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Startup Central

A collection of 504 posts

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Startup Central

Why Clean, Digital Cap Table Management Matters More Than You Think

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Cap table platforms like Carta have become the default way startups and growth-stage companies track ownership, option pools, and convertibles — because investors now expect a clean, digital “single source of truth.” The risk is assuming the software will keep

Isometric cap table on dark field; founders, investors, option band, SAFEs converting, ring chart.

Startup Central

The Cap Table as Legal Document: Beyond the Spreadsheet

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Cap tables quietly determine who owns control, how value flows, and who benefits when a startup grows or exits. Treated as “just a spreadsheet,” they often hide mis‑recorded grants, mismatched totals against the charter, and uncleared SAFEs or

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Startup Central

Catering Contracts for Events: A Legal Guide for Startups

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Why Catering Contracts Can Make or Break Your Next Event Picture a product launch where the caterer arrives late, staffing is thin, and key dietary needs weren’t met — then you realize all you have is an email quote

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Business Formation & Corporate Governance

When a Cooperative Might Be the Best Legal Structure for Your Business

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Why Cooperatives Are Having a Moment When most founders think about business structures, they reach for the familiar: LLC for flexibility, C-corp for venture capital, S-corp for tax efficiency. But there's another option that rarely makes the

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Business Formation & Corporate Governance

Nonprofit or Public Benefit Corporation? How to Choose the Right Structure for Your Mission-Driven Venture

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... You want to build something that matters. A venture that generates revenue while advancing a cause you care deeply about — whether that's environmental sustainability, educational access, or community development. The question isn't whether to embed

Isometric cap table dashboard with diverse team; linked legal docs, SAFEs/options, donut chart.

Business Formation & Corporate Governance

Cap Table Management: A Startup Founder's Complete Guide

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Equity is a startup’s core currency, and the cap table is the single source of truth for who owns what and on what terms. Messy or inaccurate cap tables quietly cause broken financings, founder disputes, loss of key

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Startup Central

Trademark and Domain Strategy for Startups: A Complete Guide

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Startups Can’t Treat Trademarks and Domains as an Afterthought For most startups, your brand name and domain are the first “product experience” a customer, investor, or recruit gets — often before a demo. That makes trademarks and domains operational

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Startup Central

EBITDA vs SDE: How the Metric You Choose Can Change Your Sale Price

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... In small-business and lower-middle-market deals, it's common for negotiations to stall over one deceptively simple question: are we valuing this business on EBITDA or SDE? Brokers, buyers, lenders, and even accountants may talk past each other"

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Startup Central

Startup Cap Table Legal Review: Accuracy, Compliance, and Disputes

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Most startups manage their cap table like a spreadsheet exercise. Investors and acquirers don’t — they treat it like a legal document that must reconcile to signed agreements and approvals. When it doesn’t, small data-entry issues (or “we’

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Intellectual Property & Branding

How Long Do Trademarks Last? Registration, Renewals, and Rights

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... This is a practical guide for founders, in-house counsel, and brand/marketing leaders who need a clean, operational way to keep U.S. trademarks alive. Trademarks can be long-term assets, but federal registrations come with hard maintenance checkpoints tied

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Business Formation & Corporate Governance

Benefits of Series LLCs: When This Structure Actually Helps Your Business

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... When you operate multiple projects, properties, brands, or product lines, the biggest hidden risk is cross-contamination: a lawsuit, debt, or contract problem in one venture can spill into everything else. A Series LLC is designed to reduce that risk

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Startup Central

Broad-Based Weighted Average Anti-Dilution: A Founder's Guide

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Dilution is part of startup life: every new financing usually means issuing more equity, which reduces everyone’s percentage ownership. But down rounds — raising money at a lower price than the last round — create real tension because investors want

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Business Formation & Corporate Governance

Setting Up a Nonprofit for Success: A Practical Legal Guide for Founders

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Why Getting Nonprofit Formation Right Matters Starting a nonprofit is an act of optimism. You believe you can make a difference. But that optimism needs a solid legal foundation. A poorly formed nonprofit can lose its tax-exempt status, expose

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Startup Central

Startup Accounting Agreements: A Legal and Financial Guide

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... If you’re a startup founder, finance lead, or in-house counsel, you may rely on an outside bookkeeper, tax preparer, or fractional CFO long before you build a full finance team. But when the relationship is governed by a

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Startup Central

Carta Cap Tables: How Founders Avoid Legal and Diligence Problems

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... A capitalization table (or “cap table”) is the living record of who owns what in your company — founder stock, option pools, SAFEs/notes, preferred rounds, and any unusual rights that affect economics or control. When the cap table is

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Legal Tech & Automation

Law Firm Workflow Playbook: Automate Intake, Drafting, and Billing

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Early-stage firms often hit a ceiling when growth depends on a few people doing “heroic” manual work — triaging emails, hunting for documents, and remembering follow-ups. The result is predictable: inconsistent client experience, slow turnaround, dropped balls, and partners who

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Fundraising & Financial Regulation

How to Structure a Friends and Family Investment Agreement: A Practical Legal Checklist for Startup Founders

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Many founders start with a friends & family round. The temptation is to keep it informal: a few texts, a quick Venmo, and an understanding that everyone is “in it together.” That informality is exactly what creates problems later.

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Legal Tech & Automation

Law Firm Workflow Automation: Intake, Drafting, and Billing

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Early-stage firms often run on email threads, spreadsheets, and memory — so partners end up doing intake follow-ups, document wrangling, and billing admin on top of legal work. The risk is predictable: missed touches, inconsistent work product, slow cash collection,

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Startup Central

Why Cap Table Accuracy Becomes a Crisis Only When It's Too Late

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... A cap table is the simple, authoritative record of who owns what — shares, options, warrants, SAFEs/notes and how those instruments convert. It sits at the center of ownership, control and value in every startup. Too often founders treat

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Intellectual Property & Branding

How Long Do Trademarks Last? Lifespan, Renewal Timeline, and How to Maintain Protection

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Trademarks are often a startup’s most durable brand asset — but many founders assume that once the USPTO issues a registration, it lasts forever. In reality, rights can quietly erode if you miss maintenance deadlines, stop using the mark

$Futuristic cap table slab: ordered left vs. fractured right; orbiting founder, pool, SAFE chips.$

Business Formation & Corporate Governance

Cap Tables as Founder Leverage: Ownership, Control, and Liability

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Why cap tables are a founder’s hidden leverage (and liability) A cap table (short for capitalization table) is a simple ledger showing who owns what — share classes, options, SAFEs/notes — and therefore where ownership, voting control, and economic

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Startup Central

When and How to Build an Effective Startup Advisory Board

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... In the first 6–18 months of a startup, the biggest constraint usually isn’t ambition — it’s time, context, and access. A well-run advisory board is a lightweight way to borrow experience and networks without expanding your formal

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Guides, Reviews & Commentary

Understanding Label Advances and Recoupment: What Recording Artists Actually Owe

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Many recording artists assume a label advance is just a bank loan they’ll have to pay back out of pocket. That misunderstanding — about advances, recoupment, and royalty bases — drives poor negotiation choices, unnecessary anxiety, and can leave artists

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Fundraising & Financial Regulation

Launching a Hedge Fund: A Founder-Friendly Legal Roadmap

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Launching a hedge fund (or hedge-fund-like private investment vehicle) is less about picking a brand name and opening a brokerage account — and more about setting up the right legal structure, offering framework, and operating rules before you take outside

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Fundraising & Financial Regulation

Why “Simple” Angel Deals Break Later—and How Legal Counsel Prevents It

Table of contents Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Angel investing is early-stage capital from individuals (or angel groups) that typically shows up in pre-seed and seed financings — and it can also look like a “strategic” startup investment by an established business. Because these rounds are often relationship-driven,