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Do You Have The Rights? How to Maintain Investor Confidence When Using Third-Party Intellectual Property
Imagine the following scenario: You, as the founder of a business, have spent the past three years building your company. You have been bootstrapping until now, but the company is at a crossroads and in order to grow the company to its full potential, you have decided to turn to venture capital to attract additional funding. Because yours is a younger company, and therefore a riskier investment, your potential investors have decided to conduct thorough due diligence to allay some of their concerns. You suddenly think about the third parties whose intellectual property your company uses in its regular operation – you paid for access to that intellectual property so you are free to use it however and whenever you want, right?
MintzEdge 101: How Passion Can Make Your Business Successful – George Daou (Daou Winery)
In this podcast, Georges Daou, founder of a number of successful technology companies and of the Daou Winery, explains why entrepreneurs need to develop and convey to investors the passion they have for their businesses in order to succeed.
MintzEdge 101: Optimizing The Sale Of Your Company - John Rotchford (SASI)
John Rotchford, founder of SASI, a boutique investment banking firm, discusses how to prepare your company for sale, how buyers will value your business, and how to achieve a favorable and timely outcome.
What to Do Now if You Want to Sell Your Company
The global M&A market has remained strong from the end of 2017 into 2018. With stockholders pressuring larger companies to grow their revenues and the strong liquidity position of many companies, it is a sellers’ market. For companies looking to sell and participate in the global M&A market of $3.7 trillion in 2017[1] and $890.7 billion in Q1 2018[2], the toughest question is often how to start.
Investor Returns - Investors Look For More Than Just Great Technology
The most common topic entrepreneurs fails to tell an investor, and it is the one thing investors want to hear.
Investor Question - Do You Want to be CEO? Or Rich?
By Jeremy Glaser
Jeremy Glaser's #1 piece of advice. It is so simple, and yet so many people totally miss the mark.
No Action Letter On Behalf Of Citizen VC
By Dan DeWolf and Samuel Effron
The SEC has finally provided clarity as to how an issuer of securities can conduct a private placement in a password protected web page under Rule 506(b), without it being deemed a “general solicitation” and thereby being subject to the additional requirements imposed by the new Rule 506(c). The guidance has been provided by the issuance of the Citizen VC No Action Letter (the “CVC Letter”), which request was authored by Mintz Levin.
A Balanced Approach to Founder's Equity
By Dan DeWolf and Samuel Effron
The most successful start-up ventures are companies where the economic interests of the various stakeholders are sufficiently aligned. If an enterprise can find the right balance among the competing interests of the founders, investors, management, and directors, it has a far greater chance of succeeding. If the right balance is not reached, there will be too much time spent on in-fighting instead of being laser focused on accelerating the growth of the enterprise.
What is a Term Sheet?
By Dan DeWolf
When a venture capital firm is interested in a company it will meet with the management team numerous times to understand fully the business model and to learn more about the management. At some point in the process, the venture capital firm will decide that the investment is worth pursuing and will present a Term Sheet to the company. The Term Sheet (which is a nonbinding letter of intent) sets forth the basic terms and premises upon which the venture capital firm would be willing to invest.
Negotiating Your Company's Valuation
What is my company worth? What should I tell the investors my valuation is for the next round of financing? I get these questions from entrepreneurs all of the time. The easy answer is that your valuation is what the market says it is and don’t tell investors anything!
What Makes a Good Business Plan?
By Dan DeWolf
The way most businesses are initially funded is by the three Fs. That is, by "friends, family, and fools." After all, who else would provide the initial seed capital to start a new enterprise? But self-funding (or relying on friends and families) will only take you so far in building out your new business.
Your Executive Summary is the Key to Attracting the Attention of Investors
You have raised your friends and family/angel round, built out the beta of your product and have a few early paying customers. Now it is time to raise the money you need to grow from institutional investors. How do you get their attention when so many companies are in the same boat as you? Your executive summary – a one to two page teaser – is the crucial document you need to stand out among the noise and get noticed.
Why Does a Company Issue Stock Options?
By Dan DeWolf
One of the critical keys to a successful venture is aligning the interests of the employees and management with the interests of the shareholders/investors. After all, perhaps the greatest asset of a company is its people. Without a competent and motivated workforce, a venture is unlikely to succeed no matter how great an idea or business concept is involved.
Don’t Make These Ten Mistakes When Selling Your Business
Over my three decades of practicing corporate law, I have helped hundreds of founders sell their businesses. In the process of helping them achieve a successful transaction, I have noted ten common mistakes that can cost the founders money by way of a lower sale price or higher expenses and that can delay or prevent the successful closing of the sale transaction. If you want to maximize your chances of closing your transaction on time and on the best possible terms, avoid making these common mistakes
Benefits of a Regulation A+ Offering
Enacted in June 2015, Regulation A+ allows private companies in Canada and the United States to raise money through general solicitation. Pamela Greene, a Member of Mintz Levin's Corporate & Securities Practice, explains the benefits of a Reg A+ offering over an IPO.
Peeling the Onion, or How Top Investors Value the Startups They Invest In
By Keyvan Firouzi of Gust.com
Early-stage technology company valuations are generally a crap-shoot. Bill Payne did a great post about this in October 2011. This post builds on top of his work, and attempts to shed additional light on the valuation process.
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