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ScaleUp Speaker Series: New York Fall 2024 - Pratfalls and Pitfalls – Most Common Legal Mistakes and Open Forum

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You’re invited to Morrison Foerster’s ScaleUp Speaker Series New York, a complimentary 5-part series that will provide a deep...

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You’re invited to Morrison Foerster’s ScaleUp Speaker Series New York, a complimentary 5-part series that will provide a deep dive into the legal side of founding a startup, now presenting in New York City.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.Lunch will be provided.Topics covered by this one-hour session include:<ul><li>Organizational mistakes</li><li>Stock issuance mistakes</li><li>Intellectual property mistakes</li><li>Employment mistakes</li><li>Fundraising mistakes </li></ul>For an overview of the topic, kindly view our brief video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DaZVyEQMOo" target="_blank">Most Common Legal Mistakes for Startup Entrepreneurs</a>.Lunch will be provided.We invite you to register for any and all of the sessions that interest you by clicking on the registration buttons at the top or bottom of this campaign. Space is limited; registrations will be accepted until capacity is reached.<ol><li>Pratfalls and Pitfalls – Most Common Legal Mistakes and Open Forum - December 4, 2024: Learn more than a dozen common mistakes, their impact on startups, and how to avoid them in the first place. In addition, join our interactive open forum where you can ask startup expert attorneys questions on topics raised during earlier sessions or startup legal questions generally.</li></ol>For more information on our ScaleUp programming offered in Austin, Boston, New York, and Palo Alto, please visit us at <a href="https://scaleup.mofo.com/events" target="_blank">MoFo ScaleUp.</a><hr>

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Chuck Cotter is a partner in the firm’s Emerging Company + Venture Capital practice group in Denver.Chuck advises venture and growth stage companies, helping them to successfully raise capital, negotiate key agreements, manage investor and board dynamics, and through exit. Chuck also regularly advises investment funds in placing capital into consumer products, agtech, and food tech companies. He excels as a practical, business-minded advisor.With sophisticated experience in the consumer products space, including food, beverage, personal care, beauty, and fashion, Chuck has represented such companies and funds in over 200 financing and M&A transactions.Chuck has been recognized by Chambers USA for Corporate M&A and by The Best Lawyers in America for M&A and Venture Capital. He has also been named MVP in Food & Ag by Law360.Prior to joining Morrison Foerster, Chuck was a partner at a national law firm and the leader of their Food, Beverage, and Consumer Products industry group. Before that, he was a partner and chair of the Consumer Products industry group at an Am Law 100 firm.<h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Crumbl Cookies, in its minority investment from TSG Consumer Partners, supporting continued franchise expansion and growth.</li><li>Grüns, in its Series B preferred stock financing, including a $10 million primary investment at a $500 million post-money valuation led by Headline Global Growth and a $25 million secondary tender offer, with conversion of outstanding SAFEs and convertible notes.</li><li>David Protein (aka Linus Technology, Inc.), a cutting-edge brand offering high-protein, low calorie nutrition and redefining how we think about fat, in its Series A financing and its acquisition of the company behind EPG –a plant-based fat substitute that replicates texture and mouthfeel of traditional fat.</li><li>GroundForceCapital, an investment firm seeking to invest in companies in the consumer food and beverages sector that aim to improve health and longevity of people and the planet, in its participation in the Series E financing of Liquid Death, a disruptive hydration company valued at $1.4 billion.</li><li>Goat Rodeo Capital Advisors LLC, a venture capital fund focusing on early-stage opportunities in the alcohol beverage space, in its participation in the Series B financings of The Lemon Perfect Company, a celebrity-backed, ready-to-drink hydration company.</li><li>Sweetwood Smoke & Co., maker of FATTY Smoked Meat Sticks, in its sale to Conagra Brands (NYSE: CAG), one of North America’s leading branded food companies.</li><li>Caulipower, the #1 better-for-you, gluten-free, and cauliflower crust frozen pizza brand in America, in its sale to Urban Farmer, a portfolio company of Paine Schwartz Partners and a fully integrated producer of specialty dough products for leading brands and major retailers across North America.</li><li>Hooters, Inc., and Hoot Owl Restaurants LLC in restructuring transactions that would allow for the acquisition of more than 100 Hooters of America-owned restaurants.</li><li>NextWorldLLC, in the sale of The Citizenry, a direct-to-consumer, socially conscious home decor brand, to Havenly, a leading interior design service and home furnishings company.</li></ul>

Chuck Cotter

Partner

Maxwell Rich is of counsel in the New York office of Morrison Foerster, and a member of the firm’s Emerging Companies + Venture Capital Group.Maxwell represents clients across a wide range of corporate matters, including general corporate, financings, transactional, regulatory securities matters, and mergers and acquisitions. His representation of operating companies and investment vehicles spans the entire corporate life-cycle, from formation to exit across multiple industries.Prior to joining the firm, Maxwell served as a Deputy General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at a venture-backed financial services unicorn. While at the company, he was responsible for company-wide legal operations, legal strategy, and compliance, serving as the chief compliance officer of a FINRA-member and a registered investment adviser, respectively, during his tenure. He acted as a regulatory liaison and advocate for the company’s various regulated entities; and managed corporate structure and supervised growth of the business, including leading acquisitions and spinouts, both foreign and domestic.Maxwell has a strong commitment to giving back to his community and industry. Max volunteers as a traveling expert for the State Department-backed Financial Services Volunteer Corps, a non-profit whose mission is to build sound banking and financial systems in developing and transition countries seeking to develop market-oriented economies. During intersessions at Georgetown University School of Law, Maxwell is an adjunct, teaching “Formation to Exit – Capital Formation for Startups. Max is also an adviser for The Association of Online Investment Platforms ("AOIP"), and organization that champions expanding investment opportunities in private companies to the general public, advocates for the responsible growth of private investment platforms, and educates the investors, legislators and regulators about the private markets in a transparent, honest manner.Maxwell earned his J.D., with honors, from Boston University School of Law, and holds a B.A., summa cum laude, from Drew University.

Maxwell Rich

Of Counsel

Shai Kalansky focuses his practice on corporate and transactional matters, including mergers, acquisitions, venture capital financings, and securities offerings, for public and private companies. His clients are U.S. and non-U.S. entities in the climate tech, life sciences, healthcare, hospitality, and technology industries. Shai has extensive experience representing startup to late-stage private companies in the climate tech and sustainability space. He provides corporate and finance advice in connection with equity and convertible debt financings, mergers, acquisitions, asset purchases and sales, reorganizations, and joint ventures. He has extensive experience working with sustainable infrastructure companies throughout their lifecycle. Shai regularly advises investors on investments, acquisitions, and dispositions of climate tech companies.Shai has a robust life sciences practice advising innovative and disruptive companies across numerous subsectors. His clients include medical device, genetic testing, plant-based therapeutics, bio-marker-derived diagnostic solutions, laboratory consumables, and immunotherapy cancer treatment companies. His experience in the sector enables him to successfully advise his clients across various transactions.Shai acts as companies’ outside general counsel, in which capacity he advises clients with respect to licensing matters, commercial contracts, and employment issues.Shai was recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America 2023-2024 for Corporate, M&A, and Venture Capital. He was also ranked as Up and Coming for Venture Capital by Chambers USA 2024. His venture capital clients interviewed by Chambers USA mentioned Shai is very “responsive and thoughtful” and “knowledgeable and pragmatic.”Shai is a member of MoFo’s Sustainability + Corporate Responsibility Steering Committee and is also an attorney co-chair of the Environmental Sustainability Firmwide Committee. Shai serves on the California Leadership Counsel for The Nature Conservancy.He is fluent in Hebrew and conversant in Spanish.

Shai Kalansky

Tim is a Partner in the Palo Alto Office and a partner in the Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Group. He specializes in representing startup companies and venture capital firms in corporate and securities matters.In his practice, Tim advises startups from formation through acquisition or initial public offering in matters including venture capital financing, debt financing, equity incentive compensation, corporate governance and technology development (including licensing, joint development, distribution, and other technology transfer matters). He also represents venture capital firms, strategic corporate investors, and angel investors in their investments in startup companies.Tim specializes in modeling complex capital structures, financing scenarios and liquidity events, helping entrepreneurs and investors analyze possibilities and understand consequences of various transaction structures. Tim represents startups and investors in a variety of technology sectors, including consumer and enterprise software, financial services technologies, wearable computing, semiconductor design, healthcare technologies, consumer retail and transportation.In 2015, Tim founded the firm’s ScaleUp Speaker Series, an ongoing, ten session series for entrepreneurs on the legal issues they will face over the lifetimes of their startups.Tim is most proud of his work on behalf of at-risk Afghan allies in connection with Operation Allies Refuge and was recognized by Human Rights First as a Pro Bono Star.Prior to practicing law, Tim designed, programmed, and implemented software systems for clients in the financial services industry.

Timothy Harris

Food + Agriculture

Emerging Companies + Venture Capital

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ScaleUp Speaker Series: New York Fall 2024 - Pratfalls and Pitfalls – Most Common Legal Mistakes and Open Forum

04 Dec 2024 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST