Business

If you are a founder of an emerging company looking to do your first capital raise, consider talking to angel investors BEFORE having your private equity attorney draft the organizational and exempt securities documents for your private placement offering.  I meet a lot of business owners at this stage who make guesses as to what investors are looking for and what the market will bear.  What pre-money valuation should we use?  What preferences (if any) should we include in the private placement offering?  What issues do we need to address in the business model in order to satisfy concerns from investors.

It is amazing how a few simple conversations over coffee or lunch with angel investors can shed light on these issues.  

Also, consider hiring a securities attorney who has (1) built his/her own business and (2) invested his/her own money in private equity investments.  Drafting private placement documents is the easy part of my practice.  The hard part is understanding the why and how - ultimately determining why and how the offering will be structured for this particular business, market and investors.  You will benefit greatly by hiring an attorney who understands both the law and the private investment world.


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Other posts that may be of interest:

Entrepreneurial Law - Developing a Good Business Model
Culture of Private Equity
A World of Private Equity
Rules of Funding
Entrepreneurial Law - Proof of Concept & Proof of Scale
Fatal Flaws in Leadership
Keep the Good Ideas Coming but Stay Focused
Business Law - 10 Common Negotiation Mistakes
Funding Law - Presentations to Investors