ScaleUp Speaker Series Winter/Spring 2026

This cycle of Morrison Foerster’s ScaleUp Speaker Series provided founders and entrepreneurs with practical insights into the legal side of founding a startup. Participants gained the knowledge needed to manage the legal aspects of launching, funding, and growing a startup, while learning how to avoid common mistakes that can have serious consequences down the road.

Week 1: Incorporating a Startup – January 23, 2026

Participants learned the key differences between types of legal entities and how they impact the ability to raise capital, build a workforce, and achieve a successful company exit.

Week 1A: B-Corps, Benefit Corps, and Public Benefit Corps – January 29, 2026

Participants learned how to leverage new corporate forms to build a mission-oriented startup while retaining the ability to attract capital and expand their business.

Week 2: Intellectual Property Basics – January 30, 2026

Participants learned the basics of the different types of intellectual property, how they add value to a startup, and common missteps to prevent a startup from protecting its intellectual property.

Week 3: Raising Angel Investment (including Convertible Note Financings) – February 6, 2026

Participants learned about the most common angel investment structures and practices in seed-stage investing (including debt, equity, and hybrid approaches) and received an introduction to the preferred stock terms that form the basis of venture capital investments.

Week 4: Raising Venture Capital Investment (Deal Terms and Structures) – February 13, 2026

Participants learned the basic concepts, structures, and mathematics behind venture capital investments, including capital structures, term sheets, and capitalization and liquidation models.

Week 4A: Raising Impact Investment – February 19, 2026

Participants learned how impact investors and impact investments differ from traditional investors and venture capital investments, including key terms of impact side letters and program-related investments (PRIs).

Week 5: Most Common Legal Mistakes of Startup Entrepreneurs – February 20, 2026

Participants learned more than a dozen common mistakes, their impacts on startups, and how to avoid them.

Week 6: Antitrust Issues for Startup Companies – February 26, 2026

Participants learned about basic antitrust laws and principles, the current antitrust enforcement landscape, antitrust risks in interactions with peers and competitors, and other topics relating to antitrust and competition in the startup space.

Week 7: Startup Equity Incentives – February 31, 2026

Participants learned the basics of customary equity incentives and how they are used to attract and retain top talent in a competitive market. The session covered founder vesting, restricted stock, and stock options, including incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NSOs).

Week 8: Follow-On Venture Financing Complexities – March 6, 2026

Participants learned how startups and investors manage down rounds, recapitalizations, pay-to-play financings, and other complexities that arise in the second and subsequent rounds of financing.

Week 9: Selling Your Startup – March 13, 2026

Participants learned the differences among acquisition structures, mastered fundamental mergers and acquisitions terms, and received an overview of definitive M&A agreements and processes

Week 10: Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) – March 20, 2026

Participants learned about the steps involved in considering an IPO, including the process, timing, and continuation as a U.S. public company.

Week 11: Raising Capital from Foreign Investors: CFIUS Basics – March 26, 2026

Participants learned about the regulatory framework governing foreign investments in U.S. startups, how founders can approach foreign investors, and how U.S. investors typically view startups with foreign investment.

Week 12: Open Forum Recap – March 27, 2026

Participants joined an interactive open forum to ask Morrison Foerster’s startup attorneys questions about topics covered during the series and startup legal issues more broadly.

For more information on our ScaleUp programming offered in Austin, Boston, New York, and Palo Alto, please visit us at MoFo ScaleUp.