From: "Gary Britt" 

Thank you for the kind words Ellen.

Gary

"Ellen K."  wrote in message
news:t5pc225j83nbuph29obe36sfnnm2bgnais{at}4ax.com...
> That was a lot of very good free advice.   I hope some of the folks who
> like to beat you up were paying attention.
>
> On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 11:44:10 -0500, "Gary Britt"
>  wrote in message :
>
> >Congrats and good luck.
> >
> >What's the present value of the reasonably anticipated net profits over
the
> >next ten years, and what's the probability of achieving those results?
That
> >will give you an idea as to value .  What's the value of your
> >services and time to produce the product and get it ready to ship?  That
> >will give you an idea of the amount of dollars you are putting into the
deal
> >versus the investor?
> >
> >Tony is right about getting a good business lawyer to help you on this.
You
> >need to make sure you understand who owns the IP rights, including the
> >rights to commercialize the work in future endeavors, right to source
code,
> >right to license the property, IP, etc. to others, right to control
> >derivative works, etc.  You also need to watch who is going to be head of
> >company with right to hire and fire and make ultimate management
decisions.
> >The form of the company, corporation, partnership, other type of entity,
can
> >affect these various rights and obligations.  You may need an employment
> >contract with the company, that may or may not need to be guaranteed by
the
> >investor.  You need to watch how and to whom stock options or other
optional
> >ownership rights are handled.  Preemptive rights (i.e., the right to
> >maintain your same ownership percentage as new stock/investors are
brought
> >into the deal in the future) need to be considered.  If you aren't in
> >control of the entity and the entity offers new stock/ownership
interests,
> >even if they have to offer the new interests to you first, will you have
the
> >money to buy?  If you don't, after going through the motions of offering
to
> >you first they can sell to themselves or others, effectively diluting
down
> >your ownership percentage.  What are the applicable rules concerning a
> >merger of the company with another company going to be?  What about a
sale
> >of all or substantially all of its assets to another company, what then?
> >
> >I could write many pages about all this.  Best thing is to get a
qualified
> >business lawyer to help you.
> >
> >Good luck,
> >
> >Gary
> >
> >"Antti Kurenniemi" 
wrote in message
> >news:4422de95$1{at}w3....
> >> Today I just got offered a considerable (well for me anyway) sum of
money,
> >> to fund my software business. Wowzat, that's cool! I've been battling
to
> >> finance my development (I'm doing a small-business crm/time
> >> planning/invoicing/whatnot type of application) by doing support gigs
and
> >> all sorts of odd jobs, and this would really make all the difference in
> >the
> >> world. I'm so excited that I can hardly stand (or sit) still.
> >>
> >> Anyone have any hints / ideas how to value a software (business) before
it
> >> sells anything? I'm left with a decision: I have to offer a percentage
of
> >my
> >> company to the investor, and I haven't got a faintest clue as to how
big a
> >> slice I should offer - too big and I'll regret it for the rest of my
life,
> >> too small and they'll just shoot off leaving me empty handed... Damn,
why
> >> aren't cool things ever easy . Well, no worries, I'm
pretty sure I
can
> >> trick them into telling me what they have in mind, and then I'll just
> >divide
> >> that by two, and that should be about right.
> >>
> >> Wopee! Beers are on me the next time you're hereabout!
> >>
> >>
> >> Antti Kurenniemi
> >>
> >>
> >
>

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