It’s not often that we at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP run into issues regarding the payment of commissions for our business law, SaaS law, and Indiana technology clients. When the subject does arise, however, it usually occurs when an employee separates from employment and makes a wage claim for unpaid commissions. The debate about whether the commissions are wages centers on whether the employee was entitled to the commission at the time of sale OR when the client pays for the product,...
Read More »Your friendly Indianapolis attorney and Partner In Success at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP here with another post, this time for both business entities and lawyers who find themselves in the trenches of business law, SaaS law, internet laws, and privacy litigation and probate litigation. Partner and fellow blogger Dave Castor sort of beat me to the bunch by pointing out a great blog post by Michael P. Alerding (ACH’s Mike Alerding’s father) at Alerding & Co., LLC, which Dave re-posted below. I...
Read More »The post below is fantastic. It is by Michael P. Alerding,
CPA (my business partner's father) at his accounting firm's new
blog site. He gave me permission to re-post it here (thank
you Alerding & Co.). Check it out:
Alerding & Co. Blog
What Happened to Business
Ethics?
By: Michael P. Alerding, CPA
Every time I get a contract to sign, I find it almost impossible to spend the time reading the fine print and trying to understand all of the future implications of the agreement. As my son,...
Read More »By: Michael P. Alerding, CPA
Every time I get a contract to sign, I find it almost impossible to spend the time reading the fine print and trying to understand all of the future implications of the agreement. As my son,...
One of my favorite movie scenes is from The Jerk.
Navin Johnson is working at a carnival guessing peoples
weight. He is talking to Frosty, his boss:
Navin R. Johnson:
[bleakly] I've already given away eight pencils, two hoola dolls,
and an ashtray, and I've only taken in fifteen dollars.
Frosty: Navin, you have taken in fifteen dollars and given away fifty cents worth of crap, which gives us a net profit of fourteen dollars and fifty cents.
Navin R. Johnson: Ah... It's a profit deal. Takes the...
Read More »Frosty: Navin, you have taken in fifteen dollars and given away fifty cents worth of crap, which gives us a net profit of fourteen dollars and fifty cents.
Navin R. Johnson: Ah... It's a profit deal. Takes the...
Your friendly Indianapolis attorney at Alerding Castor Hewitt LLP here with an issue for those of you who, from time to time, might find yourselves embroiled in collections litigation over business law, SaaS law, or technology law matters. How often have you seen a debtor issue a check for payment and include on the memo line words to the effect of “as full satisfaction of claim,” “final payment in full of debt,” or some similar words despite the fact that the debtor owes you more than the...
Read More »There is a great article in the July-August edition of the Harvard
Business Review entitled The Early Bird Really Does Get the
Worm. The article summarizes a study which found a
correlation between "morning people" and career
success. This is based on a number of traits which are
commonly found in morning people.
Traits
Agreeable
Optimistic
Stable
Proactive
Conscientious
Satisfied with Life
Being a morning person, of course I loved this! Most days I am the first in the office. I love getting...Read More »
Traits
Agreeable
Optimistic
Stable
Proactive
Conscientious
Satisfied with Life
Being a morning person, of course I loved this! Most days I am the first in the office. I love getting...Read More »
War at its best is barbarism.
Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.
--William Tecumseh Sherman
Though he said these words nearly a century and a half ago, General Sherman’s comments apply equally well to litigation, including the world of business law, technology law, SaaS law, and probate law. Litigation is a serious business, not something to be undertaken lightly. And it is often expensive – regardless of...
Read More »Your friendly Indianapolis attorney at Alerding Castor Hewitt LLP here with a quick follow up on my first blog regarding collections for our business law, technology law, and SaaS law clients. A link to that post is listed below for those interested.
One of our Saas law clients recently obtained a favorable resolution in one of their cases to collect on a contract from an out-of-state debtor. We had obtained a default judgment for the client and were pressing forward with the proceeding...
Read More »China has enacted the "Interim Administrative Measures on
Internet-based Transactions of Goods and Related Services" that
will take effect on July 1, 2010. This regulations should
have a significant impact on e-commerce in China. One can
only assume that it will also impact Software Service Level
Agreements, SaaS law, and cloud computing law. The
regulations appear to be focused on Business - to-Consumer issues
and consumer-to-consumer activities, but the actual language of the
regulation is...Read More »
Some B2B business models do well in targeting early stage customers
(e.g., less than $5MM revenue) but have trouble scaling with
customers as they grow. Other B2B models cannot hit a price
point for early stage customers and must target customers at later
business stages.
I recently saw a business model that concerned me on this point. The SaaS application in the model was not cost effective for early stage customers – there are market alternatives that are offered for free that do just about...Read More »
I recently saw a business model that concerned me on this point. The SaaS application in the model was not cost effective for early stage customers – there are market alternatives that are offered for free that do just about...Read More »
I am an Indianapolis Attorney here at Alerding Castor Hewitt LLP. This is my first blog post – so bear with me. As a brief introduction, my role at ACH is working on our litigation team, both at trial and on appeal if necessary, on issues related to business law, probate litigation, SaaS litigation, and other technology litigation – just to name a few of the areas.
One area often overlooked in the litigation process is the area of collections. Some lawyers might look upon the collection process...
Read More »So I am at the office tonight, about 10 PM, working through several
matters. I have a software licensing contract which we are
hoping to have signed by June 1 - I just finished and turned
the revised draft. I have a new SaaS law client that is
embarking on a small private equity round - I am working on
investment documents tonight. A financial institution client
contacted me this week and ask us to draft loan documents - so,
working on those. Have an independent contractor agreement
for a...Read More »
Most business owners who are raising capital are willing to take
capital from just about anywhere. Investors are a means to an
end of meeting capital requirements and scaling a business towards
profit. As Indianapolis is the “biggest small town in
America” and the number of investors and amount of private
investment capital is limited, certain business owners find looking
outside of the state for capital is beneficial. In my SaaS
law practice, for example, I see a lot of companies look...Read More »
I recently read a summary of a lecture on applying the seven deadly
sins to software development. The sins are:
The idea is not to sell products leading to the sins themselves...
Read More »
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Lust
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Obsessive or excessive thoughts
|
|
Gluttony
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Over-indulgence, over-consumption
|
|
Greed
|
A sin of excess like lust and gluttony, but in reference to
wealth
|
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Sloth
|
Laziness, indifference, apathy
|
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Wrath
|
Uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger
|
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Envy
|
Resenting another because they possess something you do
not
|
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Pride
|
Excessive love of self
|
The idea is not to sell products leading to the sins themselves...
I wrote a post a few weeks back on B2B, B2C and C2C technology companies in
Indianapolis. Here are a couple of paragraph excerpts:
Indianapolis has done some amazing
things in SaaS technology markets. As many readers of this
blog know, much of my business law practice focuses on SaaS law,
Internet law and funding law. Most of this is in
business-to-business (B2B) SaaS markets. This week I was
thinking about how this is not just true of my practice, but it
also is true for Indianapolis as a...
Read More »This is the forth post in a series on developing a good business
model for an early stage company.
Here are some additional points to consider when structuring a management team:
c. Beware of Scientist Syndrome. This is a business model killer. It is especially apparent in technology and science based businesses, but you see it in all types of professions and industries. Is the goal of the key leader to advance the technology or to develop a profitable business model? Is the goal of the...
Read More »
Here are some additional points to consider when structuring a management team:
c. Beware of Scientist Syndrome. This is a business model killer. It is especially apparent in technology and science based businesses, but you see it in all types of professions and industries. Is the goal of the key leader to advance the technology or to develop a profitable business model? Is the goal of the...
This is the second post in a series on developing a good business
model for an early stage company.
Proof of Scale and Proof of Commercialization (at Profit)
Following POC, you want to prove that your concept can scale under a viable business model. Proof of Scale and Proof of Commercialization (at profit) work hand in hand as each is often dependant on the other. POS refers to the ability for a concept to scale in terms of sellable units in the marketplace and business growth requirements....Read More »
Proof of Scale and Proof of Commercialization (at Profit)
Following POC, you want to prove that your concept can scale under a viable business model. Proof of Scale and Proof of Commercialization (at profit) work hand in hand as each is often dependant on the other. POS refers to the ability for a concept to scale in terms of sellable units in the marketplace and business growth requirements....Read More »
Any good business model includes: (1) a strong market opportunity;
(2) a solid management team; and (3) a sound capital
structure.
This is the first in a series of posts that will outline each point.
1. Strong Market Opportunity.
This is more than just finding a market opportunity that you want to address. It involves development of a detailed model of what the opportunity is (“IS”), how you can address it better than anyone else (“HOW”), and how you can be profitable in doing so (“PROFIT”)....Read More »
This is the first in a series of posts that will outline each point.
1. Strong Market Opportunity.
This is more than just finding a market opportunity that you want to address. It involves development of a detailed model of what the opportunity is (“IS”), how you can address it better than anyone else (“HOW”), and how you can be profitable in doing so (“PROFIT”)....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 »
Indianapolis has done some amazing things in
SaaS technology markets. As many readers of this blog know,
much of my business law practice focuses on SaaS law, Internet law
and funding law. Most of this is in business-to-business
(B2B) SaaS markets. This week I was thinking about how this
is not just true of my practice, but it also is true for
Indianapolis as a whole. Most software companies in
Indianapolis are in B2B markets.
The other two markets are business-to-consumer (B2C)...
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