Evolution Of The Entrepreneur-VC Relationship - WilmerHale Launch
Buzzwords from the last few months of 2015 included unicorpse, bubble and contracting market, juxtaposed with new and bigger funds being raised, more money being invested, more unicorns being born and the number of mega-rounds increasing....

European Commission Announces Framework for EU-US Privacy Shield - WilmerHale Launch
As a follow up to our earlier blog post, as anticipated, the European Commission released the framework for the EU-US Privacy Shield, which replaces the invalidated transatlantic Safe Harbor Program, a system that had authorized thousands...

How Misunderstanding a Startup’s ‘Valuation Cap’ Can Get Expensive - WilmerHale Launch
Entrepreneurs and investors often discuss a “valuation cap” when they’re negotiating convertible notes or convertible securities. But the parties may have different understandings of how that cap works.

New Crowdfunding Rules for Issuers: Opportunities or Landmines? - Part III - WilmerHale Launch
This is the third and final portion of our three-part blog post series exploring Regulation Crowdfunding and its provisions. The final rules are expected to become effective on May 16, 2016. The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”),...

New Crowdfunding Rules for Issuers: Opportunities or Landmines? - Part II - WilmerHale Launch
This is the second of our blog posts exploring Regulation Crowdfunding and its provisions before the final rules become effective on May 16, 2016. As directed by Congress under the JOBS Act of 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission...

New Crowdfunding Rules for Issuers: Opportunities or Landmines? - Part I - WilmerHale Launch
As directed by Congress under the JOBS Act of 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently adopted final rules to permit equity “crowdfunding,” characterized by the SEC as “a relatively new and evolving method of using...

Liquidity in Private Companies - WilmerHale Launch
Traditionally, the management and investors of venture-backed companies would begin considering an exit for the company—an IPO or acquisition—as it entered the growth phase. Today, however, more and more companies (particularly in...

Liquidation Preference and Why it Matters - WilmerHale Launch
Assume you have been working on your startup for a year now, have raised one round of funding, and an acquisition offer of $20 million comes your way. As a founder and the majority shareholder, you will see most of this $20 million,...

Put Down That Hammer: Four Times When a DIY Approach Is Guaranteed To Backfire - WilmerHale Launch
As a founder, you need to be scrappy, take care of that bottom-line. We get that, we’re all for a DIY approach when it makes sense (psst we even help you do that through our very free document generator). But, there is a fine line....

“Privacy Shield” to Replace Safe Harbor as a Path for Transatlantic Transfers of Personal Data - WilmerHale Launch
From WilmerHale's Cybersecurity, Privacy and Communications Practice. After months of debate about the fate of the US-EU Privacy Safe Harbor that thousands of companies used to lawfully obtain personal data from the European Union,...