Your
friendly neighborhood technology counsel here: As you likely
know, my goal is to become THE Indiana technology lawyer;
however, technology is not my only area of interest. Like
many of the folks at Alerding Castor Hewitt, technology law
is a passion, but we all strive to be a full service law firm for
all businesses. Thus, in addition to tech stuff, I also
litigate matters for several banking and business clients.
And, as any good lawyer does, when I see changes in the law
that may...Read More »Your
friendly neighborhood technology counsel here: As you likely
know, my goal is to become THE Indiana technology lawyer;
however, technology is not my only area of interest. Like
many of the folks at Alerding Castor Hewitt, technology law
is a passion, but we all strive to be a full service law firm for
all businesses. Thus, in addition to tech stuff, I also
litigate matters for several banking and business clients.
And, as any good lawyer does, when I see changes in the law
that may...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...
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Lust
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Obsessive or excessive thoughts
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Gluttony
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Over-indulgence, over-consumption
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Greed
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A sin of excess like lust and gluttony, but in reference to
wealth
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Sloth
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Laziness, indifference, apathy
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Wrath
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Uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger
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Envy
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Resenting another because they possess something you do
not
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Pride
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Excessive love of self
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The idea is not to sell products leading to the sins themselves...
I have heard this "problem" stated several times from private
equity investors angel investment groups over this past year, "We
are just not seeing any good deals lately." The Halo Group,
an Indianapolis-based angel investment group focusing on emerging
technology companies, canceled its March meeting due to a stated
lack of deal flow.
Halo members, like most private equity investors, want to invest in businesses with proven markets and executives. They, like most investment groups, also want...Read More »
Halo members, like most private equity investors, want to invest in businesses with proven markets and executives. They, like most investment groups, also want...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 »Last week I wrote a post entitled
What Your Company Needs for Execution which addressed a
business' ability to seize opportunities when they arise. In
this months Harvard Business Review, Donald Sull addresses seven
points to consider on whether your company has good business
execution practices. Last weeks post addressed the first
three. Here are the next two:
4. Core
values with teeth. Assess whether your business
leaders articulate values that underpin agility and drive...
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 »
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...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 »
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 »
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...
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 »
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...Read More »
The other day I wrote a post on my reasons not to use the term
"affiliates" in licensing agreement negotiations. See post here. My
general point is that the term has no common meaning in the law and
may create ambiguity in the contact.
I addressed several different definitions of the term in laws, but the term is not only defined differently in law, it is also used differently in business.
For accounting companies, for instance, the Interstate Commerce Commission defines the term as companies...Read More »
I addressed several different definitions of the term in laws, but the term is not only defined differently in law, it is also used differently in business.
For accounting companies, for instance, the Interstate Commerce Commission defines the term as companies...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 »
What are your metrics for business success? I attended a
non-profit board meeting this past week where the directors were
working through this question - "How do we measure
success?"
A common metric that was discussed was # of volunteers in the organization in ___ years. Although this metric does measure growth, it does not measure the quality of growth. What if the volunteers are under committed, under trained or just plain lousy at their job? You may meet your metric but find that your...Read More »
A common metric that was discussed was # of volunteers in the organization in ___ years. Although this metric does measure growth, it does not measure the quality of growth. What if the volunteers are under committed, under trained or just plain lousy at their job? You may meet your metric but find that your...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 »
There are several business blogs that I follow. Most of these
are written by SaaS law / Internet law clients of mine or other
Indiana businesses in technology industries. Lately I have
been falling behind on them. This morning I am trying to
catch up.
I came across a very good, brief video on Kristian Andersen + Associates' blog.
The video is from the Bigger Ideas/Smaller Indiana conference this past summer. In the video Kristian Andersen shares his feelings on central Indiana's business...Read More »
I came across a very good, brief video on Kristian Andersen + Associates' blog.
The video is from the Bigger Ideas/Smaller Indiana conference this past summer. In the video Kristian Andersen shares his feelings on central Indiana's business...Read More »
The following post by Pat Horgan
of Palidan Associates was printed on the E-Sourcing Forum a couple of weeks ago. Even
though the post applies particularly to sourcing professionals, the
concepts are excellent for most contract negotiations.NEGOTIATING TIPS
Contract Document Control
In contract development, the party that controls the physical production of the contract document and the wording changes during negotiations generally has a distinct advantage. This is particularly true in long or...Read More »
According to a recent Gartner research report, worldwide SaaS
revenues are expected to grow 18 percent in 2009 to reach $7.5
billion. The report further stated an expectation for SaaS
industries through 2013 when worldwide revenues are expected to top
$14 billion for enterprise application markets.Gartner listed the top SaaS market segments for 2009 as follows:
1. Content, Communications and
Collaboration (CCC) - $2.6 billion
2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - $2.3 billion
3. Enterprise...
Read More »2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - $2.3 billion
3. Enterprise...
From time to time I use the term
“From a 10,000 foot view…”. This is corporate buzz speak for
taking a broad look at something without getting into the
details. From a business vision and strategy perspective, it
is common to start at a high and broad perspective and then work
down to the details (i.e., "into the weeds").Many business professors, and even our President, encourage business executives to stop using such buzz phrases as they can serve as a crutch for intelligent decision making...Read More »
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