Session 5:
Financing Sources Panel;
Legal Issues
Wednesday, January 27, 2027
6:00pm to 9:00pm Eastern Time  Room: 10-250

Part 1: Financing Sources Panel

You have identified the product/service and the market.   You have settled on a business model and have done your financial projections.    How will you finance the plan?

This session will cover: Bootstrapping the early stages.   Funding from the 3 F's- Friends, Family and Fools.   Angels- who are they and what are they looking for?   Private placements.   Customer financing.  Government grants (e.g., SBIRs).   Consulting- getting someone else to pay for the development, provide a beta site and endorse your idea.   Venture capital.   Bank financing.

You will learn about the institutional constraints and needs of various funding sources.   As a result you will be in a better position to determine if, when and how to approach these sources for financing.

This part of the program will feature a panel of experts discussing different financing sources.

• Angel: Shereen Shermak, Angel Investor.
• Pre-Seed and Seed: John Harthorne, Founder and Managing Director, Two Lanterns Venture Capital.
• Series A/Growth: Lyman Missimer, Investor and Strategic M&A at Owl Ventures, the largest venture capital firm in the world focused on education technology.
• Corporate Venture Capital: Grace Mathis, Climate & Industrial Tech VC @Hitachi Ventures

Experienced Technology Innovator and Investor John is the Founder & Managing Director of Two Lanterns Venture Capital, and also the Co-Founder & Former 10-year CEO of MassChallenge, largest startup accelerator on the planet which has graduated 3,000+ startups with cumulative revenue of $billions and over 200,000 jobs.   He also won the MIT $50K in 2007 with Robopsy.  LinkedIn Page

• Where Do Entrepreneurs Get Their Money?  Short YouTube video about financing sources.
• A Beginner's Guide to Venture Capital  How is a Venture Capital Fund structured?  How are VCs compensated?  What does this mean for you?
• Venture Capital Deal Terms  MIT Enterprise Forum presentation.
• "Thinking About Valuation"
• "Dilution – Here Is A Primer of Stock Vocabulary"
• "All Financing Sources Are Not Equal"
• "What Are the Terms? - Part 1: A Preferred Return"
• "What Are the Terms?- Part 2: Investors Need Some Control After Their Checks Are Cashed"
• "What Are the Terms?- Part 3: Run Don’t Walk To The Exit"
• 2023 Angel Funders Report, from the Angel Capital Association

Part 2: Legal Issues

Identifying and dealing with legal issues in a New Venture.   Securities laws - How to avoid Going to Jail without passing Go and without Collecting $200.   Intellectual Property Law-Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks and Tradesecrets.   Major hidden tax traps in starting a business-how to avoid generating phantom income and taxes.

General questions and answers on legal issues for the entrepreneur - What you always wanted to know about the law but were afraid to ask/pay for.

• Considerations for Founders: Issues in Structuring Relationships Among Members of the Founding Team
• "Steer Clear of the Tempest: A Start-Up Tragedy in Three Acts"
• "Ten Commandments Of How To Work Effectively With Lawyers"
• "Questions of Copyright: Another Weapon in Property Arsenal"
• "The Importance of Patents: It Pays To Know Patent Regulations"
• "Of Kleenex and Cheez Whiz: Trademarks Are Nothing To Sneeze At"
• When you have a trademark, you must "police" it to prevent it from being misused. The lawyers at Velcro have something to say about this - check the YouTube video on this.  More details at: Don't Say Velcro.

Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management Serial Entrepreneur, Mentor and Investor. Joe has been involved with over 120 new ventures over the last 30 years as an entrepreneur, lawyer, board member and venture capitalist.