I have said it a million times since learning the lesson myself in
a failed entrepreneurial effort a couple of years ago, the CEO of
any entrepreneurial venture must understand the importance of
managing cash flows and how to use cash flow analysis for the
strategic growth of the company.
Trust me, I am all into the Six Sigma approach of throwing a couple
of innovators together, rolling out a v1 product as quickly as
possible, and slowly scaling the company from hobby phase to a
successful...
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It has been said a million times already on this blog – a CEO,
especially one which is seeking funds from private equity
investors, needs to understand finance. Often a basic
knowledge of sources and uses and cash flow analysis is enough, but
in many early stage investment rounds, savvy investors expect the
CEO to know the company's internal rate of return (IRR) - and
why it matters.
I meet many entrepreneurs who have served as VPs or middle managers
before embarking on their entrepreneurial...
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Next week I am moderating the plenary panel at TechPoint’s
Innovation Summit entitled
Funding Innovation.
Check it out:
TechPoint
Innovation Summit
Also check out the
sponsors page. I
counted today, and
nine Alerding Castor
Hewitt clients are sponsors of the Summit. That is
awesome.
This year’s panel members represent private equity investors, angel
investor groups, successful entrepreneurs and grant funding
organizations which look for funding and investment opportunities
in Indiana...
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I guest lectured at Purdue’s Entrepreneurship Capstone course again
last week. I love it – for an hour I talked about my
experience in entreprenuerial law, business law and funding law to
Seniors in Purdue's entreprenuership concentration program on
issues consider when structuring a new company. Honestly, I
thought I had them bored out of their minds (yes, there was that
one Greek letter wearing frat guy who was asleep about 10 rows
back), but I was impressed when we got to the Q&A time...
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I was reminded today of something told to me by a friend last
year:
Good people who are smart
ask good questions
Bad people who are smart ask bad questions
Good people who are not smart ask bad questions
In business we are always looking for answers – but what we
really want are good answers. Today the issue is never
whether we have enough data (we arguably have too much), it is
whether we can properly utilize that data to make better
decisions. I see this especially in my Internet Law /...
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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. BlogWhat 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,...
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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...
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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...
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I recently read a summary of a lecture on applying the seven deadly
sins to software development. The sins are:
|
Lust
|
Obsessive or excessive thoughts
|
|
Gluttony
|
Over-indulgence, over-consumption
|
|
Greed
|
A sin of excess like lust and gluttony, but in reference to
wealth
|
|
Sloth
|
Laziness, indifference, apathy
|
|
Wrath
|
Uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger
|
|
Envy
|
Resenting another because they possess something you do
not
|
|
Pride
|
Excessive love of self
|
The idea is not to sell products leading to the sins themselves...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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There is a good
article on the Mercury News Blog today on
How dot-com
start-ups have changed 10 years later. The article
addresses the maturity of both technology companies and
US private equity investors over the last decade. It is
an interesting read.
There has been a lot of activity in angel investor groups and
venture capital investments in Indiana technology companies over
the last few months.
2010 has definitely started with a bang at
Alerding Castor Hewitt where we have helped five...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2010
Contact: Lainey Scheetz
317.403.9012
lscheetz@alerdingcastor.com
ALERDING CASTOR HEWITT LLP PARTNER NAMED TO FORTY UNDER 40
Indianapolis,
IN – Alerding Castor Hewitt LLP is pleased to announce that Michael
Alerding, a partner at the firm, has been named to the 2010
Indianapolis Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list. The list
recognizes local business and professional leaders who have
achieved success and excelled in their field before the age of 40.
Those...
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For SaaS companies, the customer agreement is critical.
Why? A SaaS relationship is not a 1-time purchase of software
to be installed. The SaaS customer agreement is a
document which will govern (what you hope will be) a long-term
relationship with your client. It must cover the software
license aspect of the relationship, the ongoing maintenance,
upgrading and use of the software and - often overlooked - the
professional services to be provided by the SaaS company to the
client. The...
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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...
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