March 12th, 2024
5pm - 8pm
Startup Bootcamp 501 - The Right Maneuvers at the Beginning Could Double Your Startup’s Eventual Financial Outcome
Learn from a veteran serial entrepreneur, veteran startup lawyer and a private wealth manager about how to set up a corporate structure that serves the founders well in protecting the value they will be creating, all the way to the all-important exit event.
For the founding team and key employees with large blocks of common stock, you’ll learn moves you can make early on that could save you millions of dollars in taxes upon liquidity. These are tax planning strategies that can only be made before the stock has had any appreciation in real value. Too many entrepreneurs learn about these strategies way too late in the game, when it’s too late to have an appreciable effect, but these straightforward strategies could easily double your post-tax earnings from the eventual sale of your startup.
For your investors’ sake, you’ll learn how to take advantage of little known tax laws that can increase their projected ROI, but only if you set up your securities offerings in a way that allows them to benefit from state and federal incentives that legislators created to stimulate investment in startups.
Meet Your Instructors:
Ron Wiener
CEO Venture Mechanics, 9-time serial entrepreneur
Ron Wiener is a startup CEO career spanning nearly four decades, Ron has founded and run nine investor-backed technology companies, with multiple successful exits. His technical background includes software/internet, electronics and mechanical engineering, as well as extensive global manufacturing experience. A named inventor on more than a dozen patents, he also brings deep expertise in D2C and D2B digital marketing and global strategic partnership development. He has been an angel investor and board member in numerous companies, and has operated four separate startup incubators, in PDX and SEA, since 2000. Ron starred in the first season of Startup Junkies in 2008, and is a widely published author in aviation, ergonomics and entrepreneurship. He also occasionally consults to early stage venture funds and hedge funds, as well as to start-ups and new business divisions that are spinning up or spinning out. He has been an avid pilot since 1984, is a gourmet chef, and addicted chess player.
Brooks Lindsay
LightLegal.com, startup attorney and MBA
Brooks Lindsay is the Founding Attorney of Light Legal PLLC, a lean law firm for high-growth startups. He is a corporate and commercial-contracts attorney who uses his experience as an entrepreneur, and education with a JD/MBA, to help other founders and business leaders thrive. He is experienced in entity formations, general corporate, fundraising and securities, commercial contract drafting and negotiations, tech transactions, IP, M&A, and other common legal issues facing ambitious founders. He provides superior outside general counsel by taking a multidisciplinary approach and quarterbacking across a spectrum of common startup legal needs. Brooks received his JD/MBA from the University of Washington and his undergraduate degree from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.
Logan Blue
JP Morgan, Private Wealth Manager
Logan Blue is a Private Banker in the Seattle office of J.P. Morgan Private Bank. Logan works closely with many of the most successful founders and entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest, from those in a growth phase to others contemplating a transaction event. He serves as their powerful advocate, attending to their personal wealth management needs so they are free to focus on their demanding businesses. Logan’s advice spans cash management and liquidity strategies, tactical investing, lending, banking, trust and estate planning, and more. He is known for his dedication to the best interests of his clients and for delivering direct access to business, commercial and investment banking partners. As part of his wealth advisory practice, Logan leverages JPMorgan’s team of specialists to deliver innovative strategies related to executive compensation, private business owners, retirement planning, tax advisory, wealth transfer, and philanthropy to enhance his client’s wealth after taxes and across generations. Logan graduated Cum Laude from Seattle University’s Albers School of Business with a degree in Finance. During his time at Seattle University, Logan was an Equity ResearchAnalyst for the school's endowment fund and held leadership roles in the Albers Investment club. Logan is currently an MBA candidate at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business and will be graduating in the Summer of 2025. Logan and his fiancé live in Bellevue and love food, travel, and their miniature Aussiedoddle, Banana. In his free time, he enjoys playing golf and tennis and is an avid reader. Logan holds the FINRA Series 7, 66 and SIE securities licenses.