Posts Tagged ‘diligence’

Walker Twitter Highlights: July 2nd – 15th

by Scott Edward Walker on July 16th, 2012

I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues.  Below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) for the past two weeks and a few blog-related tweets.  If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here.  Cheers, Scott

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Doing Deals – 3 Tips for Entrepreneurs (Part 3)

by Scott Edward Walker on August 25th, 2011

Introduction

I’ve been doing deals as a corporate lawyer for 17+ years, and there are certain fundamental mistakes that I’ve seen entrepreneurs make over and over again.  Accordingly, I thought it would be helpful to share three basic tips in connection with doing deals.  This is part three of a three-part series, which was originally posted on Forbes.

In part one, I discussed the importance of being careful with letters of intent, creating a competitive environment and using your lawyer as a “bad cop.”  In part two, I discussed the importance of checking your emotions and remaining disciplined, not blinking first and leaving some chips on the table.

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The Biggest Legal Mistakes That Startups Make – Part 2

by Scott Edward Walker on May 27th, 2011

Below is a video of the presentation I made a few weeks ago at CoLoft in Santa Monica (referred to in the tech community as “Silicon Beach”); it is part 2 of 2 of “The Biggest Legal Mistakes That Startups Make.”  You can watch part 1 here.  I hope you enjoy it.  Cheers, Scott

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“Ask the Business Attorney” – What Are the Biggest Legal Mistakes that Startups Make?

by Scott Edward Walker on June 9th, 2010

Introduction

This post was originally part of my “Ask the Attorney” series which I am writing for VentureBeat (one of the most popular websites for entrepreneurs).  Below is a longer, more comprehensive version — with ten mistakes, instead of six.

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Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Jeff Clavier

by Scott Edward Walker on May 20th, 2010

To Our Clients & Friends:  Welcome to our new weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we will post a short video interview of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of relevant topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.

Earlier this week, we presented Naval Ravikant.  Today (as a bonus interview for this week), we present Jeff Clavier, the founder and Managing Partner of SoftTech VC, who discusses what he looks for in startups (“it’s people, product, market”) and diligence issues.  I hope you enjoy it.  Thanks, Scott

Doing Deals in the New Decade: 7 Tips for Entrepreneurs

by Scott Edward Walker on January 20th, 2010

Introduction

This post is a longer, more comprehensive version of the post I wrote a couple of weeks ago for VentureHacks, one of the best websites for startups, in which I recommended five New Year’s resolutions for entrepreneurs.  Indeed, as I noted in that post, during my 15+ years as a corporate lawyer (including nearly eight years at two major law firms New York City), I have seen entrepreneurs make certain fundamental mistakes over and over again in connection with doing deals.  So what better way to welcome in the new decade than to provide seven basic tips for entrepreneurs.

(Message to all of my female clients and readers: (i) the term “guys” includes “gals”; and (ii) in tip #6, you can decide what the term “balls” includes.)

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Angel Financings: Five Tips for Entrepreneurs – Part 2

by Scott Edward Walker on December 16th, 2009

Introduction

This is part two of my two-part series on angel financings.  In part one, I provided the following five tips for entrepreneurs: (i) push for the issuance of convertible notes; (ii) understand the key business terms; (iii) diligence the angel(s); (iv) never subject yourself to personal liability; and (v) comply with applicable securities laws.  Below are five additional tips for entrepreneurs to help them through the angel financing process.  Obviously, this is still a difficult environment in which to raise capital; however, I am confident that 2010 will bring greener pastures.

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Techcrunch Gets It Wrong Re Tweetphoto CEO (Plus, Lessons For Entrepreneurs)

by Scott Edward Walker on November 19th, 2009

Introduction

Yesterday evening, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch posted an interesting piece entitled “TweetPhoto CEO Says Too Much In Interview, Gets Fired. And That’s Just The Beginning…” (which has been subsequently re-posted throughout the blogosphere).  Unfortunately, Arrington has gotten his facts all wrong — at least according to Dan Caulfield, the CEO in question.

Arrington sets forth in his post that Caulfield “apparently said too much in [his podcast] interview [with Frank Peters], disclosing confidential information about partnerships [and] was fired by the company for the transgression.”  In the comments section to the post, however, Caulfield denied that there was any connection between his firing and the interview.  First, yesterday evening, he noted that: “I conducted this interview on [the] Morning of Nov 9th.  It had nothing to do with me leaving the company”; and then, this morning, he added that: “I was terminated a week prior to anyone hearing the interview.  Events not connected.”  Caulfield also retweeted the TechCrunch link to the post yesterday evening with a “Totally false!” insertion. (more…)

Five Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make in Dealmaking – Part I

by Scott Edward Walker on September 29th, 2009

I’ve been doing deals as a corporate attorney for over 15 years, including nearly eight years in the trenches at two major law firms in New York City; and during that period, I have seen certain mistakes made by entrepreneurs (and inexperienced deal guys) over and over again.  The purpose of this post (which is part I of a series) is to discuss the following five basic mistakes made by entrepreneurs in connection with corporate transactions: (1) the failure to diligence the guys on the other side of the table; (2) the failure to build a strong transaction team; (3) the failure to run the negotiations through the lawyers; (4) the failure to check their emotions and to remain disciplined; and (5) blinking first.  The video version of this post is set forth immediately below.

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