Safford & Baker PLLC is today’s spotlight in The Great Lakes Innovation and Technology Report for Monday, August 30, 2010.  Here’s the article:

Randy Safford and Don Baker are veteran lawyers, but they’re also veteran entrepreneurs, both in their law firm and in other ventures they have helped launch.

And that’s why they, joined by their colleague, Matt Bower, have created a law firm focusing on technology entrepreneurs, including startups – offering to technologists services they may not even realize they need, but which can prevent major headaches later.

They also offer fixed-price products for startups, and are willing to consider a flexible fee arrangement, deferring some fees until a startup starts generating revenue, or even taking startup stock as part of the fee.

But it’s those legal bumps in the road that startup managers may not foresee that they say they enjoy helping out with the most.

Baker and Safford recall one client, a company that developed unique software to help auto dealers keep accurate inventory. But they never thought to get contracts with their independent-contractor software developers, acknowledging that all the work and the software itself belonged to the company.

“That’s copyrightable work, the software code, and if you don’t have an agreement, and the person isn’t an employee — and in most startups they’re not, because you don’t want the overhead — then the law says the developer owns the code,” Safford said. “You can still fix that after the fact, if they’ll sign it.”

Added Baker: “If you don’t get that right, you might not be able to get financing, because you can’t prove to an investor that you own the intellectual property that your business is based on.”

The firm also offers special startup legal products for fixed or deferred fees.

A $750 Entity Formation package includes articles of organization (for an LLC) or incorporation, operating agreement or bylaws, designation of successors, obtaining a tax identification number, a minute book of formation documents, confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements and more.

A fixed-fee Seed Funding package gets a startup ready for investors. Companies seeking $250,000 to $2 million get a term sheet describing the basic agreements of the investment, restated articles of incorporation or organization to include a new class of preferred stock, a more complex set of bylaws a subscription agreement to document the actual investment, forms to let investors to elect a board member representing their interests, and more.

The firm still has many of its original entrepreneurial clients, including the payment and ordering kiosk technology developers Nextep Systems.

“We helped them form the company, we invested in it and are still investors, and they’re doing great,” Safford said. “They’re right in our sweet spot, because they have intellectual property, software IP, and they license it.”

To learn how Safford & Baker can help your startup thrive, visit www.saffordbaker.com or e-mail info@saffordbaker.com.

–Matt

Billed as the “World’s largest business plan competition,” the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan is launching the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition today, offering more than $1 million in cash awards for the best and brightest new business concepts.  What does the winner get?  How does $500,000 sound?  From the press release:

The Business Accelerator Network for Southeast Michigan, a new region-wide network for building and retaining new business in southeast Michigan, today announces the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, an international business plan competition designed to highlight Michigan as a robust and vibrant venue for innovation and business opportunity.

The New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan has granted Ann Arbor SPARK $750,000 to launch the competition on behalf  of the Business Accelerator Network for Southeast Michigan, composed of four of the region’s key business accelerators– Ann Arbor SPARK, Automation Alley, Macomb-OU INCubator, and TechTown. Joining the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition as partners for event are the University Research Corridor (Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University) and Business Leaders for Michigan.

….

The business plan competition is open to entrepreneurs in Michigan and worldwide who are willing to establish a business in the state. Participants will submit entries in nine categories including advanced materials, advanced transportation, alternative energy, homeland security and defense, information technology, life science, medical devices, next generation manufacturing and products and services.  A separate track designed specifically for students to submit business concepts is open to any undergraduate or graduate student attending a Michigan university or college in fall 2010.

(Links in original omitted.)

More info about the competition can be found at The Detroit Blog over at Time Magazine.

Personally, it’s heartening to see a catchall category for “next generation…products and services” included in the competition along with the traditional categories.  As a state, we should be soliciting good businesses no matter the industry; rather than look only for business that fall within conventional ideas of “good” industries.  Some of the most innovative and fastest growing companies in our state are coming out of the mobile applications, entertainment, and consumer electronics industries.  It’s nice to see these companies have a chance to compete for this kind of support.

–Matt

The mission of the Mobile Monday Michigan Chapter is to “[e]ncourage innovation within the mobile sector and help Michigan-based companies participate in mobile initiatives through the import and export of visions, concepts, technologies, know-how and best practices, as well as the development of relationships related to the mobile industry.”  Mobile Monday Michigan is having its first “official” meeting on Monday (of course), July 19, 2010, at 6:30PM in the Celtic Room at Conor O’Neill’s Irish Pub (318 South Main Street – Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104).  Xconomy Detroit has an article on the group here.

I’ve been invited to present at this first meeting under the subject heading “Legal Issues in Mobile”.  Rather than run through a list of legal issues, I thought I’d talk a little more in depth about location-based services and consumer privacy and protection.  This issue came up most recently when Apple changed its privacy policy, prior to the launch of the iPhone 4, to allow the company to collect and share location information about its customers.  You can read more about that here.

I hope you can make it.

–Matt

Ann Arbor New Tech, brought to you by a2geeks, 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., 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 networking follows.

This month’s meetup is on Tuesday, July 20th.  Hope to see you there.

–Matt

A client pointed me to this New York Times article profiling Boulder, Colorado’s high-tech startup scene.  So, what makes Boulder so great?  From the article:

The recipes of other cities for creating the next Silicon Valley usually leave out a few main ingredients. Richard Florida, who wrote “The Rise of the Creative Class” and studies why certain cities foster creativity, cites three crucial factors: talented people and a high quality of life that keeps them around, technological expertise, and an open-mindedness about new ways of doing things, which often comes from a strong counterculture.

“Boulder has reached this beautiful sweet spot, where it has many advantages of a university town — tech and talent and openness — but without many of the costs and traffic and congestion that may disadvantage incumbent centers of innovation,” Mr. Florida said.

Does this sound like another Midwest university town we know?  Come see for yourself at A2 New Tech on Tuesday.

–Matt