living just like I always had (albeit...
April 2012
1 post
"We need fewer lawyers and more startups..."
These great words of wisdom came from a client of mine back in January. He and I were chatting about something for his company and then the conversation turned towards my side project:
Client: “So when are you quitting your job.”
Me: [Thinks “This is awkward.” Says:] “Haha I don’t know…”
Client: “We need fewer lawyers and more startups.
So...
