What Every Startup Founder Needs to Know About Securities Law

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Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / freedigitalphotos.net

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / freedigitalphotos.net

When you were pacing your room at midnight dreaming up the idea that would be the next big thing, you probably were not thinking about the securities laws, and, honestly, who can blame you?  Now that you want to make that dream a reality, however, you will need to know something about this complex area of the law because it will play a critical role in the success or failure of your startup. The reason the securities laws are so important to your startup is because these are the laws that will allow your startup to raise, or prevent your startup from raising, money from investors. Consequently, whether you are a software startup or a medtech firm, whether you have four cofounders or are running your business alone, whether you are a local business or a national company, if you plan to have investors, the securities laws matter to you.

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4 Tips on Negotiating Startup Office Leases

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Ready to move your startup out of the garage and into real office space? Here are 4 tips on negotiating your startup office lease:

1.  Don’t lease too much, or too little, space.

Image courtesy of Peter Oresved / freedigitalphotos.net

Image courtesy of Peter Oresved / freedigitalphotos.net

For a startup, one of the most challenging aspects of leasing is to determine the right amount of space. Lease too much space, and you will incur substantial, unnecessary costs at a time when your resources are limited. Lease too little space, and you may not be able to grow as quickly as you would like.

To address this issue, try to lease a small amount of space but also try to include a right to expand in your lease. This right can take the form of an option to expand, a right of first offer or a right of first refusal, and it can relate to specific space (for example, the adjacent space) or to any space in the same building that becomes available during the term of your lease.

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