Fenwick corporate principal Eli Curi served as a panelist at the 2018 Startup Exit Masterclass hosted by the global seed fund, SOSV, and its HAX Accelerator in New York. The Masterclass and Curi’s participation were covered in a TechCrunch article.
The panel addressed common misconceptions about exits and discussed steps startups can take now to avoid costly and critical errors later, and to position themselves for a more successful exit. Curi shared his experiences prior to joining Fenwick, when he served as a C-level exec and general counsel at a venture-backed SaaS company that had a very successful exit, and stressed the value of seeking legal counsel early.
“I don’t think you should wait until you’re going to get sold to hire a good lawyer,” Curi said. “You need a good startup lawyer because there are going to be decisions you make that are going to cost you 10 times or a hundred times more to fix along the way.”
“If the buyer finds those problems while you’re actually in the sale process, it’s too late, you’ve tarnished yourself,” Curi continued. “At the end of the day, you’re trying to grow a business, you’re trying to get sold.”
To see the full TechCrunch coverage of the event, visit the TechCrunch website. Also view the video of the panel.