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“Ask the Attorney” – Selling a Venture
by Scott Edward Walker on May 12th, 2010Introduction
This post is part of my “Ask the Attorney” series which I am writing for VentureBeat (one of the most popular websites for entrepreneurs). As the VentureBeat Editor notes on the site: “Ask the Attorney is a new VentureBeat feature allowing start-up owners to get answers to their legal questions.” Below is a longer, more-comprehensive version of the VentureBeat post, which provides seven tips to entrepreneurs contemplating selling their venture.
Angel Financings: Legal Tips For Entrepreneurs – Part 1
by Scott Edward Walker on December 2nd, 2009Introduction
I am currently working with several smart, young entrepreneurs who are trying to raise capital from “angels” (i.e., wealthy individuals who invest in startups). Indeed, since I moved to Los Angeles from New York City in 2005, I have been involved in a number of angel financings; and what’s interesting from my perspective as a corporate attorney is that the deals run the gamut from an angel handing a check to an entrepreneur and instructing him to “send the paperwork when it’s ready” — to an angel retaining a large, aggressive law firm and insisting on shares of preferred stock, with all the “bells and whistles.” Below are five tips for entrepreneurs to help them through the angel financing process. (This is part one of a two-part series; I will provide five additional tips in my next post.) (more…)
Buying A Business: Ten Tips For Entrepreneurs
by Scott Edward Walker on October 6th, 2009As I have previously noted, I was a corporate attorney for nearly eight years at two major law firms in New York City, and the majority of my work there was spent negotiating and documenting large mergers and acquisitions for multinational corporations, financial institutions and private equity firms. When I moved here to California in 2005 and started focusing on representing entrepreneurs (which meant predominately middle-market M&A transactions), I was surprised to see how unsophisticated a lot of the players are; in short, it’s a different environment than New York. Nevertheless, I love helping entrepreneurs, and I am trying to provide to them (via these blog posts) some legal tips and lessons I learned at the big firms in New York City. Below are ten tips for entrepreneurs and founders who are contemplating acquiring a private company. (more…)
Five Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make in Dealmaking – Part I
by Scott Edward Walker on September 29th, 2009I’ve been doing deals as a corporate attorney for over 15 years, including nearly eight years in the trenches at two major law firms in New York City; and during that period, I have seen certain mistakes made by entrepreneurs (and inexperienced deal guys) over and over again. The purpose of this post (which is part I of a series) is to discuss the following five basic mistakes made by entrepreneurs in connection with corporate transactions: (1) the failure to diligence the guys on the other side of the table; (2) the failure to build a strong transaction team; (3) the failure to run the negotiations through the lawyers; (4) the failure to check their emotions and to remain disciplined; and (5) blinking first. The video version of this post is set forth immediately below.