Bend Law Group Blog | SF Small Business & Startup Lawyer
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We are proud to be recognized as one of the top business law firms in California. We help small business owners and startups launch their companies, fund their ongoing activities, and serve as their outside general counsel so they can focus on successfully running their business.
Bend Law Group Blog | SF Small Business & Startup Lawyer
10h ago
By: Alyssa Ziegenhorn
When forming a new business, it’s important to make sure the ownership interest in the business is clear. Whether you are forming a C-corp, an S-corp, or an LLC, ownership of some kind is going to be distributed between the founders. We’ve discussed the importance of signing a stock purchase agreement; the same goes for an Operating Agreement in an LLC which outlines the membership interest percentage of each member.
If you are receiving shares of a corporation or a membership interest in an LLC, you may see a “spousal consent form” with your spouse’s name and some form o ..read more
Bend Law Group Blog | SF Small Business & Startup Lawyer
1w ago
Doug partnered with Pilot.com and Founder Shield on a webinar on Beyond Bills: Leveraging Accounting, Finance & Insurance for Growth in 2024. You can learn about his journey building Bend Law Group & insights on how to grow a successful professional service company here.
Disclaimer: This article discusses general legal issues and developments. Such materials are for informational purposes only and may not reflect the most current law in your jurisdiction. These informational materials are not intended, and should not be taken, as legal advice on ..read more
Bend Law Group Blog | SF Small Business & Startup Lawyer
2w ago
This article was first published by the Young Entrepreneur Council.
By: Doug Bend
International companies that are looking to expand into the U.S. market often form a U.S. subsidiary. By doing so, they help isolate any liability that might arise in the U.S. to the subsidiary to protect the parent company. There are seven steps to forming the subsidiary:
1. Certificate of Incorporation
More than half of all Fortune 500 companies and most U.S. subsidiaries are formed in Delaware because it is the preference of investors.
You first will need to file a Certificate of Inco ..read more
Bend Law Group Blog | SF Small Business & Startup Lawyer
1M ago
This article was originally published on Forbes.
By: Doug Bend
The road to onerous corporate compliance is paved with good intentions. I believe there is no better example than the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which took effect on January 1, 2024. The goal of the CTA is to combat money laundering by requiring business entities to report their beneficial owners. However, there are strict deadlines and steep penalties for noncompliance, so owners must understand the CTA and how it might affect their businesses.
Explaining The Corporate Transparency Act
Under the CTA, certain businesses are ..read more
Bend Law Group Blog | SF Small Business & Startup Lawyer
4M ago
Doug was recently quoted in an article on Forbes and about how you need to be wary of potential bad actors when you sell your business “[c]ompetitors often express an interest in purchasing a business merely to gain as much information about that business as possible with no intent of actually completing the purchase. Be sure to have a solid mutual non-disclosure agreement in place before you share any of your confidential information, and trust your gut before you share too much of your company’s secret sauce.”
If you are interested in reading the remaining factors to consider when selling yo ..read more
Bend Law Group Blog | SF Small Business & Startup Lawyer
1y ago
This articles was originally published in Forbes.
By: Doug Bend
For a variety of reasons, most startups that are looking to grow and scale are Delaware corporations.
If you would like to change the full legal name of your Delaware corporation that is also registered to do business in California after it has been formed, there are ten steps:
1. Board And Shareholders’ Consents
First, you will need to have a shareholders meeting and a board of directors meeting, or written consents in lieu of the meetings, to approve the name change.
2. Amendment To The Certificate Of Incorporation
Second ..read more
Bend Law Group Blog | SF Small Business & Startup Lawyer
1y ago
By: Alyssa Ziegenhorn
You had a great idea, and you’ve just started your company – congratulations! At this early stage, the company is most likely just you and a few close friends or relatives. Without a large roster of executives, employees, and investors to keep track of, you might think that it isn’t necessary to document your company’s stock ownership with a stock purchase agreement. After all, you and your sibling/college roommate/spouse are the only owners of the business. It’s obvious who owns the shares.
Or is it? Often founders of early-stage companies don’t feel it necessary to exec ..read more
Bend Law Group Blog | SF Small Business & Startup Lawyer
1y ago
This article was originally published in Forbes.
By: Doug Bend
We have helped dozens of startups raise their seed round of financing. Most of these companies have used the template Simple Agreement for Future Equity (better known as a SAFE) with a valuation cap that Y Combinator has open-sourced here.
One of the best attributes of the SAFE is the S, which stands for “simple” because only a few terms typically need to be negotiated with an investor. This helps to decrease the amount of time that the founders and the company’s attorney need to spend on negotiating terms.
The most important ..read more
Bend Law Group Blog | SF Small Business & Startup Lawyer
1y ago
By: Vivek Vaidya
When a trademark application is filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), it is examined for a host of issues including whether there are confusingly similar trademarks that have already registered. However, the USPTO doesn’t perform a deep dive of actual use when a trademark application is first filed, so it is possible that a trademark may register fraudulently in the US, even though the registrant never sold a good or provided a service in the country.
For years, the only way to challenge a trademark registration was through Cancellation Procee ..read more
Bend Law Group Blog | SF Small Business & Startup Lawyer
1y ago
This article was originally published on Forbes.
By: Doug Bend
Startups raising their first round of capital have to decide which type of investment vehicle to use.
The two most popular options are convertible promissory notes and SAFEs, or simple agreement for future equity.
Convertible promissory notes and SAFEs are similar in that the startup gets investment capital now in exchange for the investor having an opportunity for their investment to convert into equity if there is a triggering event—such as a Series A round—down the road. A key difference is, unlike convertible promissory notes ..read more