VW Blog

A client, who had already raised some money and thus had a few people on his cap table, came in recently with a term sheet whereby the prospective investor had requested “anti-dilution” protection. If you’re not familiar with anti-dilution, it […]

As I’ve discussed before, the four external pillars of any small business are a lawyer, a CPA, a banker, and an insurance broker. Each of these professionals will be critical to the growth and health of your business. The first […]

Between the law firm, other startups I’ve started, and advising clients, I’ve interacted with hundreds of designers and developers through the years. The most critical thing that I’ve learned is that design is about input, not output. Let me give […]

Failure to have a clear written agreement with developers is the most frequent problem I see with early-stage companies. And one that is completely avoidable. Here are a few common issues.

Okay – it’s time to actually form the business. You’ve built your pitch deck, received feedback from naysayers, visited with your attorney, and worked out the structure with your co-founders. The next step is to incorporate your company so that […]

Vesting is the process whereby a recipient of equity earns the equity, or the right to purchase it in the case of options, over time. As I mentioned in my last post, the typical schedule is 4 years with a 1-year cliff. […]

One of the biggest mistakes that startups make is failing to place vesting conditions on founders’ equity. Here’s an example: Two founders, Adam and Blake, are working on their startup, and everything is butterflies and rainbows. They have a great […]

A question I often hear from startups when discussing initial legal work is, “How much will this cost?” This is the wrong question – most startups are looking at their legal expense the wrong way. They should be asking, “How […]