Something we long suspected at StartHerUp and was confirmed by the Dow Jones Study described in Women at the Wheel, Do Female Executives Drive StartUp Success:  “We [Dow Jones] also see that a company’s odds for success (versus unsuccess) increase with more female executives at the VP and director levels.”

When it comes to pitching your start-up, Mother's advice rings true: you only get to make a first impression once. Your new venture’s business plan could be that first impression that gets you the right investors and advisers, or the reason your great start-up idea never gets off the ground.  Moreover, constructing a carefully designed business plan provides a framework for thinking through some of the challenges your start-up will face and can help you refine your strategies. 

With the exception of a handful of college students who start their new businesses  between mid-terms and dorm parties, most entrepreneurs  develop their start-up business ideas when they are employees of other companies.  If you are currently employed when you start your new venture, or even if you recently left a job to begin working on your new business, you must be careful not to run afoul of your former employer’s rights.  Otherwise, you may find yourself with an un-financeable company and, possibly, on the wrong side of a lawsuit. 

Once you have selected that exceptional company name that projects your new venture, there are at least three different processes to undertake in order to truly secure that name and have it become a brand.  If you only get one of those three name rights, you may not be able to garner all of the brand recognition your enterprise needs, and you may be competing with other businesses for claims to that outstanding name. 

Otherwise flourishing companies can get seriously derailed by dysfunctional or even just ineffectual Boards of Directors.  Whom you choose to be on your start-up’s board of directors is at least as important as any hiring decision you will make for your young company.  Read on to find out more about what a Board of Directors actually does, and what you should look for when choosing your all-star team.

With the technology community a-twitter over stories of patent trolls ravaging the start-up landscape,  runaway mobile patent wars, and blooming secondary IP markets, many early-stage entrepreneurs find themselves considering whether or not to seek patents around their technologies. But what are the real benefits of patents, and what kinds of things are even eligible for such protection?  The answer to both questions is: More than you might think. 

Whether a “C” corporation, an “S” corporation or a limited liability company (known as an “LLC”) is the best form of entity for your business will be based upon tax considerations, your intentions for financing and managing your business, as well as your long term goals for the later stages of your business.  So, which one is right for you? Here, we break down these entity types and what they mean. 

Although good legal counsel can help you avoid costly mistakes, legal counsel can also be costly to your start-up’s budget.  Below are five steps you can take in advance of your first working meeting with your counsel to get the best legal start-up advice while keeping your legal expenses under control.