I have a confession to make. When I went to law school, I had no idea if I wanted to actually be a lawyer. What I knew is that I didn’t know what I wanted to do and that I needed an advanced degree (a story for another day). I took all the grad school tests – GMAT, GRE, LSAT (ok, not the MCAT) … I scored well on the LSAT, so I applied to [...]
Selling a business is rarely easy. Especially in a poor economy, it can be incredibly hard to get a fair price. This can be frustrating for business owners, and, as a result, the process of trying to sell their business can become an excruciating one. However, a lot of this frustration can be reduced if you recognize some common mistakes that owners make while selling their business. Here are seven common mistakes to avoid when [...]
The Downside of Litigating a Business Dispute: Few things depress me as much as when the participants in a business dispute give up trying to work through things together and throw the dispute over to the lawyers. They often do this out of frustration. Sometimes they don’t feel they have the time to work through the dispute. Other times, they think their lawyers will jump in and quickly save the day by applying the heavy [...]
What is a Private Placement Memorandum (PPM)? A private placement memorandum may also be called an offering memorandum (OM), confidential offering memorandum (COM) or confidential information memorandum (CIM). A PPM is similar to a business plan, although it focuses much more on legal issues. The primary purpose of a PPM is to disclose to prospective investors the terms of a potential investment and primary risk factors involved in making the investment. A PPM also usually [...]
If you are looking for information about creating business partnership agreements (operating agreements, founders agreements, partnership agreements, etc.), read Creating a Business Partnership (Founders) Agreement. When two founders show up in my office to talk about how to structure their business partnership, they have often been told to avoid an equal partnership, a business arrangement where they are each 50% owners. I am not nearly as down on 50%-50% business relationships as some other attorneys are. [...]
Despite impressions you might have been given from other professionals, the answer is …“Nope.” Filing a Certificate of Formation or Articles of Incorporation is Simple Forming a company is simple. You can file a Certificate of Formation or Articles of Incorporation (the form you file with the Secretary of State is called different things in different states and depending on what type of entity you are forming) without a business lawyer. Most Secretary of State [...]
As we discussed in Part 1 of this series, startup fundraising allows companies to obtain the capital that will be critical for future success. Early funding rounds to raise capital help the startup get off the ground, while later startup funding rounds (Series B & Series C) are meant to help the founders take things to the next level. This can be especially crucial for companies that aren’t yet making a profit. Replenishing the coffers [...]
Joint ventures are a hot topic in certain business circles, and I get asked about them a lot. Savvy business owners are in touch with their company’s strengths and weaknesses. In the event that an outside party’s strengths could bolster your weaknesses, it may make sense to enter into a joint venture. Just what would this entail for your business? What is the Definition of a Joint Venture? I hear this question A LOT. Texas [...]
If you’re thinking to yourself, “how do I raise money for my startup or new business?” this article is intended to be a very basic overview of the process. You will learn some of the terminology involved in business startup funding. Getting startup money for a new business is crucial for all startups, including startups in Austin, Dallas and Houston where I do a lot of my Texas work (as an aside, I also work [...]
“I'd say that, to be a good deal maker, you have to have 3 basic characteristics - timing, timing, and timing.” – Richard Armitage, Actor In 2000 my job was identifying and closing merger and acquisition targets for a publicly-traded media company. One of the companies we were looking at buying had walked away from a $9 million offer just five months earlier. Our offer: just over $1 million. There were no other bidders. They [...]
