With the venture capital industry shrinking, many entrepreneurs have started looking to angel investors for funding. There are two main differences in the funding practices of venture capitalists and angels: (1) Stage of investment, and (2) Size of investment. How do these differences affect ...
Corporate Governance: The Number One Concern Of IPO Companies
What do private companies about to do an IPO worry about most? Corporate governance. That's right -- corporate governance, according to recent polls conducted by KPMG. 64 percent of executives named corporate governance as one of their top three concerns about going public. Recent events demonstrate that corporate governance is an important ...
Entrepreneurs: Does Your Attorney Need To Understand Your Business?
Does your attorney need to understand your business? And if your business lawyer does not have a strong grasp of your business, does it matter? Yes, the answers matter for entrepreneurs. Some lawyers will say that they do not need to have a deep ...
Angel Investors: Give Them Common or Preferred Stock?
Congratulations. You have convinced several angel investors to fund your startup. Do the angels get common stock or preferred stock? What's the difference between common and preferred stock? Why does it matter? This deal term has implications for future funding rounds and your relationship ...
Three Reasons For Weak Venture Capital Returns, 2000 to 2009
Palo Alto Corporate Attorney Douglas Y. Park discusses three reasons for lower venture capital returns: (1) Weak IPO market, (2) VCs making fewer early stage investments, (3) Fewer VCs have operational experience.
Second: Enjoy Networking but Stay Focused
Professionals know that networking is important to their success. I have been thinking about how and why we network. Humans are amazingly, almost psychotically, adaptive animals. It should be strange that we throw ourselves out of airplanes but there are entire industries shoving us out ...
What Entrepreneurs Need To Know About Going Public: Ongoing Disclosure Requirements
San Francisco Business Attorney Douglas Y. Park discusses the ongoing SEC disclosure requirements associated with becoming a public company — whether you become public through an IPO or otherwise.
Corporate Governance And CEO Compensation Collide At Abercrombie & Fitch
San Francisco Business Lawyer Douglas Y. Park is interviewed by TIME magazine about Abercrombie & Fitch’s buy out of its CEO’s private use of the company jet. What a corporate governance mess.
Strategies Private Companies Should Take When Employees Sell Stock
In my last post, I discussed Facebook's new stock trading policy that restricts when and how employees can sell company stock. This raises the broader question of what private companies should do when employees sell stock. In this post, I discuss (1) why private ...
Facebook Restricts Stock Trading To Avoid Going Public
Facebook just took another move to avoid going public. Late last week, Facebook implemented a policy that prohibits employees from selling their company stock unless a trading window is in effect, or from tipping outsiders on inside company information. In doing so, Facebook ...
