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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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Nuts & Bolts of Intellectual Property for New Startups

Gust

Having covered all the bases to ensure that your corporate name is available, the domain name can be acquired, and the name doesn’t infringe any existing trademarks (as we discussed last week ), now is a good time to look at the categories of intellectual property (IP) that are relevant to most startups. Intellectual property.

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Some Career Advice for Aspiring Tech CEOs

Both Sides of the Table

For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” He or she has worked at some very successful big technology or media companies and went to a great school.

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Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not?

Both Sides of the Table

Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. If you spent the 3 years perfecting some hugely differentiated technology IP that may also be different. I always remind this to journalists who ask me about public stocks. Revenue is Not Revenue is Not Revenue.

Startup 418
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Revisiting Paul Graham’s “High Resolution” Financing

Both Sides of the Table

These days there are many lawyers that will do equity deals cheaply as long is it is a standardized, simplified term sheet, early stage, no serious investor / management debates, limited IP / customers / due diligence and as long as they perceive you as a “hot&# company that’s likely to need legal services for many years ahead. (if

Finance 286
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How to Scale a Venture Capital (or Private Equity) Fund

David Teten

The firm attracts deal flow by promising a decision (positive or negative) in under 2 weeks, with minimal paperwork and without repeating due diligence. Typically they get cofounder common equity, in addition to the preferred stock that a conventional VC gets. – Provide hands-on operational support for portfolio companies.

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Do It Right The First Time: Avoiding “Janitorial” Legal Work

Gust

When meeting with early stage entrepreneurs for the first time, after reviewing a demo or hearing their pitch, I often ask them to articulate what they’re most focused on building. In Part II, we’ll get into certificates of incorporation, stock purchase agreements, IP assignments and related matters. What is a startup really?

IP 114