Happy New Year – Reminder: The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is Now in Effect
Perhaps you saw the warnings throughout 2019 regarding the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) going into effect on January 1, 2020. Maybe you also saw that the CCPA applies to a large swath of companies throughout the world, including many companies with no physical presence in California. The steep penalties for non-compliance with the CCPA,… View Article
Posted on Wednesday, January 1st, 2020
10 Common Items to Consider When Exiting a Business
Exiting or selling a business can be a risky and uncertain endeavor. There are myriad advisors, consultants and other service providers around to give you advice. A wise seller will always consider the source to make sure the advice provided is in the seller’s best interests. Also, because advice can vary between different types of… View Article
Posted on Monday, June 17th, 2019
Funding Sources: Differences between Venture Capital and Angel Investors
For startups it’s important to understand the differences between funding from venture capital firms and angel investors. This article takes a look at these differences and discusses some of the mistakes that startups make when securing funding. The differences between VCs and angels are nuanced, but typically, there are some fairly common differences between these… View Article
Posted on Monday, June 25th, 2018
83(b) Elections for Startups (avoiding ordinary income tax)
Most startups don’t have the need to wrestle with the problem of having too much cash. Usually, quite the opposite is true – they have too little. To compensate for this lack of cash, startups may try to pay employees and contractors (“service providers”) using equity incentives instead of cash. For example, let’s say a… View Article
Posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2016
The Perils of Disclosure for Startups
Startups generally have an idea, connections, or talent, or some combination thereof. To be sure, there are plenty of startups out there doing what everyone else is doing – another landscaping company, another food truck, etc. But there are plenty of startups that are experimenting with disruption and “something different.” These latter startups have greater… View Article
Posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2015
Letters of Intent – Don’t Give Away More than You Bargained For
When I was younger, I believed letters of intent were a waste of time. I would say “just give me a purchase agreement with all of the proposed terms so we know the full scope of the deal.” I’ve since come to realize that a comprehensive letter of intent or “LOI” is a great way… View Article
Posted on Sunday, August 9th, 2015
Employers – Know Your Data Breach Laws
Almost every state in the United States has a data breach notification statute. Minnesota created data breach notification statutes some time ago, which provide, in part:Any person or business that conducts business in [Minnesota], and that owns or licenses data that includes personal information, shall disclose any breach of the security of the system following… View Article
Posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2015
PCI Compliance Update – New PCI Data Security Standard Version 3.1
The new version 3.1 of the PCI Data Security Standard (“PCI DSS”) is now available and provides clarifications and guidance on a number of PCI DSS requirements. For example, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) are no longer considered strong cryptography and cannot be used for new implementations and cannot be used… View Article
Posted on Monday, April 27th, 2015
Cap Tables and Why They Exist
Essentially a “cap table” is a list of a company’s securities (in the form of stocks, warrants, options, etc.) and the holders of such securities. At the most basic level, a cap table shows who has an ownership interest in, or rights to an ownership interest in, the company. Many cap tables provide further detail… View Article
Posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2015
Forming a Corporation or LLC is Important
In light of the well-known costs of litigation, personal exposure to debts and various liabilities, and myriad statutory, administrative and other laws to comply with, why do so many sole proprietorships and general partnerships still exist? Because of the relatively low cost of forming an LLC or corporation when compared to the potential risks, the… View Article
Posted on Monday, March 16th, 2015