News & Resources

Gust Blog

 is now blogging weekly under "Knowledge & Insight" at Gust: "Thoughts on startups by investors that fund them and entrepreneurs that run them." Gust BlogHe joins a group of seasoned industry experts including Gust CEO David S. Rose, who also serves as Chairman of New York Angels; "the Obi Wan Kenobi of business plans," Tim Berry; veteran investor and angel group founder Bill Payne; renowned startup mentor Martin Zwilling; and Bob Rice, founder of merchant bank Tangent Capital and author of Three Moves Ahead.  Gust is a professional investor relations platform for startups and the industry-standard funding application for angel groups and venture capital funds.

Mashtag "Blawg"

Mashtag BlawgClick here for Mashtag, a unique blog observing social media, entrepreneurship, public policy, and all things at the intersection of people, capital, technology, and creativity.

The Bottom Line

Click here for The Bottom Line, a daily round-up compiled from the Twitter feeds of leading voices in tech entrepreneurship, Web 2.0, venture capital and angel financing, and the startup community in San Francisco/Silicon Valley and Los Angeles/Santa Monica, with a little bit of pure fun sprinkled on top. If you like it, please share it on Twitter using this button!

"Term Sheet," Quora and Founders' Space

Follow Venture Capital on Quora We've launched a new board on Quora, "Term Sheet," described as "a hand-crafted collection of startup resources for entrepreneurs and investors ready to roll up their sleeves and dig into the gory details."
Startup financing term sheets
 Convertible note financing term sheet Thanks to all who attended our panel in San Francisco on negotiating angel/VC financing term sheets in the current "frothy" market. Click on the thumbnail above to view and download the sample convertible note financing term sheet discussed at the session.
 Term Sheet assembles the best words of wisdom, both in the form of Quora answers and in links to longer blog posts, written by luminaries ranging from Marc Andreessen to Fred Wilson and everyone in between.  Visit Term Sheet on Quora  and click "Follow" to get the latest updates. You can also read our Quora answers to many frequently asked questions regarding startups, venture capital, angel investing, stock options, employee compensation, intellectual property, online liability, defamation, advertising law, and more. Founders' Space is another site with a narrower focus specifically on issues of interest to entrepreneurs. Antone Johnson has written a number of answers as an Advisor and Featured Contributor. Feel free to ask questions of your own on either site and ask us to answer them!

Industry Events

  • February 4, 2012, Berkeley: TEDxBerkeley 2012 "Inspiring Innovation" will provide a platform for the Bay Area’s leading visionaries and storytellers to speak to an energized group of thinkers, as well as to the world at large. At this event, 1,000 changemakers, innovators, thinkers, creatives, cultural leaders and social pioneers will witness a back-to-back schedule of talks, performances and other multimedia surprises showcasing the theme of Inspiring Innovation: Pioneering technologies, fresh thinking and new ideas that will foster creativity and action around the world. Follow @TEDxBerkeley on Twitter and the hashtag #TEDxBerkeley.
  • February 10, 2012, Palo AltoStanford's Technology Law Review and Center for Internet and Society present their 2012 Symposium: First Amendment Challenges in the Digital AgeScholars and noted practitioners from across the country will join STLR to discuss current and emerging issues in First Amendment law and the Internet.  The theme and subjects covered are incredibly timely given the January 18 "Blackout" Internet protests over SOPA and PIPA.  (Antone Johnson and Bottom Line Law Group signed on to the Center for Democracy and Technology's list of more than 1,000 companies, organizations and notable individuals publicly opposing SOPA and PIPA.)  Registration for the Symposium is free.
  • February 13, 2012, San Francisco: SF MusicTech Summit X brings together visionaries in the music/technology space, along with the best and brightest developers, entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, journalists, musicians and organizations who work with them at the convergence of culture and commerce.
  • February 24-26, 2012, Santa Monica: Los Angeles Startup Weekend.  Startup Weekends are weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can find out if startup ideas are viable. On average, half of Startup Weekend’s attendees have technical backgrounds, the other half have business backgrounds.  Beginning with open mic pitches on Friday, attendees bring their best ideas and inspire others to join their team.  Over Saturday and Sunday teams focus on customer development, validating their ideas, practicing "Lean Startup" methodologies and building a minimum viable product.  On Sunday evening teams demo their prototypes and receive valuable feedback from a panel of experts.

Speaking Engagements

  • May 19, 2012, San Francisco: Antone Johnson will speak on social media and legal ethics at the California State Bar sealState Bar of California's 16th Annual Statewide Ethics Symposium. The Symposium is a forum for California lawyers to participate in an interactive program discussing cutting edge issues confronting the professional responsibility area. See below for related materials and resources, including a template social media policy.

"Ask the Lean Startup Lawyer" office hours at pariSoma

ideakickLA: Where To Start When You Want To Start Something

  • October 25, 2011, Los Angeles: We're excited to help organize and sponsor the second ideakick event in Southern California, ideakickLA, on Tuesday, October 25 at BLANKSPACES, a coworking space on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles.  ideakick Los AngelesOriginated by Trevor Goss in San Francisco, these are fun, casual events that forge connections, inspire collaboration, introduce potential co-founders, and even launch startups! See the ideakick website for more details on the format, buy a ticket in advance through Eventbrite ($15 in advance, $20 at the door; it pays for itself in free beer and pizza), and if you're itching to pitch, now is the time to hone your 2-3 minute presentation for maximum impact on the next crowd of SoCal kickers!

Past Events

Media

    • Martindale-Hubbell Connected Pulse: Martindale-Hubbell Connected Pulse screen shotWatch Antone Johnson's interview with Mike Mintz in which they discuss social media law and international expansion, drawing on experiences at MySpace and eHarmony:
  • New Threats to Cybersecurity Sixth Annual E-Commerce Best Practices Conferencepanel (streaming video 300k), Stanford Law School Program in Law, Science and Technology, 6th Annual E-Commerce Best Practices Conference, June 12, 2009

Press

EphBlog TechCrunch National Law Journal logo

Documents and Publications

Facebook is forthcoming about the challenges of mobile: No revenue currently generated from mobile advertising; unclear how much mobile use could be monetized; failure to solve this puzzle combined with a dramatic shift toward mobile usage could be …

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Winklevoss Twins

Guide to laying the legal foundations of a successful startup company by startup lawyer Antone Johnson, Founding Principal of Bottom Line Law Group…

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Graph by Martin Kleppmann: Cap - Effective Discount on Conversion

Valuation caps can shape the fundamentals of an exit, redistribute value among stakeholders, or even kill a deal altogether. Never missing an opportunity for a good war story, I’d like to revisit one high-profile transaction, the $650 million acqui…

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Gust Blog

A key advisory role of startup lawyers in my opinion is to level the playing field by bringing our own perspectives to bear, having gone through the twists and turns with many clients over the years. Knowledge is power.…

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Mashable screen shot - Airbnb on Ransackgate: "We Screwed Up And We're Sorry"

Much has been written about the cooperative nature of Valley culture, and Airbnb itself was an outgrowth of the idealistic “couch surfing” movement. As with any online community, well-meaning early adopters arrive first, and if all goes well, a …

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