Entrepreneurial Law for Start-Ups: Planning for Success

Thinking about founding the next great start-up? Do you have the knowledge and experience to avoid making a mess of the core legal matters? Great! No need for this class! However, if youre looking to develop an understanding of the legal issues involved in starting an entrepreneurial venture with a focus on areas often overlooked or misunderstood by first-time founders, this course is for you! A subtitle for the course could also be how to protect your earliest assets and avoid paying your lawyer a large sum to clean up a mess". The course is taught by a professor with over 19 years legal experience focused on early-stage technology companies (in Silicon Valley and New York) and who taught venture capital and angel finance at Columbia Business School from 2006-2013.During the course, we will explore key areas including: legal structure and choice of entity, including tax implications thereof; corporate maintenance, governance and fiduciary duties; capitalization and dilution; capital raising and the related securities laws and regulations (including the impact of the JOBS Act and crowdfunding); founder relationship issues including responsibility allocation and stockholder agreements; employee and consultant engagement; equity compensation and related valuation and tax issues; intellectual property protection and prosecution; licensing agreements and indemnification obligations. "