General Business
What’s The Difference Between A Small Business And A Startup?

What’s the difference between a small business and a startup? Structurally – a lot. Operationally – not much. And I’ll explore that throughout this series. To me, startups are a subset of small businesses. They are both initially owned by […]


General Business
If I Were Starting A Business…

There has never been a better time to start a business. The power of the internet coupled with plummeting startup costs (and if you’re in the US – advantageous tax regulations) creates the perfect backdrop for anyone looking to start […]


General Business
Hosting a Board Meeting? Here’s how to do it well.

Board meetings are essential to running a startup. While formal meetings are often neglected during the early stages of a startup, they quickly become a required quarterly event once a startup accepts institutional capital. Hosting the company’s first board meeting […]


Fantasy Sports & Gaming
New Jersey DFS Update

New Jersey became the 16th state to enact fantasy sports legislation when Governor Chris Christie approved bill A3532 on Thursday. The law contains standard tax and regulatory provisions. The 10.5% tax on gross revenue will generate huge profits for the […]


Fantasy Sports & Gaming
Maine is Latest State to Legalize Daily Fantasy Sports

Maine On August 2nd, Maine joined four other states to become the fifth this year to legalize daily fantasy sports. Fifteen states currently have DFS laws on the books that allow for legal play. Maine’s victory was narrowly won—Governor Paul […]


Funding & Capital Raising
How much equity should I grant to advisors?

Clients regularly ask a variation of the above question, replacing advisor with CTO, COO, sales manager, front-end engineer, etc. It’s a great question. And one with varying answers and consequences depending on a company’s lifecycle stage. As a founder, one must understand that a company who has completed a late-stage financing round (Series A, Series B, etc.) can’t dispense equity like a fledgling startup can. Why not?


Funding & Capital Raising
VW Venture Deals Year in Review 2016

In December of 2015, we released a three-year audit of early stage venture deals facilitated by VW and felt that the data was an indicator of early-stage financing trends and the good health of the venture industry in DFW. We’ve just […]


VW Abroad
Why We’re Sending a First-Year Attorney to Portugal

We feel strongly that employees can be productive remotely and that travel will actually motivate and develop them, and make them better employees. Rad and I are calling this Desk Independence™, and we believe it’s the next big thing.


Pitching/Decks
Getting To “No”

One of the biggest frustrations we hear from our clients about the capital raise process is that VCs are non-responsive or unwilling to make a firm investment decision. To help with this, I reached out to several VCs whom we see on a regular basis to ask for their input.


Franchise Taxes
Do I Really Owe Delaware $75,000??? Explaining Delaware Franchise Tax Calculations

Every year around January or February we receive frantic calls and emails from a handful of clients who are utterly shocked by the franchise bill they just received from Delaware. “How can I owe $75,075 in franchise taxes??? We don’t have that kind of cash; do I have to raise more money just to pay this bill? Does this happen every year??”