Part 1: Legal Issues
Topics:
- Identifying and dealing with legal issues in a new venture
- Securities laws —how to avoid going to jail without passing go and without collecting $200
- Intellectual property law —patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets
- Major hidden tax traps in starting a business—how to avoid generating phantom income and taxes
- General questions and answers on legal issues for the entrepreneur—what you always wanted to know about the law but were afraid to ask/pay for
Readings
Read articles by Joe Hadzima from the Boston Business Journal’s “Starting Up” Column:
- “Issues in Structuring Relationships Among Members of the Founder Team."
- “Steer Clear of the Tempest: A Startup Tragedy in Three Acts." (PDF)
- “Ten Commandments of How to Work Effectively with Lawyers." (PDF)
- “Questions of Copyright—Another Weapon in Your Intellectual Property Arsenal." (PDF)
- “The Importance of Patents: It Pays to Know Patent Rules."
- “Of Kleenex and Cheez Whiz—Trademarks Are Nothing to Sneeze At." (PDF)
Speaker
Joe Hadzima, senior lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management; serial entrepreneur, mentor, and investor.
Slides
Session 3, Part 1 Slides (PPTx) (PDF)
Video
Joseph Hadzima covers general questions about legal issues for the entrepreneur, including securities law, intellectual property, and taxes, among other topics.
Part 2: Organizational and People Issues
Most ventures which fail do so because of people issues, not technology, market, or funding issues. What people are needed to take an idea and make it a reality? How do you identify good team members and avoid problems? We will discuss building both external and internal teams, and developing and implementing a philosophy for the business. This session will tackle such questions as the following:
- In a world that seems focused on advancement via technology, how important is it to build a top-quality team?
- Do you have a story about when you made a really good hire?
- How about one where you did this badly?
- What were the key differences between the good hires and the bad hires?
- How has this changed your approach to interviewing for new hires? Are you better at hiring?
- How do you keep your team focused and motivated? How do you motivate, recognize and reward top performance?
- What about firing? Have you ever done it? What can you share about that experience?
- What are the pros and cons of issuing stock/options and how does that affect the culture of the company you’re building?
We will discuss “people issues” with a panel assembled by Vivian Vitale:
- Alison Bayiates, chief people officer at Veracode, whose solutions provide intelligent software security
- Michele Bonenfant, senior director, Global People Operations at Quickbase, a work management platform used by more than 12,000 organizations
- Kim Crowley, group vice president, Human Resources-Laboratory Products Group at Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science
Readings
- Timmons, Jeffrey A. New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century. Chapter 7, “The New Venture Team.” Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 1999. ISBN: 9780256197563.
- Gil, Elad. High Growth Handbook. Chapter 3, “Recruiting, Hiring and Managing Talent.” Stripe Press, 2018. ISBN: 9781732265103
Speaker
Vivian Vitale, organizational consultant, resource executive-founder led companies
Vivian Vitale is currently operating a consulting practice which assists organizations in developing their people management practices, providing guidance and support in organizational transitions, and coaching leaders for success. She is also an independent Board Director of NetScout Systems (Compensation Chair, Nominating and Governance) and Progress Software (Compensation and Nominating and Governance), a Director of Vera3, an investment company and is on the Advisory Boards of Surprise HR, a company focused on innovative employee recognition solution, and Quantuvos, a quality online executive coaching firm. Ms. Vitale has over 30 years of experience in people management in high technology organizations; the last 20 years as part of the leadership teams of RSA Security, Unica Corporation, Care.com, and, most recently, Veracode. She is passionate about creating high performance cultures that focus on results, developing leaders and preparing organizations for succession.
Community involvement and charitable giving are important to Ms. Vitale. As a mentor and volunteer, she serves on the Advisory Board of E for all Roxbury, Massachusetts, a nonprofit organization providing education and training to aspiring entrepreneurs. Ms. Vitale is also a member of the Board of Directors of Family Services of Merrimack Valley, an organization providing support services to families in the greater Lawrence area. She also provides pro bono HR support to several local non-profit organizations. In her free time, Ms. Vitale enjoys travel, music and spending time with her family and friends.
Video
This panel discussion addresses issues around building and maintaining a team of people to support your venture.
