Table of Contents

Your Basic Startup Plan: Step-by-Step
Find Partners For Early Funding
Select an Experienced Lawyer to Avoid
Razor Blades in the Soup
Build a Solid Core Team
Select the Right Business Entity and State for Registration
Get Your Company’s Paperwork in Order
Use Non-Disclosure (NDA) and Non-Compete Agreements
Protect Your Intellectual Property
Create Personnel and Offering Documents
Hire an Accountant and Minimize Tax Surprises
Select the Best Ways to Compensate Employees
Create a Board of Directors/Board of Advisors
Do Extensive Market Research—Define What “It” Is
Design a Simple Prototype, a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and Field Test It
Examples of the Failure to Plan: Fire, Ready, Aim at the Cowboy Café

Big Risks in Sheep’s Clothing
What is Risk Management?
Identify the Risk
Evaluate the Risk
Control the Risk
Monitor, Rinse, and Repeat
Some of the Most Common Startup Risks: “Piercing the Corporate Veil” and More
Examples of Risks: Cold Fingers Gelato at The TOMBS

Intellectual Property and Ivanka Trump’s Lawsuit
The Four Basic Types of Intellectual Property (IP)
Why IP Matters
Trade Secrets
Copyright and Fair Use; Charlie Chaplin’s One Minute Result
Trademarks—Oprah’s O Magazine Win
Patents—How Blogging Can Kill Your Patent Chances
Business Issues and Strategies—The Patent Mine Field Strategy
Contracting With the Government
Examples of Intellectual Property Challenges: “I Lost my Intellectual Property and Can’t Get Up!”

Partnership Agreements and Issues
Hiring
Prohibited Employment Practices and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
Compliance—Avoiding Violations
Employment Agreements and Compensation
The “Employment at Will Doctrine”
Terminating Employees and Others without Getting Sued
Employee Handbook
Examples of Employments Issues and Solutions: Do-si-do or Let ’em Go!

“Honey, the SEC’s Calling About Your Stock Offering.”
How Much Money Do You Need?
Funding Sources: Self-Funding, Angels, Crowdfunding, and More
The Funding Cycle
Making the Investment Pitch: Teasers, Slide Deck, and Business Plan
Valuing Your Company and Return on Investment (ROI)
Return on Investment Example
Get Inside the Investor’s Head
Investment Evaluator
Legal Requirements for Offerings: SEC, Blue Sky Laws, and Jobs Act
Good Money, Spider Web Money™, and Fishhook Money™
Examples of Funding Strategies in Confidential Transactions and How Criminals Launder Their Money

The Difference Between Marketing and Sales—Lessons from a Head of Lettuce
What Makes a Good Product or Service?
Customer Discovery—Listen, Don’t Talk
Test, Test, Test
Consider Filing a Patent Application
Marketing and Sales Strategy
What Are you Selling? A Product, Service, or Both?
Publicity
Sales Programs, Advertising, and Tactics
Avoiding Legal Liability
Product and Service Promotions
Government Sales—Don’t Give Your Rights Away!
Examples of Marketing Legal Issues

Managing Yourself—Life Balance amid Startup Chaos
Being an Entrepreneur—The Good, Bad, and the Ugly
Management Zen™
Managing with Minimum Smart Management™ (MSM)
The Five Core Startup Activities
Leadership
Managing Lawyers—Getting High Quality Service at a
Reasonable Price
“Methics”™ —Management Ethics
Examples of Using Management Zen to Reduce Startup Chaos

The Problem: Thousands of Silos
The Startup Grand Canyon
Three Steps to Bake the Startup Cake