Silicon Valley Trends

In this podcast you will learn why C-Corporations are the vehicle of choice for tech startups in Silicon Valley and the tech sector. You’ll learn why it doesn’t make sense to operate as an S-Corporation, or an LLC, and how you can escape paying taxes when you sell your C-Corporation shares. The post Why Choose a C-Corporation for Your Startup Journey appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

If you ever wondered how share prices were determined on the stock market, this podcast might be for you. In this podcast David Smith episodes explains how the price of a stock is driven by the value of the company, which is driven by the company’s earnings. David goes on to explain how dividends, the […] The post What Drives Stock Market Share Prices? appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

Patents that were not designed for litigation or licensing may still hold some potential for monetization if they have open continuations that can be built into bulletproof portfolios that will stand up in court. The post Monetizing “Trophy Patents” from Research Labs, Corporations and Large Organizations appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

This podcast explains how the SVBS Milestone Progress system is combined with expert advice and mentoring to help entrepreneurs hit milestones, get their startups on track and drive them toward profitability or exit in the form of an IPO or acquisition. More On This Topic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ZNhvcwW2Uhttps://youtu.be/NJM0pZ4Zz4U The post Guiding Entrepreneurs Toward Success appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

The powers of shareholders, the board of directors, officers, the CEO and how decisions are made in startups and other companies. The post Who Holds the Power in your Company? appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

Learn about contract law and how to write your own contracts using cases involving Elvis Presley and real-world examples. The post Elvis, Contracts & Unwanted Breasts appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

Why it’s not easy to collect patent license fees and what it takes to be successful in patent licensing. The post A Recipe for Success in Patent Licensing appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

Former Apple World Marketing Manager, David Smith explains how to build your elevator pitch, your core value proposition, how to build a brand and change your brand image. The post Creating & Presenting the Marketing Message appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

Momentum is critical for success in business, especially in the fast moving tech sector. Recognizing this and figuring out how to generate positive momentum can make the difference between your venture winding up in a painful shutdown or reaching a profitable IPO. The post Business Momentum appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

How angel investors work, how they syndicate investments and how they structure their investments as convertible notes or preferred stock rounds of financing. David Smith presents materials from the Silicon Valley Business School Raising Finance for Startups course and explains how he managed to raise more than $20m from angel investors in one of his […] The post Understanding Angel Investors appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

This episode explains how venture capital funds work, how they are organized, what types of investments they’re looking for, how they make money, share it with limited partners and how they mitigate risk through modern portfolio theory. This episode provides a useful primer for anyone interested in raising finance from venture capital investors. The post Understanding Venture Capital Investors appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

This episode is about non-practicing entities (NPE’s). Otherwise referred to as patent licensing companies, patent assertion entities (PAE’s) or patent holding companies, non-practicing entities are companies who’s sole activity is patent licensing. David Smith explains why they exist, what they do, how they make money and the pros and cons of working with them. The post Monetizing Patents Through Non-Practicing Entities (NPE’s) appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

David Smith and attorney Tom Fasone explain how the International Trade Commission (ITC) is a federal agency tasked with protecting American domestic industries from foreign unfair competition connected to imports into the United States. This podcast explains how products infringing patents and other infringing products can be blocked by US Customs and Border Protection. It […] The post Blocking Illegal Imports Through the International Trade Commission (ITC) appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

This episode explains why companies buy patents, what they’re looking for in a patent, what patents are most sellable, and what prices patents collect on the market. It guides patent holders through the process of selling a patent, and helps them navigate the legal minefields along the way. The post Selling Your Patent appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

How the small town of Marshall in Eastern Texas became the battlefield for patent lawsuits and how the T.C. Heartland case has shifted cases to courthouses in other states, like Delaware, that don’t want to hear them. The post Venue–Where to File Suit Against Companies Infringing your Patents? appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

Understand the bizarre patent marketplace through looking at the numbers. For example, 98.5% of patents are never asserted. This translates to $60bn spent on patents that are never used. Podcast covers cost of prosecution, maintenance, litigation, inter-parte review (IPR) as well as statistics on fee shifting and other topics. The post Patenting by Numbers appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

This episodes explains how startups are valued and presents the argument as to why venture capital investments in startup ventures should not be used as the basis to place a valuation on the company.https://youtu.be/l9IaqZUkSPw The post Why Startup Valuation is Not Startup Valuation appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

This episode explains how venture capital investors get preferred stock, and founders get common stock. Preferential toppings provided to investors include liquidation preferences, veto rights, board rights, anti-dilution rights, co-sale and drag-along rights. David Smith talks to Mark Cameron White, founder of the White Summers law firm, about the terms Mark’s seeing in Silicon Valley […] The post Preferred Pizza Toppings appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

How large corporate interests have lobbied Washington, misled the American public and seriously damaged the US patent system at the expense of inventors and small startups. The post Patent Wars & Shifting Legal Fees in Patent Litigation Cases appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

David talks to Mark Cameron White, Harvard-educated lawyer who founded and financed hundreds of Silicon Valley startups, about forming the company and forming the founding team.https://youtu.be/MLnt_KAWdzg The post Forming the Startup Company and Partnering with Co-Founders appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

https://youtu.be/nH5zrEi53PcPaul Kallmes discusses entrepreneurship, international expansion, managing risk, pitching investors, raising finance from venture capital investors, angel investing and even rock climbing in this interview from the Vault, an innovation ecosystem and global network of startup accelerators and collaborative workspaces with a facility in the heart of San Francisco. The post Interview with Paul Kallmes, Entrepreneurship and Angel Investment Expert at the Vault, San Francisco appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

https://youtu.be/WY5brPPRFa8Justin Kan talks about how he became an entrepreneur, got into the Y-Combinator program, started live streaming his whole life, created Twitch and sold it to Amazon for $970m. Justin talks about his new startup, Atrium, a tech-driven law firm servicing startups and high growth companies from its base in San Francisco. The post Interview with Justin Kan, Co-Founder of Twitch appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

https://youtu.be/IEbHK_CVA6oIf you don’t know where you’re going, what chance do you have of getting there? This is the first in a series of episodes on the startup journey and today we’re talking about targeting your destination. Future episodes will deal with other aspects of your journey like generating momentum, gathering your provisions, setting and achieving […] The post The Startup Journey–Targeting your Destination appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.

David Smith explains how this podcast series is designed to help entrepreneurs  build more successful startups and help more innovators profit from their ideas and inventions. David explains how he has formed more than a dozen startups, authored several books, graduated from law school as well as business school, raised finance from Bill Gates, venture […] The post Introduction by David Smith, Former Apple World Marketing Manager, Serial Entrepreneur, Lawyer appeared first on Silicon Valley Trends.