What Not to Do If You Want to Avoid a Lawsuit
When Silicon Valley players need legal advice, they turn to Ted Wang. A partner at Fenwick & West in Mountain View, California, Wang counsels venture capitalists, investment banks, and businesses that range from emerging start-ups to some of the biggest names on the Internet, including Facebook and Twitter.
1. Don't do a handshake deal.
As soon as you can, you want to establish agreements with everyone working on a project. Get in writing who gets what and how long they have to stay to get it.
2. Don't forget about the consultants.
You need to set expectations with anyone doing any kind of work that has an intellectual-property element. Any software or aspect of a business plan—you need to get the rights to it. The best choice is to have a lawyer document everything; the next best is to get it written in a basic way that everything anyone does for the company is owned by the company.
3. Don't sugarcoat things for potential investors.
The personality type that starts a business is optimistic. But you're not doing yourself a favor by saying this is a sure thing. Most new companies fail. Sometimes, when I circulate an investor questionnaire, I put in bold, all caps, YOU COULD LOSE ALL YOUR MONEY. If people are not comfortable with that, they should not invest.
How Not to Crowdsource
In crowdsourcing, businesses take advantage of their most precious resource, their customers, by exploiting their passion, wisdom, and creativity to come up with new and innovative products. The Vancouver, British Columbia, footwear brand John Fluevog is a master of the technique. It has used crowdsourcing to design shoes and advertising campaigns. Stephen Bailey, the company's chief marketing officer, talks about what he has learned the hard way.
1. Don't go halfway. Everyone has to be on board. There can't be a "we'll see what happens" attitude. If the crowd makes a decision, you have to follow through with it.
2. Don't bother if you lack an energized customer base. If you launch a crowdsourcing initiative and no one enters, it looks terrible, because it's public. Talk to customers, people inside the company, and people on Facebook and Twitter to get a read on whether crowdsourcing makes sense.
3. Don't bet the farm. Opening yourself up to the will of your customers can be overwhelming, so start with decisions that are not make or break for the company.
Four Steps to the Perfect Power Lunch
Julian Niccolini, co-owner of the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City, has been in the restaurant business since 1977. Among his regular clients: Henry Kissinger, Barbara Walters, Barry Diller, and Mort Zuckerman. Use these four tips to have the perfect power lunch.
What Not to Do When Your Co-founder Is Also Your Spouse
Soon after co-founding their event-planning website, Eventbrite.com, in 2006, Kevin and Julia Hartz tied the knot. They're still hitched—with a daughter and a baby on the way—and their San Francisco business is as successful as their union. To make it work, they've come up with their own special marital work rules.
1. Do not overlap.
JULIA: Divide and conquer is our No. 1 rule. There's clear delineation in the business. I am focused on people, culture, hiring, and retention.
KEVIN: I am focused on product and operations.
JULIA: We broke the rule once last year, when we were looking for new office space.
KEVIN: We were doubling up on work and not communicating. It created unnecessary strife.
2. Do not throw your spouse under the bus.
JULIA: That means no secrets. We don't keep any secrets from each other personally or professionally.
KEVIN: So if Julia is coaching an employee and she tells me, I cannot betray that trust and meddle. We're also publicly supportive of each other. When your spouse makes a decision, you support that. There is a fine line between challenging ideas and undermining decisions.
3. Do not downplay your marriage.
JULIA: We are a husband-and-wife team, and it's widely known among our customers, competitors, and investors. It's part of our story.
KEVIN: There are always challenges with brother-brother, brother-sister, wife-husband teams. Teams like that will often downplay the situation, but we always bring it up and discuss it with investors. We've raised $80 million.
4. Do not leave your marriage at home.
JULIA: A lot of couples act one way at work and another way at home, but we don't have two different modes. We announced my pregnancy at an all-hands meeting with 150 people.
KEVIN: That's the tone we've chosen to set.
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