Silicon Valley News - September

 

End of Summer / Beginning of Fall

Hope you had a great Summer!   Here’s what’s going on with us as we get into the Fall:

  • Looking for Talent. Like many of our companies we’ve had an enormously busy year and can’t grow fast enough in 3 key regions for us in the Silicon Valley, Pacific Northwest and in Europe. We are spreading the word far and wide that we are looking to hire great lawyers that fit with our unique culture and practice mix. If you know of good talent that would be good for all concerned, drop us a line.

  • Covid is Back. Damn. It doesn’t change the volume of transactions and new company starts we are seeing – but has caused us to rethink the planned restart of our Annual Holiday Celebration in the Valley in December. Unfortunately that will have to wait. Again.

  • Events. One event that won’t change this Fall is our sponsorship of the Monterrey Startup Expo, online on September 23rd. Here’s the tentative agenda: https://siccmonterey.com/agenda/. Check it out!

  • Deals. This past Summer we’ve closed more exit events than we can count. In diverse industries such as optical telecom networks, financial services, vision care technology, drug discovery, distributed workflow systems and more. And we are working on funding events for great companies with unique offerings in pet supplements, shoe repair, universal e-wallet payment solutions, influencer talent management, cancer tissue identification in surgery, surgical tools – and flying cars! Crazy stuff going on.

  • Exit Trends. Now for something useful...what are the trends we are seeing in exit events in the current market? Well, here are some that come to mind:

    • Taxes – with a focus on QSBS, tax-free equity rollovers, the tax characterization of deferred consideration – and the classification and allocation of assets in asset sale structures

    • Liquidity – with a focus on tradable equity for payment of tax, huge founder tie-ups of up to 50% of consideration for 4-years, valuations for puts and calls, buybacks under various scenarios, and vesting acceleration triggers.

    • Indemnity – fraud is the tough issue here. The good news on the sell-side is the standard of joint and several uncapped liability is not necessarily the standard anymore. Its worth pushing back on this.

    • Buyer Time Delays – Yep, it happens. A lot actually based on buyer financing contingencies, other deals taking priority, seller tax complications and unrealistic closing conditions. These are deal-killers! Try to address them pronto.

The bottom line on all of this is to be aware of the pitfalls and plan for them.   As much as possible anyway.   We’re happy to chat and plan with you on any of this.   Just let us know.

That’s enough for now.   Wild times.  

 ___________

Best regards from the White Summers teams in Silicon Valley, Portland, Budapest, Santa Cruz, Bend….and now WA/Vancouver!

 
Samantha Gee