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By VStart, on July 22nd, 2010
We always advise serious entrepreneurs, especially those with big ideas, to make sure an attorney is part of their team from the very start. Not only can they set the company up correctly, they can put standard agreements in place (e.g., stock option, non-disclosure, founder buy-sell, independent contractor, and more). Having such documents can help prevent a multitude of legal issues as the business grows.
Read this article at BusinessWeek to see potential problems for Facebook when a probably “bad” agreement comes back to haunt them when they are really worth something.
Saving money as a startup is usually ingrained in entrepreneurs and spending money on attorneys is not uppermost in their mind (and many have a poor impression of them anyway). But the right attorney is one person on your side to help with the above mentioned items, as well as company valuation and structuring the right deal for investors. They are your best protectors of value and assets, and one business “friend” you can count on.
You will find that many attorneys may strike a deal with you to ease the cash flow burden as you startup with a variety of offers so long as they believe in your potential as a company. Deals can include taking a small stock option in return for delayed fees, and/or delaying fees until you have raised money. Once part of VentureStart we can sometimes recommend regional attorneys to you.
By Laura Good, on July 20th, 2010
Last week, VentureStart graduate Chrometa, a software company based in Sacramento that’s solving the age-old time keeping dilemma for professionals who bill for time and expertise, shared a blog post on lessons learned from their initial product launch and subsequent marketing efforts.
After mapping out the time-line of their product launch, including successes and failures, Chrometa summarizes the lessons learned from their mistakes and offers this advice to entrepreneurs:
Be patient, measure your progress, and focus on the purest fundamentals – namely improving your product, and keeping your customers thrilled. If you can get these two things right, the rest should eventually fall into place.
Visit Bootstrap Blog: Anecdotes and experiences bootstrapping a startup from the guys at Chrometa to read the entire post as well as other insightful posts on managing a startup enterprise.
By VStart, on July 16th, 2010
SacMix joined our VentureStart program a while ago and are making rapid progress in becoming a known brand in the Sacramento market — if you are hungry for breakfast, brunch, lunch, happy hour, dinner or late night eats, you can always find a great deal at a restaurant close to you at www.sacmix.com.
All startups need to communicate their progress with potential customers, investors, supporters, etc. on a regular basis to keep mind share and accelerate interest. We got such a note from Tim White at SacMix today, and you can read it on Facebook. It is a good example all startups should follow.
By VStart, on April 15th, 2010
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations Workshop Friday, April 23, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. UC Davis Conference Center 2nd Floor Conference Room
The Office of Research, Office of University Development, and the Foods for Health Institute are hosting a workshop on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Explorations Round 5.
Grand Challenges Explorations awards of $100,000 support early-stage research projects designed to overcome persistent bottlenecks in creating new tools that can radically improve health in the developing world. Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a Phase II grant of $1 million. Topics for Round 5 of the Grand Challenges Explorations include:
By VStart, on April 6th, 2010
Micromidas has just completed its first major round of funding, having raised $3.6 million. The funds will be used to deploy their technology at the pilot scale.
Micromidas, based in West Sacramento, develops and scales environmentally benign biological and chemical processes that produce valuable chemical and material commodities from waste biomass. The first Micromidas application for their technology is scaling a process that converts the carbon in organic wastewater into PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate), a family of bio-degradable plastics that can be used in lieu of conventional petroleum plastics. Their process generates highly functional bio-plastic while simultaneously reducing the quantity of bio-solids that municipal utilities must pay to treat. Micromidas is Read More »»
By VStart, on March 29th, 2010
Senator Dodd’s current financial reform bill is designed to address financial reform and regulation of the big banks, including the “too big to fail” issue. But it may have unintended consequences by reducing the number of angel investors while at the same time putting regulatory hurdles in place. These hurdles will increase the time it takes (yes, even more!) for entrepreneurs to raise money, and put more bureaucracy in the way further discouraging angel investors.
There is a post on VentureBeat today that has more details and discussion. That post also has some good summary information on the SEC rules that relate to all Read More »»
By VStart, on March 8th, 2010
Want to know how Venture Capitalists think about valuing your startup company? Here is an article by Scott Lenet of DFJ Frontier, who have a Sacramento office. Looks like formulas aren’t used; rather valuation is based on three things:
- Valuation of deals done on comparable companies
- Investors’ experience, and having the opportunity to see many deals, done or not
- Whether the investment return at the time the company exits (e.g., sells to another company, or does an IPO), under the best circumstances, meets the VC firm’s criteria
The article could lead one to think that a 10 times (10x) return is Read More »»
By VStart, on March 3rd, 2010
Gold Standard Diagnostics, Inc. of Davis has just raised a Series A round from private investors. The company started in 2007 and bootstrapped its way by generating revenue from the very beginning. The capital infusion will be used for a major product launch this spring. Investors included Roger Salquist and other angels.
Gold Standard will be participating in the SARTA’s Med Tech Showcase on March 30th at CSUS and has been able to raise its local profile with the assistance of SARTA’s MedStart, a sister program to our VentureStart.
By VStart, on February 9th, 2010
Brett Owens of Chrometa was one of the first entrepreneurs mentored by VentureStart. We recommended “go get customers” rather than trying to raise money from organized investors. He did that and has been growing ever since with an ever-increasing customer base.
Chrometa maintains an excellent blog and today we saw an interesting post on customer support for software companies and its challenges. Take a look and I think you’ll find that Chrometa have met the challenge well with some good thinking. The very fact their blog talks about this is also great marketing. Go Chrometa!
By VStart, on February 9th, 2010
Don’t miss the first annual Sacramento Med Tech Showcase on March 30, 2010 at Sacramento State University. The theme for the 2010 showcase is “Transforming Medicine Through Technology.” Hosted by SARTA’s MedStart Initiative , the event will raise awareness of the medical technology industry and resources in the Sacramento Region and generate excitement about technology developments by companies founded and funded in the region.
The Showcase will feature:
- Exhibit Hall Showcasing Med Tech Companies in the Sacramento Region
- The Next Wave Med Tech Innovators Challenge, co-hosted by VentureStart
- “Telemedicine- New and Exciting Frontiers in Healthcare Delivery” panel discussion
- “Emerging Trends In Med Read More »»
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