ScaleUp Speaker Series: Startup Equity Incentives

Morrison Foerster presents ScaleUp Speaker Series, a complimentary 10-part series that will provide a deep dive into the legal side of founding a startup. These weekly seminars will arm you with the knowledge needed to manage the legal aspects of launching, funding, and growing a startup, with insights on how to avoid common mistakes that can have serious consequences down the road.

We are hosting this cycle of ScaleUp Speaker Series as a hybrid event, offering participants the option to either attend virtually or in person in our Palo Alto office at 755 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA. For extended Q&A sessions and networking opportunities, we strongly recommend in-person attendance. Kindly note that we will also provide lunch.

Topics covered in this one hour session include:

• Founder restricted stock and stock options

• Vesting and repurchase rights (including 83(b) elections and early exercise)

• Stock incentive plans

• Incentive stock options (ISOs) and nonqualified stock options (NSOs)

• Administration of stock option plans and valuation

For an overview of the topic, kindly view a brief video.

To register for the upcoming events in this series, kindly email your LinkedIn profile to Sarah Skootsky at ECVCEvents@mofo.com.

1. Incorporating a Startup - February 9, 2024 

   Learn key differences between types of legal entities and how they impact the ability to raise capital, build a workforce and achieve a successful company exit.

2. Intellectual Property Basics - February 23, 2024 

   Learn the basics of the different types of IP, how they add value to your startup, and missteps to avoid that may prevent you from protecting your IP.

3. Raising Angel Investment (including Convertible Note Financings) - March 1, 2024 

   Learn the most common angel investment structures and practices in seed stage investing (including debt, equity and hybrid approaches) and an introduction to the preferred stock terms that form the basis of venture capital investments. 

4. Raising Venture Capital Investment (Deal Terms and Structures) - March 15, 2024 

   Learn the basic concepts, structures, and math behind venture capital investments, including capital structures, term sheets, and capitalization and liquidation models.  

5. Most Common Legal Mistakes of Startup Entrepreneurs - March 22, 2024 

   Learn more than a dozen common mistakes, their impact on startups, and how to avoid them in the first place.

6. Startup Equity Incentives - March 29, 2024 

   Learn the basics of customary equity incentives and how they are used to attract and retain top talent in a competitive market. We will discuss founder vesting, restricted stock, and stock options (including ISOs and NSOs).

7. Follow-On Venture Financing Complexities - April 5, 2024  

   Learn how startups and investors manage down rounds, recapitalizations, pay-to-play financings, and other complexities that arise only in the second and subsequent rounds of financing.

8. Selling Your Startup - April 12, 2024 

   Learn the differences among acquisition structures, fundamental merger and acquisition (M&A) terms, and an overview of definitive M&A agreements and processes.

9. Initial Public Offerings - April 19, 2024

   Learn about the steps necessary when considering an IPO, including the process and timing, and life as a U.S. public company.

10. Open Forum Recap - May 3, 2024 

    Join our interactive open forum where you can ask startup expert attorneys questions on topics raised during earlier sessions or startup legal questions generally.

For more information on our ScaleUp programming offered in Austin, Boston, New York, and Palo Alto, please visit us at MoFo ScaleUp.