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Dear Founders: Here Are Three IP Mistakes to Watch-Out For

Scott Edward Walker

Over the past six months, my firm has been engaged by a number of startups with significant intellectual property (“IP”) problems. In a couple of cases, the founders played lawyer on their own; in the other cases, the founders either used (i) a Web service that did not address IP issues or (ii) an inexperienced law firm.

IP 52
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Revisiting Paul Graham’s “High Resolution” Financing

Both Sides of the Table

When I first read Paul Graham’s blog post on “High Resolution&# Financing I read it as a treatise arguing that convertible notes are better than equity. “A startup could also give better deals to investors they expected to help them most&# – That is a quote from Paul on the “high resolution financing&# post.

Finance 286
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Startups and IP Ownership Issues

Scott Edward Walker

For many startups, intellectual property (IP) is their most valuable asset. Below are the three most common IP-related mistakes that startups make — the first of which I discuss in this brief video with Jason Calacanis. Mistake #2 – Not Assigning to the Company Any IP Created Pre-Incorporation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqL3Xm5iUCY

IP 40
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Series Seed Financing Documents

www.seriesseed.com

Series Seed Financing Documents Blog. Series Seed Financing Documents. Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Series Seed Financing Documents : 1 Reblog. Locks in rights, preferences and priviledges of the stock. This is all built into a typical founder stock purchase agreement. SeriesSeed.com.

Finance 40
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Some Career Advice for Aspiring Tech CEOs

Both Sides of the Table

Equally, it could be that as a mid-level employee you prefer to see the company try to get to a $1 billion exit where you could make substantial money but the CEO sells early because she is sitting on 10x the equity as you and can earn well on a $50 million exit. There is often money to be made in finding places with under-valued IP.

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How Great, Operationally-Focused CFO’s Can Transform Your Business

Both Sides of the Table

A great finance leader is on top of your numbers with such precision that you don’t have to worry about it. But a great finance leader isn’t just budgeting but he or she is an consummate planning and they won’t take s**t from you about why you need to avoid hiring more staff until you close new contracts or raise money.

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Bad Notes on Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs. In finance they call it “terminal value” but the truth is the price is as arbitrary at your A round as it is at your seed round. Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? There were no metrics.