Sam Angus has been a lawyer in Silicon Valley since the 1990s. Today, he represents some of the biggest names in the startup world, from their earliest days through acquisitions and IPOs, and including four acquisitions last year: TSheets, GitHub, Glint and HelloSign. But his startup experience actually goes back to the 1980s, when he […]
View More Verified Expert Lawyer: Sam AngusCategory: Lawyers
Verified Expert Lawyer: Andrew Erskine
Andrew Erskine has developed his legal career along with the rise of the tech startup scene in Los Angeles. Today, as a partner at Orrick in its Santa Monica office, he works with companies large and small in the area and beyond. His approach: “The way that I practice and the philosophy I have […]
View More Verified Expert Lawyer: Andrew ErskineStartup Law A to Z: Intellectual Property
Whether protected through copyright, trade secret, trademark, or patents, software technology companies depend on IP more so than perhaps any other business type in history. It is surprising, then, just how little founders think about protecting their own IP. Sure, “product-market fit” is an all-engrossing search for truth that tolerates no distraction, but that is […]
View More Startup Law A to Z: Intellectual PropertyVerified Expert Lawyer: Leslee Cohen
Leslee Cohen has been practicing law for decades in her hometown of Chicago. She’s been working with more and more startups over the last ten years, after co-founding her own firm (Herschman Cohen) and expanding along with the city’s tech scene. On her approach: “I have one partner and we have now hired two other […]
View More Verified Expert Lawyer: Leslee CohenVerified Expert Lawyer: José Ancer
José Ancer is first of all a startup lawyer, with a client portfolio of startups of various stages based around Texas and other similar ecosystems outside of Silicon Valley. He’s also the CTO of Egan Nelson LLP, a boutique firm, where he actively is also building automation software to help the firm compete against larger […]
View More Verified Expert Lawyer: José AncerVerified Startup Lawyer: Stephane Levy
Stephane Levy got his start in the days of Silicon Alley almost two decades ago, and built up his practice with New York startups and beyond through all the ups and downs since then. Today, as a partner at Cooley LLP, he works with a wide range of companies, from company formation, seed and later […]
View More Verified Startup Lawyer: Stephane LevyVerified Expert Lawyer: James Alonso
While James Alonso has worked at big law firms for much of his career, he’s been working with startups the entire time. He’s also an engineer by training — and by practice. He recently founded a new startup-focused law firm (Magnolia) that incorporates document automation software (Docasaurus) that he built himself and also licenses to other […]
View More Verified Expert Lawyer: James AlonsoIntroducing the Verified Experts of Extra Crunch
TechCrunch is launching something a little different today. We’re going to help startup founders find the best outside experts to work with — so you can build a better company, faster. From lawyers to accountants to executive coaches and a dozen more categories, the mesh network of service providers in Silicon Valley and other startup […]
View More Introducing the Verified Experts of Extra CrunchMeet a great startup lawyer: Cynthia Hess
In late December, we launched our startup lawyer survey and to date we’ve received more than 1700 responses from startup leaders about hundreds of lawyers around the country and the world. Today we begin to publish the results of that survey, beginning with our first verified expert, a seasoned Silicon Valley attorney who has been […]
View More Meet a great startup lawyer: Cynthia HessHow and why you should work with a startup lawyer
Ask any attorney what kind of lawyer they are and they’re likely to respond, “the good kind.” Certainly, there are “good” lawyers and there are “bad” lawyers, but aside from avoiding the truly unscrupulous scriveners, much of the issue here is simply making sure you have grabbed the right tool for the job and by […]
View More How and why you should work with a startup lawyerHow we’re finding the best lawyers for early-stage startups
We’re nearing 1,000 submissions from startup founders and leaders in Silicon Valley and across the world about the best early-stage tech lawyers to work with. As we’ve sorted through survey responses and begun scheduling interviews with the first qualified nominees, we’ve gotten a bunch of questions. We love questions. First of all, why are we […]
View More How we’re finding the best lawyers for early-stage startupsHow to get your money’s worth from your startup lawyer
You will never know as much as your lawyers do about the legal services they provide to you. It is a classic asymmetry of information, where the party that knows less gets the worse deal. In this case, that is you, the startup founder. As an attorney and a co-founder of a venture-backed startup that […]
View More How to get your money’s worth from your startup lawyer