As an entrepreneur, you start a business with only one goal in mind: success. A bright future awaits as the reward for your investment of money and toil. Failure is not an option, and it sure isn’t something you want to spend your precious time thinking about. How can you protect personal assets if your startup fails?
For most startups and/or small businesses, large sums of cash are not always readily available. Stock options or equity awards are a creative way for companies to incentivize employees or service providers with non-cash compensation. Often, these awards are known as stock option plans, equity incentive plans, or phantom equity. They are provided through a written agreement indicating how many shares the recipient is to receive, and when. Most plans require the recipient to be employed with or providing services to the business for a certain length.
The proliferation of technology has seen many companies, both startups and developed, take their business online. While it may be easy to set up an e-commerce platform/website, there are legal requirements that you should observe to remain compliant and in line with internet and data privacy laws.
Here we highlight a few requirements you should have in mind while starting a website to be on the right side of the law.
Rebranding your company or your products is a big decision. You want to put your best foot forward to your customers and provide them with the high-quality product they expect from you. At the same time, you want to ensure that you protect yourself and your brand. Make sure you keep these potential legal challenges in mind when rebranding.
To the surprise of many entrepreneurs and small business owners, you can’t just go out and start doing business wherever you want. You have to register your business, follow labor laws, and obey local licensing requirements. If your business is expanding into other states, mazel tov, your company is growing! Now for the bad part, things just got a whole lot more complicated. Instead of trying to comply with one state’s laws, now you have to figure out the laws of other states as well. But what exactly does this mean for your business? Do you have to comply with the laws of every state you are in? In this blog, we’ll discuss how you protect your company if you do business in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut (the “Tri-state area”).
Capital for your startup typically comes from one of three places: self-funding, debt financing, or equity financing. If you’ve chosen to raise capital through equity financing that means you are most likely relying on investors. Money is never free; even Uncle Sam gets his share if you win the lottery. Investors expect a certain amount of return and/or equity in your company when they invest. Yet, you still need to protect your interests and not give away the farm. Protecting your stake in your startup requires clear and formal documentation to solidify any agreement you make with investors.