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...Read More »
You might wonder why an Indiana law firm with a practice in several areas of technology (Indiana Internet Litigation, SaaS Legal Consulting to name just two) finds itself supporting a golf outing that raises money for adoption? "As a firm that prides itself on supporting the local community, we don't always align our charitable giving strictly to serve our immediate demographic. There are many organizations deserving of our support and Adoptions of Indiana is certainly one of them," comments...
Read More »We all know the beauty of the SaaS business model: great cash flow
from up front payments, recurring revenue from clients that
renew, ratable revenue recognition that results in
smooth rather than lumpy revenue models, etc.
But what if during your licensing agreement
negotiations the client is pushing back and threatens some or
all of these SaaS model advantages?
This is when its great to work with attorneys that have extensive SaaS legal consulting backgrounds; attorneys that not only...Read More »
This is when its great to work with attorneys that have extensive SaaS legal consulting backgrounds; attorneys that not only...Read More »
Given the firm's
technology legal counsel and software litigation practice, it
only makes sense that the firm would support the prestigious
2010 Techpoint MIRA Awards Gala taking place on
Saturday, May 15th, 2010. It makes for a positive synergy
between the two groups.
The TechPoint Mira Awards, presented by BKD, is the premier technology awards program in the state of Indiana. Since the turn of the century, TechPoint has honored Indiana businesses, schools and universities, and individuals for...
Read More »
I had the privilege of speaking
at the Rainmakers Incubator event this morning. I
thought the Rainmakers team did a nice job organizing the event -
even with a last minute change in location due to factors outside
of their control. Thank you guys for the opportunity to join
you this morning!The topic given to me was "Three Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know." My legal practice focuses on entrepreneurial law, funding law, SaaS business law and securities law. In these fields I see a lot of...Read More »
What
happens if you do not follow securities law procedures to a "T" in
private placement offerings? The answer is messy. In
large part it depends on what type of securities law violation you
are talking about. The first type of violation is procedural. Examples may include a company relying on a 4(2) exemption but offering certain securities to non-sophisticated investors (which is a Section 4(2) requirement). Another example may be simply failing to make, or untimely make, a securities...Read More »
This last week has been a whirlwind
including trips to Scottsdale, AZ and Newport Beach, CA. I
first attended an ABA private equity conference in
Scottsdale. The focus was on securities regulations for
exempt offerings. Sounds boring, I know, and parts of it
definitely were. But this area of law is the foundation
underlying my partnership with clients in their strategic growth
and capital phases. Raising capital is both an art and science. The art is in the structuring of capital...Read More »
Exciting and new things are happening here at Alerding Castor
Hewitt. I'm happy to introduce the cyber-world to our newest
member of the litigation team -Scott Kreider. Scott joined us
about a month ago and has been a valuable addition from the get
go.
He is an outstanding trial and appellate attorney with years of experience, as well as a former federal clerk and adjunct professor for legal writing. He will also be an instructor at Franklin College during the fall semester. I've had the good...Read More »
He is an outstanding trial and appellate attorney with years of experience, as well as a former federal clerk and adjunct professor for legal writing. He will also be an instructor at Franklin College during the fall semester. I've had the good...Read More »
Your friendly neighborhood
technology legal counsel here to discuss with you the hidden
dangers lurking in your unassuming (and unread) terms of service
agreements. Janet Croswell, one of our fabulous tech lawyers,
posted back on February 10, 2010 about the pitfalls that businesses
face related to the clickwrap agreement (here's a link for those
playing along at home blog.alerdingcastor.com/blog/alerding-castor).
Now for those of you scratching your head and wondering what a
"clickwrap...Read More »Your friendly neighborhood technology legal counsel here: One
of the greatest aspects of our firm is the fact that we, as
attorneys, get to partner with our clients to assist in the
development of their dreams. Additionally, while we focus on
being the general counsel for all business types and sizes, one of
my personal areas of passion is seeing new technology based clients
develop and partnering with them to see their success.
One such emerging company that I'm happy to say we are...Read More »
One such emerging company that I'm happy to say we are...Read More »
Congratulations
are in order to Brian Hewitt, the newest parter of Alerding Castor
Hewitt, LLP, who was recognized this week as one of Indiana's 2010
top 50 Super Lawyers.Brian concentrates his practice on estate, trust, and guardianship planning, administration, and litigation; and mediation and business law.
He is a Certified Estate Planning and Administration Specialist, a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and a member of the Probate Litigation Committee of the... Read More »
A
few years back, sometime in the mid 1990’s, while an undergraduate
business student at Purdue University, a fellow classmate and I
entered the Burton Morgan Entrepreneurship
Competition. We were the only undergraduate students
chosen as top 10 finalists in the event – an accomplishment for
which I am still quite proud. I remember the program as being challenging, informative and humbling. Following rounds of having our business plan reviewed and commented on by professors, we presented to a...Read More »
I have taken a few
weeks off of blogging. Honestly, I felt like I needed the
break, but I am excited about getting back on the saddle and
writing again.Since it has been a few weeks, let me give a brief update on what we have been up to. Alerding Castor Hewitt has had an exciting beginning to 2010. On January 1, Bill Boncosky joined us. Bill is a business attorney / technology and SaaS law attorney working with privately held companies, primarily in technology industries. Bill has spent the...Read More »
Keeping
up with software clients can be a challenge for technology legal
counsel. The software as a service industry evolves quickly, time-lines are condensed, and the playing field yesterday can look decidedly different than it looks today. The name of the game for a SaaS company is to stay ahead of the pack and become known as THE leader in its industry.
I recently read an article in Entrepreneur magazine about Search Engine Optimization titled What You Don't Know About SEO.
What I DO know... Read More »
Alerding
Castor Hewitt, LLP is proud to announce the addition of Indiana
technology lawyer Bill Boncosky to the firm. The former General Counsel for ExactTarget, Bill has tremendous experience as technology counsel for one of the most successful technology start ups based right here in the heart of Indianapolis. A company that had just over a dozen employees when he joined, Bill has substantial experience in licensing agreement negotiations, ASP Law and Cloud Computing Law serving in that role...Read More »
Closing
in on the end of 2009 I have to say that I am quite pleased
with the commitment Indiana showed this year to be a State that
supports and promotes innovation, entreprenuership and business
growth.This week I had breakfast with Larry O'Connor, Executive Director of Butler University's Business Accelerator. Larry is a former CEO of Bank One Indiana. Following his "retirement", Larry became CEO of The IndianapolisMuseumm of Art, and recently took the position to lead theAcceleratorr...Read More »
Interesting case (2009 WL
4261214) came across my desk. Not related to Indiana Internet
litigation, but interesting conundrum. The basic facts are
that client wanted to send e-mail response to his attorneys.
In adding the second attorney, he inadvertently sent it to a
third party. Through several forwards, it ends up at his
opposing counsel's desk. That counsel wants to use it in
litigation. Ultimately, the Idaho District Court found that
it was an inadvertent production and made the...Read More »A colleague of mine brought to my attention two recent federal
cases in which the courts elected to deny motions to compel
electronically stored information (ESI). In Kay Beer
Distributing v. Energy Brands, Inc.,the Eastern District of Wisconsin determined that, among
other things, Kay's request for every e-mail with their name in it
was too broad. The court also considered in its
determination the fact that Energy Brand's counsel had
offered to work with Kay to do more directed keyword...Read More »
New technology businesses usually face two hurdles to get their
product to market. The first is proof of concept. The
second is proof of scale.
Both are intended to solve the “Ability” stage of the business plan process and move the business into the "Meeting" stage:
Proof of concept is simply the proof that the business can develop a working prototype that...Read More »
Both are intended to solve the “Ability” stage of the business plan process and move the business into the "Meeting" stage:
Recognition of Market ->
Recognition of Market Opportunity -> Ability to Meet Market
Opportunity -> Meeting Market Opportunity at Profit
Proof of concept is simply the proof that the business can develop a working prototype that...Read More »
As an admitted technophile, I can't help but look into all the
newest gizmos and gadgets. Plus, working at an information
technology law firm, I can even bill it sometimes. Thus, I've
recently begun a fascination with e-books. Jason Wilson
has done a very interesting set of blogs looking at the use
of e-books (or lack of use) for lawyers (www.jasnwilsn.com/).
Jason's viewpoint is as a counterpoint to a recent set of blogs by
Professor Eugene Volokh (volokh.com/2009/10/02/the-future-of-books-...
Read More »
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