How do you make traditional phone service and
client/relationship management software not only extremely
affordable but also innovative and fun? Give it to a couple of
Purdue student “geeks” and turn them loose on the business
world.
Since 2007, Cameron Weeks and his business partner Bracken
Fields have been building a better phone system, and out of it, a
phenomenal young company. In 2011, they grew their team to
support the new client base they were reaching and at the same time
developed...
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One of our
very own, Eric Davis, is being nationally recognized for his
success in the October issue of The ABA
Journal. Eric has long been a leader in entrepreneurial
expertise and business law, and is a strong exterior source
contributing to our firm, Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP. The
article discusses about how Eric jump-started his career and
the many roads on which it has taken him. In the
article, Eric considers himself a "hybrid" because he does not
necessarily fit in just one firm....
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The following is a guest post by a fellow
Gravity Ventures member and
friend, Dr. Tony Ratliff:
Learning to Pitch Before You Start Raising Capital
By Dr. Tony Ratliff
It only took about six months of deal flow and a handful of
“pitches” before I realized that most entrepreneurs are really,
really bad at “selling themselves” and “pitching” their ideas and
companies to investors.
I cringe every time I listen to a great start-up idea or read a
well-written business plan, and then watch in horror as...
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I don't often re-post articles in full glory, but I couldn't resist
with this one. This is a great article from the OMMA (a
magazine of online media, marketing & advertising).
There are some great quotes from quite a few movers and
shakers in the Indiana technology area. As a technology legal
counsel located in Indianapolis, it warms my heart to see this kind
of great press for the area. Personally, I think all
technology firms should move or open offices here.
Big hat-tip to Jay Baer for...
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There is a new Seventh Circuit Court of
Appeals opinion that is likely to have a significant impact on SaaS
providers. In Digitech Computers,
Inc. v. Trans-Care, Inc. (link
here), the 7th Circuit focuses on a SaaS agreement
for Digitech to provide certain management software licensing
components for Trans-Care (an ambulance and medical transportation
service). The Court ultimately upheld a
breach of contract claim in favor of Digitech, significantly
reduced Digitech’s damages award, and...
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On
Friday, May 6th,
Slingshot SEO announced in a
meeting with Governor Mitch Daniels and Indianapolis Mayor Greg
Ballard that the company will create up to 114 new jobs by 2013.
As one of Alerding Castor Hewitt's most beloved clients, we
could not be more thrilled to see how far the search engine
optimization firm has come since its 2006 founding.
In just three short years, Slingshot has seen a dramatic increase
in employees from 9 to its current 65, and the compan
y
plans to invest upwards of...
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Last night I lectured on this topic to my entrepreneurial capstone
class at Purdue. It is possibly the most basic question for
any startup looking to raise capital, but it is often not
approached correctly. In my experience most entrepreneurs
take a wild guess at their number.
The correct approach is to look at your cash flow projections and
determine it from there. For a new startup the goal is to get
to breakeven and beyond. For later stage companies the
projections may address strategic...
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I know there will be an "official" congratulatory press release in
the near future, but I thought I'd take a moment to congratulate
the Alerding Castor Hewitt partners on being included in the 2011
Indiana Super Lawyers.
Brian Hewitt received the nod as one of the Top 50 Super
Lawyers in the state. This is, of course, a recurring honor
for Brian, who has been a Super Lawyer for the past several
years. Brian's practice focus is on business and probate
litigation and mediation.
The voters...
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Last Wednesday, I had the great opportunity to attend the 2010
Techpoint Summit. For those of you that don't know, Techpoint
is organization with the mission of "accelerating Indiana's
emerging and vibrant tech sector" (source:
www.techpoint.org). This great organization fosters and
nurtures the technology sector that is developing in Indiana.
It brings the innovators together and gives them a voice.
And, their yearly summit is an excellent example of the work they
are doing. In the same...
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I'm going to cheat a little on this. I read a great blog post
by Jeff Ready over at the McStartup blog (www.mcstartup.com).
The blog post is all about the importance of radical
innovation. I have a place in my heart for radical innovation
because I believe that in the legal community, we are the radical
innovators. ACH strives after its goal to be an information
technology law firm, a venture capital law firm and a business law
firm, but we go about it in a way that is radical to many...
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Working
in the area of
Indiana entrepreneurial law,
I see dozens of business plans that are incorporated into the
equity raise documents of budding new companies.
With those business plans are financial projections that are based
on newly formed companies with limited operating histories,
unproven track records, and often times plans for entry into a
mature and highly competitive marketplace.
Needless to say, it can be daunting as an entrepreneur to come
up with a compelling reason why investors...
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I just
returned from the Masters. What a thrill. Augusta
National is quite possibly the most beautiful place on earth, and
the golf was stellar. My dad and I spent much of the two days
stationed around Par 3s. We spent Saturday on the 16th green
where we were 20 feet from the golfers as they putted. You
could see the green of hole 15 and the tee of for hole 17 from our
spot. On Sunday we spent the morning at hole 6 and the
afternoon on amen corner – just beside the tee on hole 12 where...
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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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Employers
invest so much time and effort into (a) finding and hiring the
right candidates for the team, and (b) developing those individuals
to work at their most efficient levels for the company.
Let's face it, it can take years to get a company up and
running effectively, and certain key individuals play a huge role
in making that happen.
You don't want to lose them.While I firmly believe that everyone is replaceable, some employees
are just harder to replace than others because they add so...
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I saw
a great article awhile back in Entrepreneur and thought
I should post the article for those in the formation stages of
their next business venture.
I can't stress enough how much time and energy it takes to launch a
start-up, and just how
much the success or failure of a budding new company rests on the
people involved. I see it everyday as an Indiana
technology lawyer involved in Indiana entrepreneurial law.
You can count on spending hours upon hours of the day with your
business...
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I read an interesting post
yesterday on
Small Business Trends by Professor Scott Shane,
Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve
University. It is a good read for current entrepreneurs and
those daring to dream of starting their own company.
Here is the post:
Most entrepreneurs believe a bunch of myths about financing new
companies that hinder their efforts to raise money. Here are a
few:
Myth 1: It takes a lot of money to finance a new
business. Not true. The typical...
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I recently discovered
OnStartups.com, a blog
and resource website for business start ups. The author,
Dharmesh Shah, is a software developer and entrepreneur and writes
about his experiences in living through the startup phases of a
SaaS company.
In a post this past week he writes about five simple insights he
has learned through the process of starting his own SaaS
company. Here is an excerpt:
Insights On SaaS
Startups
1. You are financing your customers.
Most SaaS businesses are...
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Golf is a game of mental
dichotomy. On one side you have
details. Keep head down, swing through
ball, pay attention to stance, keep knees bent, elbows create a
“V”, swing through waist, maintain balance…
On the other side, you hear people say,
“You’re thinking too much.”
“Relax.” “Just hit the ball.”
I play golf a few times a year with my
dad. He talks about the two persons in
his head with two distinct personalities. If
you claim multiple voices in your head anywhere else than a
golf...
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There
are several obstacles to face with a young start-up company, and
typically one of the main concerns is raising capital in compliance
with funding law. One method companies can use is offering
the sale of stock or membership interest in their company through
private placement offerings to a limited number of private
investors.
A private placement offering is differentiated from a
public sale of securities that must be registered with the
Securities & Exchange Commission, namely because of...
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