Episode 0032 | Handling Legal Matters during Startup Phase

09/04/19 • 76 min

Get Funded Today: The Funded Today Podcast

In this episode, you’re going to hear from our very own in-house legal counsel here at Funded Today, Thomas Alvord. He’s going to give you the insider’s look at everything you should be considering when it comes to business law, contracts, and just running your new business. So let’s get started...

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⭐ During this episode, we detail these takeaways:

1. Entrepreneurs should prioritize developing a viable business over protecting themselves legally, as the latter is pointless without (and funded by) the former, and they should expect legal issues to grow in proportion to their business size.

2. Entrepreneurs in the USA should minimize their taxes by chartering a “holding company” to own their business, limit their personal liability by incorporating their business (perhaps initially as an LLC that transitions eventually into either a C corp or an S corp), obtain a federal EIN for their business, and transact all business in its name.

3. Business owners should choose their first hires (who may become their biggest competitors) carefully, hire them with non-compete agreements, and always treat their employees well.

4. Business owners should compose brief clear contracts with good mechanisms for resolving disputes, and always try to resolve disputes amicably before resorting to either arbitration or expensive lawsuits.

5. Business owners should seek legal counsel as necessary, but minimize use of lawyers, as they are expensive and may sometimes prioritize their own interests above their clients’ interests.

6. Crowdfunding campaigners should ensure that they are not violating any intellectual property rights before launching campaigns, but avoid paying excessive attention to filing for trademarks and copyrights and patents (which may include provisional patents).

7. Amazon sellers should obtain US trademarks, which will enable them to enhance their Amazon listings with valuable “enhanced brand content.”

✍️ Click here for this episode’s complete show notes!

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👉 We want to help as many people as we can; so, if this podcast helps you, then we urge you to please...

• Subscribe to it on our website so that you don't miss an episode!

• Discuss it in our private Facebook group with us and fellow entrepreneurs! Join this group to network for success and to get personalized answers to all of your business questions!

• Review it on iTunes to help us reach more people who need it!

• And tell all of your associates who might benefit from it!

We rely on YOU to help spread the word!!!

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⭐ During this episode, we detail these takeaways:

3. Business owners should choose their first hires (who may become their biggest competitors) carefully, hire them with non-compete agreements, and always treat their employees well.

5. Business owners should seek legal counsel as necessary, but minimize use of lawyers, as they are expensive and may sometimes prioritize their own interests above their clients’ interests.

7. Amazon sellers should obtain US trademarks, which will enable them to enhance their Amazon listings with valuable “enhanced brand content.”

✍️ Click here for this episode’s complete show notes!

----------------------------------------------------------------

👉 We want to help as many people as we can; so, if this podcast helps you, then we urge you to please...

• Subscribe to it on our website so that you don't miss an episode!

• Discuss it in our private Facebook group with us and fellow entrepreneurs! Join this group to network for success and to get personalized answers to all of your business questions!

• Review it on iTunes to help us reach more people who need it!

• And tell all of your associates who might benefit from it!

We rely on YOU to help spread the word!!!

Previous Episode

Episode 0031 | Crowdfunding Stories: Rob Peck & FlexSafe

As promised, we’re bringing on one of our past clients, namely Rob Peck of AquaVault. He’s got a very unique perspective and I think you’re going to love it. So are you ready to learn directly from an actual Kickstarter creator who raised over $200,000 on a project? What about learning more about how to absolutely crush a “Shark Tank” appearance? Or are you just curious about the day-to-day hustle-and-grind of entrepreneurship? If so, then today’s episode is for you! Let’s get started...

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⭐ During this episode, we detail these takeaways:

1. Entrepreneurship involves faith, capital, and persistence despite figurative headaches.

2. Entrepreneurs should identify a sufficiently-common problem (while noting that cures are easier to sell than prevention) that nobody else is solving well enough, innovate a product to solve that problem, and engage in market testing (perhaps at trade shows) to ensure that their product is actually desirable, as well as to refine it—and such feedback will prove whether-or-not an idea is truly worth pursuing.

3. Entrepreneurs may use crowdfunding not only to raise funds to start mass-production, but also to obtain both feedback and “brand ambassadors,” plus to show proof-of-concept that can leverage a better deal on “Shark Tank.”

4. Entrepreneurs may use “Shark Tank” to get both a good deal and good publicity, but should note that they likely won’t ever get televised unless they show something sufficiently different and/or entertaining that will appeal well to television audiences.

5. Entrepreneurs should perpetually reach out to relevant retailers and reporters and interest groups and such.

6. Entrepreneurs should note that growth is both expensive and challenging; they may want to form specific long-term plans to leverage what they already have in order to obtain loans to fund what they know for sure will work, and they should always seek deals that are mutually-beneficial to all parties involved.

7. Entrepreneurs should manage others with the right balance between oversight and autonomy.

✍️ Click here for this episode’s complete show notes!

----------------------------------------------------------------

👉 We want to help as many people as we can; so, if this podcast helps you, then we urge you to please...

• Subscribe to it on our website so that you don't miss an episode!

• Discuss it in our private Facebook group with us and fellow entrepreneurs! Join this group to network for success and to get personalized answers to all of your business questions!

• Review it on iTunes to help us reach more people who need it!

• And tell all of your associates who might benefit from it!

We rely on YOU to help spread the word!!!

Next Episode

Episode 0033 | Ultimate Crowdfunding Pre-Launch Checklist

As promised, we’re going to break out our newly-minted Ultimate Crowdfunding Pre-Launch Checklist! And, after this episode, we’re going to give it away to you for free... no catches. And you can start using it to prepare yourself to take your next big idea to the next level. So, hang in there until the end and let’s get started!

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⭐ During this episode, we detail these takeaways:

1. Entrepreneurs should commit to success, improve both their character and their competence, obey the Golden Rule, build a good team, lead them well, and focus on customers.

2. Crowdfunding campaigners should offer the crowdfunding community a minimally-viable tangible product that is sufficiently new to them, that is neither too “niche” nor too localized, that has been refined through market-testing into a functional prototype, that enjoys an appealing form, an easily-pronounceable positive name, and adequate legal protection.

3. Crowdfunding campaigners should set minimal funding goals (and consider “stretch” goals) while assembling rewards packages from their core product up to pricier options, each with persuasive descriptions, plus prices ending in 9; prices should accommodate production costs, platform fees, marketing costs, collection/transfer fees, data management, “free” packaging/shipping, returns, taxes, and the unexpected, along with both “early bird” and bulk discounts.

4. Crowdfunding campaigners should join Kickstarter and/or Indiegogo, familiarize themselves with these websites’ rules and features, back some projects, and plan to launch on Kickstarter if at all possible.

5. Crowdfunding campaigners should allow at least 2 months to prepare, avoid campaigning during either December or possibly August, expect unexpected delays, launch either in-season or when ready between Monday and Wednesday (except on major US holidays) while it’s still morning in the USA, campaign for 30-45 days, and finish between Wednesday and Friday before it becomes evening in the USA.

6. Crowdfunding campaigners should practice their “sales pitch” to perfection, appealing to both emotion and reason by showing-and-telling both features-and-benefits through plain honest conversational language friendly to a global audience, supported by positive reviews, and then translate that pitch into persuasive campaign media.

7. Crowdfunding campaigners should familiarize themselves with analytics, and arrange as many pledges as possible in advance from personal or business contacts, e-mail leads, social-media fans, social-media influencers, reporters, and others, while preparing to engage in post-launch marketing plus effective customer service.

✍️ Click here for this episode’s complete show notes!

----------------------------------------------------------------

👉 We want to help as many people as we can; so, if this podcast helps you, then we urge you to please...

• Subscribe to it on our website so that you don't miss an episode!

• Discuss it in our private Facebook group with us and fellow entrepreneurs! Join this group to network for success and to get personalized answers to all of your business questions!

• Review it on iTunes to help us reach more people who need it!

• And tell all of your associates who might benefit from it!

We rely on YOU to help spread the word!!!