Every entrepreneur wants to protect their idea. Confidentiality is key to safeguarding intellectual property, and it’s only natural to want to protect your product or service so that you can get it to market before a competitor can. At first glance, when meeting with potential investors, asking them to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) may…
Month: November 2013
The Impact of Media Portrayals on Private Equity and Venture Capital
Americans love their reality television. So, it is no surprise that ABC would choose to broadcast a reality competition every Friday at 9 PM. What might be more surprising is the show’s subject matter. The judges on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” are not entertainment industry insiders. Instead of looking for America’s next big star, they are…
Entrepreneurs – Have No Fear, The AIA Is Here
As is often discussed, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) has created a lot of positive buzz with innovators and creators looking to equity crowdfund their ideas to avoid traditional forms of funding. There is no question that the government mandated crowdfunding process will save entrepreneurs the hassle of dealing with complex SEC…
With Single Class of Shares, Twitter’s IPO Breaks Industry Trend
For its Initial Public Offering, Twitter, Inc. hopes to differentiate itself from its competitors.1 It has tried to do this from day one. In its recent S-1 filing, the media and technology company broke a long running industry trend by offering a single class of shares to the public.2 In the past decade, beginning with…
Another Look at JPMorgan’s $13.1 Billion Settlement
Recently, JPMorgan Chase (“JPMorgan”) negotiated a tentative settlement of a record $13.1 billion with the U.S. Justice Department over mortgage lending practices.1 While some news outlets have portrayed this as politicized government overreach or anti-Wall Street zealotry2, others have argued that the government could (or should) have forced JPMorgan to pay “significantly more than thirteen…