This notice is a little late in coming (and didn’t make it into our Year in Review post last week) but, let it be known, that Safford & Baker has taken a desk at the Tech Brewery in Ann Arbor (1327 Jones Dr.).

What is the Tech Brewery exactly?  It’s a self-described “community of technologists, entrepreneurs, and startups.”  It started as a small group of individuals but eventually desks got pushed together, companies formed, and the place now boasts eighteen full or part-time tenants.  A complete list can be found on the website and include startup guru/serial entrepreneur Dug Song’s newest venture Scio …read more

Ann Arbor New Tech is a group of people from various industries and backgrounds (e.g., entrepreneurs, technologists, investors, lawyers, marketers, students, etc.) interested in fostering local technology startups by organizing events, sharing resources, and building a supportive community.

Ann Arbor New Tech’s signature event takes place on the third Tuesday of each month, at 6:30 p.m., now at Blau Auditorium, UM Ross School of Business, 701 Tappan Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.  The monthly event features three to five companies who are each given five minutes to demo and five minutes to answer questions.  Open announcements and …read more

Our very own Don Baker is leading a panel discussion on best practices for startups and early-stage companies in raising investment capital.  Most entrepreneurs find capital fundraising to be daunting and a huge strain on the already difficult task of launching a new product or service.  Even when potential funding sources are identified, there can still be painful negotiations concerning valuation, price, and terms.  The whole process, however, can be made streamlined and accelerated by developing and following a capital fundraising plan.  Don has developed a program to help entrepreneurs develop just such a plan.

The panel discussion will take place on February 9, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.  South Oakland County location to be determined.  The cost $20 in …read more

The online magazine Concentrate has a roundup of the major venture capital deals and acquisitions in the Ann Arbor area in 2009.  The article can be found here.

–Matt

Last year, early-stage venture firm Y Combinator “open sourced” the legal documents they provide to their startups to use with investors after Y Combinator’s seed funding.  The documents can be found here.  TechStars followed by releasing the legal documents they use as a starting point for seed-stage financing for their companies.  Those documents can be found here.  In both cases, the goal is to help young startups avoid at least some of the legal costs associated with first-round financing by simplifying, and hopefully standardizing, the negotiating process.

A client now points me to this TechCrunch article on The Funded’s release of its Ideal First Round Term Sheet for venture …read more