Sky Blog
Early-stage startups need to raise small amounts of money quickly, cheaply, and repeatedly, often when they have very little to show to prospective investors. At this stage, it is far too early to negotiate the terms traditional venture deals are …
The new optional legal form for startup companies, EU Inc., which launched last week as a so-called 28th regime, is a strategic instrument aimed at promoting incorporation, innovation, and growth across the European Union. In a period of increasing geopolitical …
The startup ecosystem fuels America’s economy in ways few other sectors can match. It has also ridden waves of boom and bust, with periods of explosive growth followed by cool-downs. During these market downturns, capital becomes scarce and investors must …
In the world of startups, founders are often elevated to near mythical status – the force poised to disrupt entire industries. This adulation can grant founders extraordinary latitude in corporate control, especially in innovative and unregulated sectors like tech or …
The venture capital (VC) industry has expanded greatly over the past several decades as innovative startups have become a key driver of economic growth and innovation in the United States. Foundational scholarly accounts of startup governance focused on the VC-entrepreneur …
In the early stages of the unicorn era, it seemed that Rule 701 under the Securities Act, which provides a generous exemption for private company equity compensation, might not be up to the task. It is one thing to conclude …
The venture capital (VC) industry has undergone a profound transformation over the past two decades with the emergence of common VC investors — that is, VC firms that hold ownership stakes in multiple startups within the same industry or product …
In the complex world of corporate governance, a novel mechanism has reemerged: board observers. Operating without the conventional voting rights of board members, these individuals have become pivotal in bridging the gap between ambitious startups and their venture capital (VC) …
Our economy is dominated by five aging tech giants – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft. Each of these firms was founded more than 20 years ago: Apple and Microsoft in the 1970s, Google and Amazon in the 1990s, and …
Venture capital is widely perceived to have a gender problem. Founders seeking capital and investors themselves are overwhelmingly male, fomenting concerns about how – and how fairly – the VC sector distributes its economic gains. Indeed, the entire industry has …
The world of startups often appears to embody the exceptionalism of modern finance, with funds swiftly flowing to the best teams and ideas wherever they may emerge. The reality, however, is much more complicated. Financing startups remains a daunting challenge …
Financial Technology, or “fintech,” is one of the fastest growing sectors in finance. In 2010, the total amount of funding raised by fintech firms was just over $1 billion dollars, while in 2018, total funding was around $40 billion. In …
For nearly 40 years, scholars have debated whether business lawyers add value to transactions. The debate essentially started with an influential article by Professor Ronald Gilson, who characterized business lawyers as “transaction cost engineers.” These engineers optimize the costs of …
Startup acquisitions by incumbent firms have been on the rise for the last few years. These acquisitions often allow larger companies to acquire new technologies or talent, while startups gain access to resources and a wider customer base. One notable …
At least since BlackRock boss Larry Fink’s annual letter to CEOs in 2019, investing in ESG assets has become a major topic among both retail and institutional investors. In a new article, we address the question of how economically attractive …
Angel investors (angels) and venture capital (VC) investors are both important sources of financing for entrepreneurial firms, but some critics, particularly VCs, often believe that angels are less able than VCs to perform due-diligence. However, an alternative view holds that …
Why are venture capitalists the winners in the startup funding game? VCs have funded most of the big-name startups that now dominate the NASDAQ and, in a sense, have been the only game in town for high-growth startups needing millions …
Why are large private companies often characterized by poor corporate governance? WeWork provides a recent high-profile example. For reasons that now seem implausible, WeWork attracted billions of investment dollars. Perhaps it was the company’s “vision” or the sheer personality of …
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone from politicians to reporters to ordinary Americans have been talking about drug treatments, vaccines, and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approval process. These discussions have centered on vaccine developments by well-known pharmaceutical …