Cornell Tech celebrated a historic milestone today with the dedication of its new campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City. A collaboration of Cornell University (yes, my law school) and The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, the 12 acre applied science and engineering campus is one of the most significant additions to the
Entrepreneurship
The JOBS Act at Five: Congressional Hearing Highlights Need for Further Reform
On March 22, the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment of the Financial Services Committee conducted a hearing entitled “The JOBS Act at Five: Examining Its Impact and Ensuring the Competitiveness of the U.S. Capital Markets”, focusing on the impact of the JOBS Act on the U.S. capital markets and its effect on capital…
Protecting Management from a Liquidation Preference Overhang
“The Founder of a $50 Million Startup Just Sold His Company — And He Didn’t Make a Dime”. Such was the provocative headline of the Business Insider article last year reporting the sad tale of young entrepreneur Lane Becker and how he and his management team received none of the acquisition proceeds on…
“Birthing a Unicorn is Hard” and other Takeaways from the 2014 Cornell Entrepreneurship Summit
It’s never easy to take an entire business day out of the office, but the annual Cornell Entrepreneurship Summit is well worth it. The 2014 edition, dubbed “Beyond the Horizon”, was no exception. One thing that struck me about this year’s summit was that, unlike previous years, none of the entrepreneur speakers were Cornell alums, …
Accelerator Mentoring and Money: On-Ramp for Startup Success
Building a successful startup is challenging. But the chances of success could be greatly enhanced through participation in a startup accelerator program. Entrepreneurially minded universities and research institutions have run incubators on or near campus where startups receive office space, shared facilities and services, but no capital. Over the last several years, a new breed…
Close to the Vest: Founders’ Stock and Vesting
Your startup was launched only a few months ago and your co-founder has just informed you that he’s leaving. It hits you that your co-founder just walked out the door with 50% of the equity in the company. Oops.
Founder breakups are not uncommon, but what happens to the exiting founder’s stock will depend on …
Cornell Entrepreneurship Summit 2013: “Cool Jar” Deposits and Frozen Custard
The second annual Cornell Entrepreneurship Summit was held on October 11 in New York City and I was thrilled to attend. This year, the Summit was sub-captioned “The Beginning: From Nothing to Something”, and featured presentations from mostly Cornell entrepreneur-alums, one VC-alum and a few reps from entrepreneurship@cornell, the campus-wide program that promotes…