Annapolis Startup Attorneys & Lawyers

Updated November 2, 2020: 

Preferred stock is a special class of equity that adds debt features. As with common stock, shareholders receive a share of ownership in the company. Preferred stock also receives special rights, including guaranteed dividends that must be paid out before dividends to common shareholders, priority in the event of a liquidation, is listed separately from common stock, and trades at a different price than common stock.

Why Is Preferred Stock Important?

Preferred stock gives you a financing alternative to taking on debt. You generally maintain greater control over your company than if you issue new common shares.

You can also re

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Updated October 28, 2020:

What Is Carried Interest?

Carried interest, also known as carry, is a share in the profits that general partners receive in compensation for the management of a venture capital fund. These profits can be long-term gains, dividends, short-term gains, or interest and a total of 20 to 25 percent of the fund's profits. However, general partners aren't required to invest their own money. Instead, these funds are intended as motivation for a general partner that is only available at the sale of the fund.

The best way to picture carried interest is through an example. Imagine you give a friend $100 to put on roulette when they go to Vegas, and they win $200. If you agreed to a 20 percent cut for your friend, you'll pay $20 on the interest. This is how carried interest

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Updated August 18, 2020: 

In the business world, companies merge all the time. Today startups are doing the same to expand and change the way they do business. An acquisition involves buying a company and changing it to fit the way you do business. The goal is to create a new company made of the best parts of your business and the proven parts of another.

A startup would buy another business for various reasons. These reasons include access to new technology and access to new markets. Buying a company can mean being able to make new products and having access to new resources or fresh management talent. However, if you handle an acquisition poorly, your business could take on the mistakes of a broken organization and heavy losses.

Here is a step-by-step guide of how a startup acquires another company.

1. Make a Plan

Look at the reasons to buy a compan

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Updated June 23, 2020:

Intellectual Property Protection

Intellectual Property Protection is protection for inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names, and images created by the mind. Learn how you can protect your intellectual property by using: Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, and Copyrights.

Intellectual Property Protection Explained

Entrepreneurs and business owners need to understand the basics of intellectual property (IP) law to best protect their hard-earned creations and ideas from unfair competition. Intellectual property includes distinctive items that you have created and ones that give you an economic benefit.

Seek professional experience from an

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Updated June 19, 2020:

The law states that a DBA California filing is required when sole proprietors, partnerships, limited liability companies, or corporations want to do business.

Registering a DBA California allows your company to operate under a different name than what was used at the time of formation. Your company's reputation is everything. Your choice of a name will be the foundation of your brand and your business relationships. There are many reasons why you might want to start with a clean slate and choose a “doing business as,” commonly called a DBA name, other than your own name or the name you originally registered with the California Secretary of State.

Registering a DBA name allows you the right to operate a business under any name other than the legal name of the company or individual. Making this important name change can be straightforward, but there are several hoops to jump through and many considerations along the

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