As an early stage SaaS company, you've worked hard to build a product that you believe in. But getting to the next stage in your business requires an injection of capital. When it comes to understanding how VCs value SaaS companies, it can feel somewhat like navigating a maze blindfolded. You'r...
Blog
Helpful news & articles from Tom McKeever, a Business-Focused Legal Partner for Technology Companies from Emerging to Large-Scale Enterprise.
How Technology Companies Can Stay Compliant with Evolving Privacy Laws
In today's fast paced digital world, companies collect and utilize vast amounts of customer data to power their innovations. Yet privacy laws around the way such data is handled lag far behind the technological advances powered by data. Keeping up with data protection regulations and privacy la...
Intellectual Property (IP) and Data Privacy: The Hidden Risks of AI
Everyone from Fortune 500 companies to small business owners around the world are rapidly embracing the power of AI to increase efficiency, productivity, and innovation. But as the business world rushes to adopt AI technology, there are substantial challenges regarding the legal risks of artifi...
Eyes Wide Open When Working With AI: How to Allocate AI Risks
Artificial intelligence technologies are everywhere in business. AI promises next level opportunities for growth and innovation, but within the excitement of this transformational new technology it's important to understand how using AI is different – including its unique risks. At the rapid rat...
Implementing Process Can Improve Startup Performance
Did you know that about 90% of startups completely fail - many within the first few years. But how can you improve those daunting odds? Building a business from the ground up is a complex process. There are many reasons that a startup might not pan out, but one large contributing factor is the ...
How to Prevent Conflict from Becoming Litigation
In business, conflicts are not only likely, they are inevitable. No matter what precautions we take, sooner or later a situation will arise in which two parties disagree. Whether a dispute involves a missed deadline, or something more serious like the quality of work, resolving these issues amica...
How to Handle Service Credit Requests in Vendor Contracts
We recently took an indepth look at what service level agreements mean for your organization. These important agreements define the working relationship between two parties, and their expectations for performance. But what happens when a vendor is unable to meet their performance level obligation...
How Do “Service Availability” and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) Matter for Your Business?
Have you ever experienced the frustration of logging into your favorite streaming service to watch a movie, only to find that the service is down? Now imagine the frustration you'd feel if the cloud infrastructure that runs your entire business went down. This scenario describes the importance ...
How AI Is Transforming Cloud Computing Transactions
If you had an opportunity to look into the future of business, what would you see? Would you see a world where machines give you unprecedented insight into your data? Where your needs are anticipated and strategic decisions made by intelligent systems? Thankfully, we don't have to actually look...
What is Technology Transactions Law?
Imagine your company has been hard at work on a game-changing software application. You are eager to bring your new product to market, but have you stopped to consider your intellectual property rights? What about licensing terms, or potential risks and liabilities? These crucial matters are al...
(Some) Key Considerations in IP License Agreements as the Licensor
For many businesses, their intellectual property (IP) is their most valuable asset. And for just as many others, using another company's IP is core to their success. So when businesses agree to work together, they use IP licensing agreements to set forth the terms of use and compensation to creat...
Contract Law: Know the Fundamentals
Whether you are a tech startup or an established enterprise, contracts are an essential part of doing business. But what happens when a party fails to meet their obligations? Contracts determine how business deals are interpreted and enforced.
What Types of Businesses Need to Be HIPAA Compliant?
HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Created in 1996 to ensure the security of personal health information for patients around the country, HIPAA is a vital part of not only the healthcare industry, but many other industries that work alongside health care. Any orga...
Artificial Intelligence in Cloud Computing: Key Benefits and Challenges
In the past year, artificial intelligence has seen a meteoric rise, with its impact being felt far and wide. When it comes to artificial intelligence in cloud computing, AI’s ability to not only analyze tremendous amounts of data, but learn from it as well, creates revolutionary potential for nearly every industry.
California Business Formation: A Comprehensive Guide for Emerging Entrepreneurs
California has long been the place where the best and brightest come to build businesses that change the world. From Steve Jobs, to Elon Musk, countless entrepreneurs have made their fame and fortune in the Golden state. Money follows innovation, which has made California the place to go for thos...
Negotiating Competing Intellectual Property (IP) Interests of Software Developers & Customers
Avoid Unnecessary Conflict, Improve Time to Market, Preserve Relationships--and Ultimately Get What you Need Developers and clients hotly debate which should own or just have a limited license (or as some customers argue no license) to intellectual property (IP) developed by the contractor. Res...
Vendor Contract Negotiation: Best Practices & Tricks of the Trade
In this video, technology transactions attorney Tom McKeever discusses how to improve vendor outcomes for your business, save a few bucks, and lots of headache. Overview Be Clear about what you want from Vendor/Service Providers Pre-Negotiation Preparation & Process Overview Negotiating...
Clickwrap Agreement Enforceability
A clickwrap agreement is an online contract formed when a user indicates acceptance of by clicking a button or checking a box on a website or software application. Clickwrap agreements are commonly used to govern the use of online services and apps.
Does your SaaS Agreement Encourage Low-Friction Deals? Is it Tailored to Your Service?
SaaS services require a substantially different customer agreement than old-school software products.
Four Surprising Ways Outside Counsel Can Help your Business
In the age of Google for legal research and LegalZoom for quickie contracts, it can seem as if hiring an attorney is an unnecessary business expense. But the adage "you get what you pay for" can be true when it comes to do-it-yourself internet legal solutions. Sometimes, there's no substitute for...
SaaS Fundamentals -- Key Terms for your Business
Before you can offer SaaS services, you need a SaaS agreement. This document will spell out the terms and conditions for how your customers will and won't use of your service. SaaS is markedly different from the old business model of perpetual on-prem software licensing. As a result, you and you...