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Walker Twitter Highlights: March 10th – 24th
by Scott Edward Walker on March 25th, 2013I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues. Below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) for the past two weeks and a couple of blog-related tweets. If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here. Cheers, Scott
Convertible Note Seed Financings: Founders Beware!
by Scott Edward Walker on May 15th, 2012
This post is the third part of a three-part primer on convertible note seed financings. Part 1, entitled “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Convertible Note Seed Financings (But Were Afraid To Ask),” addressed the basics. Part 2, entitled “Convertible Note Seed Financings: Econ 101 for Founders,” addressed the economics. This part will address certain tricky issues.
[This post was originally published on TechCrunch.]
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Convertible Note Seed Financings (But Were Afraid To Ask) – Part 1
by Scott Edward Walker on April 9th, 2012
Introduction
We are in the golden age of seed financing. Venture capital funds, seed funds, super angels, angel groups, incubators, and “friends and family” are all playing the seed financing game and investing early in startups in an attempt to land the next Facebook.
As a result, the pendulum has swung dramatically in the founders’ favor, and the issuance of convertible notes for seed financing has never been more prolific. Indeed, as a corporate lawyer for 18+ years, I have seen this development first-hand.
Walker Twitter Highlights: March 26th – April 1st
by Scott Edward Walker on April 2nd, 2012I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues. Below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) for the past week and a couple of blog-related tweets. If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here. Cheers, Scott
Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Joe Gebbia
by Scott Edward Walker on October 14th, 2011To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present Joe Gebbia, the Co-Founder of AirBnB.
In this very interesting 20-minute video, Joe discusses the history of AirBnB and how it was created and scaled; it’s an amazing, inspirational story. You should also check out this extraordinary email exchange between Paul Graham (the Co-Founder of Y Combinator) and uber-VC Fred Wilson with respect to a possible investment in AirBnB. Many thanks, Scott
Walker Twitter Highlights: June 27th – July 3rd
by Scott Edward Walker on July 5th, 2011I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues. If you missed this past week’s Twitter updates, below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) and my blog-related tweets. If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here. Cheers, Scott
Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Paul Graham (via Charlie Rose)
by Scott Edward Walker on May 24th, 2011To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed. This week, we again present startup guru Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator and a brilliant entrepreneur and investor.
Walker Twitter Highlights: April 4th – 17th
by Scott Edward Walker on April 18th, 2011I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues. If you missed the past two weeks’ Twitter updates, below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) and my blog-related tweets. If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here. Thanks, Scott
VC Term Sheets – Board Control
by Scott Edward Walker on March 24th, 2011Introduction
This post originally appeared as part of the “Ask the Attorney” column I am writing for VentureBeat. Below is a longer, more comprehensive version, which is part of my ongoing series on venture capital term sheets. Here are the issues I have addressed to date:
- common mistakes dealing with VC’s
- valuation
- liquidation preferences
- stock options
- exploding term sheets and no-shop provisions
- anti-dilution provisions
- dividends
Today’s post relates to the composition of the Board of Directors and specifically addresses the issue of who should control the Board following a Series A financing.
Walker Twitter Highlights: January 30th – February 5th
by Scott Edward Walker on February 6th, 2011I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles, Quora answers and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues. If you missed this week’s Twitter updates, below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) and my blog-related tweets. If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here. Thanks, Scott
What Makes a Great Entrepreneur?
by Scott Edward Walker on January 19th, 2011Introduction
I’ve worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs over my 17+ years of practicing law, and clients and friends ask me all the time: “What makes a great entrepreneur? Why do some entrepreneurs make it and others fail? Hey Scott, what’s the secret sauce to being a successful entrepreneur?”
Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Mark Zuckerberg
by Scott Edward Walker on October 25th, 2010To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
This week, we again present Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook and a brilliant entrepreneur. We previously shared a clip from Mark’s presentation at Stanford University (via Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner) in which he discussed building and managing his Facebook team.
In this interesting three-minute clip (from Y Combinator’s recent Startup School), Mark discusses (i) Facebook’s acquisition strategy, (ii) the importance of hiring “the best” people and (iii) creating and maintaining an entrepreneurial culture. I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks, Scott
How Do I Raise Seed Capital If I Don’t Know Any Investors? – Part 2
by Scott Edward Walker on October 20th, 2010Introduction
This post is part 2 of my three-part series: “How do I raise seed capital if I don’t know any investors?” In part 1, I discussed the importance of hustling and building relationships in order to get warm introductions to investors. In this post, I will discuss a different approach: applying to one of the mentorship/seed capital programs.
Determination via Jessica Livingston
by Scott Edward Walker on September 22nd, 2010Introduction
I’ve been reading the book Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days written by Jessica Livingston, a co-founder of Y Combinator (a seed-stage venture firm) and a very smart and interesting individual. The book is a collection of extensive interviews with founders of high-profile technology companies with respect to their earliest days, including Steve Wozniak (Apple), Craig Newmark (Craigslist), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail). There are many important takeaways and lessons to be learned, but the one that really struck a chord with me (as a former minor-league tennis player and now a corporate lawyer for entrepreneurs) is the importance of determination.