Video: Practical Pointers for the new Georgia Restrictive Covenant Act November 3rd, 2010MMM Tech Perspectives Highlights: Insight and information for employers on the newly passed Georgia Restrictive Covenant Act. [cincopa AcDA_VKfeEAD] This information is presented for educational purposes and is not intended to constitute legal advice; see disclaimer at http://www.www.mmmtechlaw.com/privacy-policy-and-disclaimer/. Contact John Yates for more information at jyates@mmmlaw.com. Comments? Join the discussion on the MMMTechLaw LinkedIn group page. Read More
John Yates’ VENTURE ATLANTA Recap November 2nd, 2010MMM Tech Perspectives Highlights: Overview of VENTURE ATLANTA 2010 venture capital conference. [cincopa AsIACVK3WEOf] Comments? Join the discussion on the MMMTechLaw LinkedIn group page. Read More
Venture Atlanta – Lessons from a Serial Entrepreneur October 19th, 2010MMM Tech Perspectives Leadership Venture Atlanta – Lessons from a Serial Entrepreneur By John Yates Venture Atlanta was held on October 12-13 in an outstanding venue — the Georgia Aquarium. The event included an impressive group of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and supporters of the Atlanta community. The highlight of VA was Bill Nussey, CEO of Silverpop, sharing his business lessons as one of our most accomplished and successful entrepreneurs. As a technology leader, Bill has done it all — he started his own software company out of college, joined a leading VC fund in Boston, served as CEO of a public IT services company, and is currently Read More
John Yates’ M&A Outlook October 7th, 2010MMM Tech Perspectives John Yates offers insight on the current M&A outlook. [cincopa A4KAgQq2tw53] This information is presented for educational purposes and is not intended to constitute legal advice; see disclaimer at http://www.www.mmmtechlaw.com/privacy-policy-and-disclaimer/. Contact John Yates for more information at jyates@mmmlaw.com; 404-504-5444. Read More
Yates Perspectives: Board Room Leadership for Entrepreneurs September 29th, 2010Entrepreneurial Info, MMM Tech Perspectives, Resources & Tools YATES PERSPECTIVES Board Room Leadership for Entrepreneurs – Checklist The Boardroom is the key forum for entrepreneurs to impress their investors. Entrepreneurs need a checklist of important steps to keep in mind when interacting with their Directors. Too often entrepreneurs are ill prepared for Board meetings and disappoint outside Directors. Venture investors on a Board have certain expectations of management with regard to information to be conveyed in the short time allotted for the Board meeting. Senior leadership at a tech company must educate the management team on being effective presenters of key company metrics. Keep in mind that every Board meeting Read More
Practical Pointers on the New Restrictive Covenants Act September 22nd, 2010MMM Tech Perspectives Yates Perspectives: The New Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act – PRACTICAL POINTERS On November 2nd, Georgia voters will be electing a new Governor, Lieutenant Governor and other key officials – and, in effect, voting on approval of the Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act. The Act will become law if a Georgia Constitutional Amendment is approved by the voters. The likelihood of approval is high — the ballot language has been drafted in such a way that the legislature hopes that no law-abiding capitalist will vote against it. It’s also been placed as one of the first Constitutional Amendments on the ballot. If the Act is approved, Read More
NEW HP vs. Hurd/Oracle – Lessons for Southeastern Tech Companies September 13th, 2010Employment, MMM Tech Perspectives The recent lawsuit by Hewlett Packard against Mark Hurd (former HP CEO) highlights interesting issues for technology companies in the Southeast. (Read the complaint filed by HP against Hurd here). Here are a few practical pointers to be considered: 1. If you have executives in California, you can generally forget about being able to enforce non-competition covenants to prevent them from working for a competitor. 2. HP is relying on Mr. Hurd’s agreement to hold trade secret information in confidence and not disclose it to others. On the other hand, Oracle will likely assert that Mr. Hurd is being fenced off from sharing such information Read More
Yates Perspectives–Vol. II September 7th, 2010MMM Tech Perspectives The “Series A” Dilemma The line is growing of entrepreneurial companies seeking Series A funding in the range of $1-2 million. In the course of my three decades of representing tech companies, I can’t remember so many entrepreneurs looking for Series A money at the same time. This is a good news/bad news story. The good news is there are dozens of entrepreneurs starting companies and bootstrapping them with their own money and cash from friends and family. A significant number of these new entrepreneurs are first-timers — and many of them are bouncing back from a recent lay-off or consulting role. The Read More
John C. Yates Welcomes You to MMM Tech Law & Business Report August 27th, 2010MMM Tech Perspectives MMMTechLaw.com developer and Chair of MMM’s Corporate Technology Practice discusses why the Report is a critical resource for entrepreneurs, investors, and strategic partners. Read More
Yates Perspective – Vol. I August 26th, 2010MMM Tech Perspectives The goal of the MMM Tech Law & Business Report is to inform, educate and socialize important business and legal issues directly relevant to our target audience — entrepreneurs, investors and strategic partners. For over three decades the MMM Corporate Technology Group has delivered value added legal services and information to hundreds of clients in our tech ecosystem. www.www.mmmtechlaw.com now organizes, summarizes and provides practical pointers relating to legal and business issues impacting entrepreneurs and growing technology and business services companies. In my column, Yates Perspectives, I’ll give my thoughts on current issues of direct relevance to entrepreneurs. This Report also includes Read More