Author Archives: Preccelerator™

Preccelerator Webinar: Managing your Talent w/ Peter Deragon

Hiring the right talent for your company is just as crucial as having a great product. A team of talented and hardworking people not only aid the founders in taking their mission of building a successful company forward, but also helps build the right culture for a company. This workshop will explore the first things first in building your Startup Team and managing your talent.

If you did not have a chance to attend this workshop on managing your talent with peter Deragon, the entire webinar can be found here.

To view our other webinar events, please visit our events page.

Peter Deragon
Managing Director
Global Sector Leader, Logistics Services
Global Sector Leader Capital Markets & Investment Banking

In his current role as Managing Director and Global Sector Leader at Stanton Chase’s Los Angeles office, Pete is active in North America leadership roles: in the Supply Chain, Logistics, & Transportation Group, which includes Aerospace and Aviation, the CFO Practice Group, and in Financial Services, where he started his career. Pete leads a diverse team of search consultants with senior-level experience in executive search for media, entertainment and television, technology, industrial, consumer products, not-for-profit, and life sciences & healthcare. Complementary to executive search, our offices provide high-level executive assessments and data-rich compensation reports for our clients.

Pete has 30-plus years of experience as a trusted adviser and manager in business-to-business environments. Based on a career begun in financial services that evolved into institutional sales and then executive search, Pete has called on hundreds of companies and organizations throughout the West. He has called many cities in California “home base,” namely San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, and Los Angeles. Now leading Stanton Chase’s Executive Search initiatives in California, our team serves public and private companies and public agency organizations across nine industry groups.

Our global collaboration ensures that our clients benefit from broad marketplace and domain knowledge, subject matter expertise, and vital executive connections. We apply proven processes to complete challenging executive search assignments. Pete has completed hundreds of senior assignments, and his technical expertise, solid support team, and high energy result in expeditious hires and repeat business.

Pete grew up in Southern California and earned a degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. When he is not pounding on a keyboard, meeting with his team, or interviewing, he can often be found racing motorcycles on one of California’s many local tracks.

To check out other events from the Preccelerator visit here.

Preccelerator Webinar: New Rules in Pricing w/ Per Sjofors

This presentation will cover the following topics and include several exercises to help you in your quest to price your services or products “right”.

• Why pricing has the highest leverage on profits.

• How we humans make our buying decisions, and how the seller can increasing customers’ willingness to pay.

• How to measure the customer perceived value of a product or service, and to translate it at the right price.

• How the seller can influence the buyer’s willingness to pay and buy, leading to higher sales at higher prices.

• How the current pandemic may have altered the decision landscape and how that may influence how companies market, sell. and price their product or service.

• The presentation is built on case studies and not theories.

Attendees will learn tips and techniques that can be implemented already the same day, and that drives higher sales volume at higher prices .

If you did not have a chance to attend this workshop on new rules for pricing with per Sjofors, the entire webinar can be found here.

To view our other webinar events, please visit our events page.

Per Sjofors, Founder of Atenga Insights.

Pricing has always been an interest-area for Per. As a serial entrepreneur, running companies in Europe and the US, he did pricing experiments. Some of these worked spectacularly well, some did not work at all. As a result, Per founded Atenga out of his frustration that what business schools teach about pricing is too abstract, too academic for a business executive to act on. Likewise, with books about pricing. Consequently, he set out to make pricing practical and actionable. “Pricing for business people.” Since then, he has been at the forefront as a thought leader in everything pricing and he is a sought-after speaker for a variety of conferences and business circuits.

Per appears regularly on business radio shows and gets quoted regularly in the financial press, including Forbes, Fortune Magazine, Inc. Magazine, The Street, Industry Week, Business Insider, and the Financial Times.

To check out other events from the Preccelerator visit here.

Applications Now Open For Women Founders Network 2020 Fast Pitch Competition

SA&M Preccelerator Program encourages you to apply for Women Founders Network Fast Pitch Competition!

Since 2013, WFN’s Fast Pitch competition has helped early-stage women-led businesses craft their stories, messages, monetization plans, legal structure and more. This individualized attention allows these women entrepreneurs to become pitch-ready in a way that makes their business much more appealing to Angels and VCs to support funding to scale.

Early bird pricing for the application is $50 until June 15 and $75 from June 16 – June 30.

APPLICANT CRITERIA

Founder/Co-Founder/CEO must be a woman or business must be majority-owned by a woman
Must be headquartered in Southern California (Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties)
We are not accepting applications from startups in Life Sciences or Nonprofits
Must generate revenue or demonstrate proof of concept (i.e., users, customers)
Must have raised no more than $1M in outside funding, excluding research grants
Must participate in the annual Fast Pitch (Virtual Event*) on October 27th

FAST PITCH PRIZES

$25-50k in Cash Prizes

and

$50k+Professional Services

FAST PITCH FINALISTS RECEIVE

• One-on-one coaching to prepare for the Fast Pitch Event
• Personal financial mentor to get your financials in order
• Virtual meet & greet with WFN judges, board, sponsors, and investors
• Connection with Angel Investors and Venture Capital Funds focused on women founders
• Cash investment potential from investors that attend the Fast Pitch event
• An ongoing support network of successful businesswomen committed to building the female entrepreneur ecosystem

For more information on the WFN Fast Pitch Competition, visit here.

For more information on events sponsored or hosted by the Preccelerator, visit here.

Los Angeles County’s Eviction Moratorium/Rent Deferment Order

On April 14, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors amended its March 19 order that mandated an eviction moratorium on both residential and commercial tenants and gave defaulting tenants the ability to defer rental payments that become due through May 31, 2020 for months.

(March 19: https://covid19.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/19032020HP_MFP_M577143825.pdf; April 14: http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/145198.pdf#search=%22moratorium%20eviction%22.)

Specifically, the April 14 amendment expands coverage of the March 19 order to all cities in Los Angeles County that have not enacted their own eviction moratorium/rent deferment order and mobile home parks who rent space to mobile homeowners, in addition to the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County that the March 19 order initially covered. Thus, cities within Los Angeles County who have enacted their own order, like the City of Los Angeles, do not fall under the Los Angeles County order.

Critically, while Los Angeles County’s order initially required defaulting commercial and residential tenants to demonstrate an inability to pay rent and/or related charges due to “financial impacts” related to COVID-19 in order to not be evicted for nonpayment of rent, the April 14 amendment provides that both commercial and residential tenants may “self-certify” their inability to pay as a result of “financial impacts,” and requires landlords to accept such self-certification. Tenants must still provide notice to their landlords of their inability to pay within 7 days of the due date.

“Financial impacts” include “substantial loss of household income due to business closure, loss of compensable hours of work or wages, layoffs, or extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses” that are “related to COVID-19” (i.e. if it is a result of any of the following: (1) diagnosed with COVID-19, or caring for a household or family member who is diagnosed with COVID-19; (2) layoff, loss of hours, or other income reduction resulting from business closure or other economic or employer impacts of COVID-19; (3) compliance with a recommendation from the County’s Health Officer to stay home, self-quarantine, or avoid congregating with others during the state of emergency; (4) extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses related to diagnosis and testing for and/or treatment of COVID-19; or (5) child care needs arising from school closures related to COVID-19).

Los Angeles County’s order as amended also prohibits both residential and commercial evictions based on the presence of unauthorized occupants, pets, or nuisance necessitated by or related to COVID-19. Further, the April 14 amendment extends a defaulting tenant’s time to pay back the deferred rental payments from 6 months after the expiration of the moratorium period (which is currently set for May 31, 2020 but may be extended) to 12 months.

It is worth reiterating that if a city within Los Angeles County has enacted its own order, then that order would apply over Los Angeles County’s. It is thus crucial for landlords and tenants alike to familiarize themselves with the order that is applicable to their location, as the vast majority of cities both inside and outside of Los Angeles County, as well as other counties themselves, do not allow for similar “self-certification,” and instead require a defaulting tenant to “demonstrate” or “show” an inability to pay rent due to COVID-19. When such demonstration or showing is required, tenants should be prepared to provide some form of supporting documentation, which might include bank statements, financial statements, accounts payable/receivable, or any other reasonable documentation. Given a lack of guidance on what constitutes sufficient supporting documentation, tenants should immediately begin the process of negotiating with their landlords to determine the supporting documentation that will be provided.

In sum, municipal eviction moratorium/rent deferment orders may differ from Los Angeles County’s order by: (a) excluding commercial tenants, or certain commercial tenants, from protection; (b) providing alternative timeframes for notifying landlords of an inability to pay or for making deferred rent payments once the applicable order or the COVID-19 emergency period expires; and (c) requiring a demonstration or showing of an inability to pay because of COVID-19.

For instance, while the City of Los Angeles’ eviction moratorium/rent deferment order also covers both residential and commercial tenants, it: (a) does not extend protections to commercial tenants that are publicly traded companies, transnational companies, or companies with over 500 employees; (b) only grants defaulting commercial tenants a 3 month window after the emergency period to make up deferred payments (defaulting residential tenants have a 12 month window); and (c) was revised to not require defaulting tenants to “show” an inability to pay rent for reasons related to COVID-19; however, it also does not provide for self-certification – whether and to what degree tenants will need to substantiate an inability to pay because of COVID-19 under this order is thus unclear at this time. (LA City’s Order: http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2020/20-0147-S19_ORD_186585_03-31-2020.pdf.)

In light of the foregoing, all tenants (and to the extent applicable, landlords) should immediately:

Familiarize themselves with their applicable order, specifically the notice requirement and deferment periods;
If the applicable order so requires, be prepared to provide documentation demonstrating an inability to pay because of COVID-19; and
Understand that you will need to pay any deferred rent eventually, so start the conversation with your landlord as soon as possible to work out an agreement.

Preccelerator COVID-19 Resource Center
https://preccelerator.com/category/covid-19-resources/

SA&M authors:

Garett Hill

Jeff Gersh

For more information on these matters, please contact our COVID-19 Task Force at info@stubbsalderton.com or one of our attorneys at SA&M.

COVID: Now What?

We’ve now been in the thick of this pandemic for a few weeks. We are all watching the number of people infected with COVID-19 rise at an alarming clip, a $2 trillion stimulus package no one really knows how to use, and people continuing to freak the fuck out about the coronavirus.

Ok, now that that depressing sh*t is out of the way, here’s the silver lining we’re seeing in the market with agency partners, clients, and prospects.

Ostriching is slowing down
Native e-commerce brands are crushing it
Companies are planning with purpose
Kindness is winning

To read the full article visit here.

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LAUREL MINTZ

Founder & CEO
Elevate My Brand

*Digital marketing, marketing strategy, business development, social media marketing

With a background and education in business and law from Rutgers University, and a passion for food, wine and lifestyle brands, Laurel’s expertise in marketing has been built and solidified through her work with prestigious restaurateurs and major brands across the nation.

Laurel established her influence as a creative marketing expert in the city of Brotherly Love. She was responsible for the production and promotion of high-profile, buzz-generating special events for Le Bec Fin, Philadelphia’s only restaurant with five stars from Mobil and a three-star Michelin rated restaurant. She developed Public House Restaurant Group’s flagship restaurant and managed the execution of their national marketing campaign strategy.

Upon returning to her native Los Angeles, Laurel took on the role of Executive Vice President and In-House Counsel for Bassett, and subsequently began consulting for beauty, food, beverage and consumer brands. Inspired by the success she found bringing her fresh approach to marketing to a wider group of clients, she founded Elevate My Brand in 2009. She now sits on the board of directors for the American Heart Association, the Fender Music Foundation, One With The Water, Ten X, and the British American Business Counsel. Laurel is also on the Social Committee for the Network of Executive Women, a Recipient of the Los Angeles Business Journal Women Making A Difference Award 2014, Keynote speaker for the Women and Business Enterprise Conference 2014, and runs her own exclusive networking group, ”The Taste Salon.” She is regularly featured in Inc. Magazine, where she has her own column, “On Brand.”

Laurel lives in Los Angeles, California, where she steers our digital marketing and event planning efforts.

For more information, please visit our COVID-19 Resources page.

Preccelerator Webinar: Elevate Your Brand with Laurel Mintz

Looking for a gateway into your brand’s marketing future? This enlightening mind map session will show you how to market your brand like a pro. We’ll outline multiple areas of opportunity so that you can skillfully represent your brand across all online and offline platforms. Get ready to elevate your brand!

If you did not have a chance to attend this workshop on branding with Laurel Mintz, the entire webinar can be found here.

To view our other webinar events, please visit our events page.

Laurel Mintz

With a J.D/M.B.A from Rutgers University, Laurel’s background has uniquely prepared her to run a successful agency. Inspired by the innovative consulting work she executed early in her career with prestigious brands like Le Bec Fin, Public House Restaurant Group, Bassett Furniture, and Julie Hewett Cosmetics, Laurel knew she wanted to play bigger. A decade later, Laurel has created an agency family, Elevate Your Brand, serving both startups and blue-chip global brands like Facebook, Verizon Digital Media Group, PAW Patrol, and Zendesk. Laurel’s favorite saying is FIOGID. Figure it out, get it done. And that’s exactly what’s brought the agency top talent and accolades since 2009.

Laurel sits on the Board of Directors for NFTE (Network for Teaching Leadership), the Women Founders Network, and the UCLA Restaurant Conference. She is a mentor for The Women’s Global Leaders Initiative and advises LAVA (Los Angeles Venture Association). Laurel wrote a weekly Inc. Magazine column appropriately entitled “On Brand” for three years. Her published work can be found in Entrepreneur, USA Today, The American Marketing Association and C-Suite Quarterly Magazine. Laurel and the agency have recently won the W3 Silver Award for the PAW Patrol Road Patrol Campaign, the 2017 Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Award, the LABJ Women in Business Award, Comerica and LA Lakers’ Women’s Business Award, amongst others. When she’s not wowing clients with amazing creative, you can find Laurel with her husband cuddling their furry kids Miso and Twizzler (food obsessed much?), or testing out a new recipe in the kitchen with a good glass of wine, of course.

Considering a New 409A Valuation in Light of COVID-19

As COVID-19 continues to curtail economic activity, private companies granting equity-based incentive awards should consider whether the pandemic’s impact on their business warrants a new independent 409A valuation of their equity securities.

As a reminder, with limited exceptions Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code and its associated regulations (“Section 409A” and/or the “regulations”) requires companies to issue equity-based incentive awards at fair market value (“FMV”) to avoid potentially significant tax penalties resulting from a determination that such awards constitute deferred compensation issued under non-qualified deferred compensation plans.

Determining FMV
Section 409A clarifies that a company may determine FMV for stock that is readily tradable on an established securities market (such as the NYSE or Nasdaq) by any reasonable method using actual transactions in such stock as reported by such market. However, determining FMV is more difficult for privately held companies, including early-stage companies, whose stocks are not freely transferrable and/or cannot be readily liquidated.

The regulations provide that such companies may determine FMV for their stock by the reasonable application of a reasonable valuation method, based on facts and circumstances existing as of the valuation date. Fortunately, the regulations also provide that the use of certain methods, including a valuation determined by an independent appraisal that meets the requirements of the regulations (a “409A valuation”), are presumed to be reasonable.

Impact of Material Events
Companies can generally rely on a 409A valuation for a period of 12 months after the valuation date. However, the use of such a valuation may not be reasonable if it fails to reflect information available after the date of the valuation that may materially affect the value of the company. The issue of a 409A valuation not accounting for a material event is more likely to arise when the material event increases the company’s value, since granting equity-based incentive awards at a price above FMV will not trigger the negative tax consequences associated with the issuance of deferred compensation under a nonqualified deferred compensation plan. Nevertheless, obtaining a new 409A valuation where a material event negatively impacts a company’s value merits review, at least from the perspective of the additional incremental value that may accrue to service providers who receive equity-based incentive awards. A lower valuation allows a company to issue options and other equity-based compensation at a lower exercise price, meaning a greater potential upside for recipients.

Factors to Consider
While the recent decrease in the value of indices of publicly traded stocks appears to indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has materially adversely impacted businesses overall, some businesses and sectors have increased in value. Each company must therefore determine how, and to what extent, the pandemic has impacted its value. Companies should consider the following in assessing the need for a new 409A valuation:

Has the pandemic materially impacted and/or is the pandemic material impacting its business?
Does the company intend to issue equity-based incentive awards in the near future?
Should the company wait for more clarity regarding its business prospects?
How do strategic business initiatives and/or plans factor in?
What are the financial and operational costs associated with a new valuation?

In addition, companies should consult with their 409A valuation provider, along with their tax, financial and legal advisors, to assist in their analysis. The cost of a 409A valuation is generally significantly less than the cost of a full appraisal but the potential benefits for incentive award recipients could be meaningful.

For more information or if you have questions about its effects on your business please contact our COVID-19 Task Force at info@stubbsalderton.com or one of our attorneys at SA&M.

COVID-19 Resource Center
https://preccelerator.com/category/covid-19-resources/

SA&M authors:

Louis Wharton

Michael Shaff

Jonathan Sanabria

Preccelerator Webinar: Pitch Deck Preparation with Jasmine Foroutan

If you did not have a chance to attend this workshop on pitch deck preparation with Jasmine Foroutan, the entire webinar can be found here.

To view our other webinar events, please visit our events page.

Presented By:

Jasmine Foroutan is a full-time pitch deck specialist for tech startups, investors, and accelerators. She’s the Founder & CEO of Pitch Genius, a boutique pitch deck consulting firm on a mission to help more startups get funded. The firm is based in Los Angeles but has also helped startups successfully pitch in San Francisco & New York. She started her career in 2014 and holds a Bachelors in Entrepreneurship from Loyola Marymount University.

Follow her on Medium and Twitter, connect on LinkedIn, and learn about pitch deck services at PitchGenius.co.

Pitch Genius is a boutique pitch deck consulting firm on a mission to get more startups funded by telling great stories. Every startup has a unique story to tell and it’s our job to create that engaging story, pitch, and presentation that will spark interest for potential investors, partners, or sales.

5 Marketing Tips to Staying Profitable During a Global Pandemic

We know it feels like the end of days right now. People are frankly freaked out about the coronavirus (or COVID-19). But if we don’t adjust our thinking around this, our economy, starting with small businesses, will be even more dramatically impacted than they already are.

Here are five ways you can support your community and hopefully stay profitable during these crazy times.

To read the full article visit the Elevate My Brand blog.

———————-

LAUREL MINTZ

Founder & CEO
Elevate My Brand

*Digital marketing, marketing strategy, business development, social media marketing

Laurel lives in Los Angeles, California, where she steers our digital marketing and event planning efforts.

For more information please visit our COVID-19 Resources page.

Preccelerator Webinar: California Worker Classification Law w/ Garett Hill and Jeff Gersh

This workshop on California Worker Classification Law covered the following topics:

(1) why proper worker (i.e. employee (W2) v. independent contractor (1099)) classification is important, including the penalties/liability for improperly classifying;

(2) the evolution of the operative test in CA for classifying workers and Dynamex;

(3) AB5, the numerous exemptions of the bill, and pending litigation and legislative challenges to the bill; and

(4) a brief outlook of considerations for employers moving forward.

If you did not have a chance to attend this workshop on California Worker Classification Law, the entire webinar can be found here.

To view our other webinar events, please visit our events page.

Presented by:

Garett Hill

Garett Hill is an Associate of SA&M. His practice focuses on all stages of business litigation.

Prior to joining the firm, Garett was a certified law clerk with the Re-Entry Clinic at Loyola Law School where he successfully represented Los Angeles residents seeking to expunge or seal their prior convictions or trying to obtain or restore a license that had been negatively impacted by prior convictions. Garett completed the Corporate Law Concentration at Loyola Law School where he excelled learning within the various substantive areas of business law. Additionally, Garett worked as a legal intern in-house at AECOM, where he primarily focused on corporate governance and construction law matters. He also worked as a law clerk at Girardi & Keese where he gained invaluable exposure to high-volume litigation.

Jeffrey Gersh

Jeffrey F. Gersh is a Partner of the Firm. Before joining Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP, Jeffrey was Managing Partner of The Gersh Law Firm, Inc. for over 10 years and a partner for 25 years with a prominent litigation law firm. Jeffrey has been named a Thomson Reuters “Super Lawyer” for more than 8 years by his peers; an honor only achieved by less than 2.5% of attorneys in California.

Jeffrey successfully litigates, arbitrates, or mediates for both plaintiffs and defendants complex business and commercial matters, whether for individuals, public or private corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies and/or its members, shareholders and partners. Jeffrey successfully handles disputes regarding contract matters, trade secrets, intellectual property (trademarks, copyrights and trade dress) negligence and fraud, employment, real estate, license agreements, the apparel and garment industry, and general business matters.

Jeffrey approaches his litigation practice from a business perspective, rather than purely transactional. In addition to representing his clients in litigation and dispute resolution matters, Jeffrey handles many of their various transactional matters relating to general business, trademarks, trade dress, copyrights and other intellectual property matters, trade secret matters, and employment matters to name a few.