EMPLOY ME. OR NOT. As startups, Mynstein Inc. and Leanliness LLC are sifting through the same issues that all new businesses face. Like it or *not*, there are human resource considerations that must be addressed from the outset, and the government sets specific guidelines for completion timelines. Just being a startup doesn’t mean you don’t have to comply; if it did, I’m sure there are … [Read more...]
Things To Consider When Choosing An Attorney For Your Startup
04/19/2012 By Leave a Comment
DO YOU NEED A STARTUP LAWYER? DO YOU NEED TWO? J and I are committed to bringing you the good and the bad, our successes and our failures. Here’s a situation we recently ran into with our choices for legal counsel. When we set out to find legal representation for Mynstein Inc., we sought experience in two specific areas: intellectual property and equity and finance structuring. These are not … [Read more...]
Starting a Business? Plan to Get Out Before You Get In
04/12/2012 By 1 Comment
THE 1ST STEP IN STARTING A BUSINESS Plan an exit strategy. You could say we began preparing for our LLC and C Corp startups at about the same time we were posing for the basketball picture on the About J and Chance page. When we were in grade school, J and I went through the same evacuation and “what-to-do” drills that all kids go through. Our teachers forced us to reflect on what we would … [Read more...]
Startup Funding: Use A 401k or IRA For Your Small Business
04/10/2012 By Leave a Comment
How is your business handling 401k's? As part of the funding model for Mynstein Inc., we will be rolling 401k and IRA funds from previous employers into a new 401k for Mynstein now that Mynstein's retirement account has been established. This will be our investment into Mynstein as employees. We will initiate a rollover with our current plan custodians. The rollover checks will be payable to the … [Read more...]
Investors: Our First Customers
04/05/2012 By Leave a Comment
Getting a ton of positive feedback from potential investors for mynstein Inc has been extremely satisfying. The quality of our product and the integrity of our business model is not only important to us, but to our investors as well. After all, they too have a vested interest in how our business is growing. In the midst of fielding questions about target market segments, functional issues, and … [Read more...]
RSPA: Vesting for Founders
03/29/2012 By 1 Comment
Yes, world, I am still alive. It’s just been such a busy week, and quite a bit has happened with mynstein Inc. While continuing to move forward with product development, we are also now in the process of signing the legal documents for employee contracts and RSPAs, or Restricted Stock Purchasing Agreements. It's about to get super dry in here, so please don't forget to hydrate as you … [Read more...]
Chance’s Lean Office
03/27/2012 By 2 Comments
This is my lean budget office. I know, I splurged with two folding chairs. Gotta put my feet up! … [Read more...]
Productivity Tip: eMailGanizer App
03/15/2012 By 1 Comment
We have been test driving different apps to manage workflow for Leanliness and mystery Inc. I have several different accounts that are used frequently. The best app I have found so far for email management on the iPhone is... … [Read more...]
Choosing Between Shares or Salary
03/12/2012 By 2 Comments
PAYING EMPLOYEES OF A STARTUP: SHARES OR SALARY mynstein Inc. is about 70 days old now. We received the employee agreements Friday from the attorney we hired for the startup process. For the past two weeks we have been discussing the details of compensation for the employees. In a more typical arrangement it might be easier to allocate ownership of the company. If each founder put in the same … [Read more...]
Blogging From iPhone
03/11/2012 By 4 Comments
Sending a quick note from my iPhone since I can't login to the blog. I'm not anywhere near what you would call proficient. Anyway, sent out a memo today along with employee documents for mystery Inc. I will put a copy in the Leanies Dropbox folder when I get to the beach. But now, it's time for my birthday nap! Chance … [Read more...]
Measuring Success: Watch out for Vanity Metrics!
03/08/2012 By Leave a Comment
In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries identifies what he refers to as "vanity metrics." He contrasts vanity metrics with actionable metrics, and it's important that businesses understand the implications of using one in lieu of the other. Actionable metrics will lead to sustained innovation that enhances value. Vanity metrics will provide you short-lived or misleading information that leads to a plateau, … [Read more...]
Starting a Business: Bizfilings or Legal Zoom?
03/07/2012 By 1 Comment
So you have chosen the type of business you want to form, picked a name and done a name search. Now you're asking yourself, "Do I need a lawyer?" Let me tell you what we did, and why. C-corporation filing: We used bizfilings.com to form the first business. Bizfilings offers a handy bundle of products to help you get started. The cost was $1,000 with rush delivery and filing services. … [Read more...]
Free Resources for Your Business: Askville.com
03/07/2012 By Leave a Comment
With the astronomical amount of information that is available for free online, you would think that you could find someone that has already answered the specific question you have right? Not always. Or, if someone has they have sufficiently hidden it so as not to be picked up by Google's search tentacles. Well, there is a place to go for free information from an individual about your specific … [Read more...]
Starting A Corporation – Drinking from a Firehose
03/07/2012 By Leave a Comment
Once I had done enough research to know for sure that a C-corp would be the best model for mystery Inc., I needed to complete the filing through Bizfilings. I did research at http://thestartuplawyer.com and a number of books and other websites. Ryan gives quite a bit of free advice on his site. It was sufficiently compelling to get him hired as our attorney, and I have no complaints at all so far. … [Read more...]
