Today, Enable looks at a sight that at first glance seems to be a portal for lawyers. While the site, Findlaw.com, was designed for lawyers - it is still full of very useful information for entrepreneurs and start-ups as well. There is too much information on the site to be covered in one column, so we will only highly a section containing information you will not find anywhere else.
The section is called Tech Deals and it contains information that was never before available so easily to the general public. This information can be used for comparables for your own company as explained below..
Comparables
In the truly remarkable Tech Deals section, you can read the actual agreements used by well known companies in conducting their business. This includes companies like Amazon.com, Alta Vista, AOL, Ask Jeeves, Buy.com and many, many more. You can also view actual agreements, including:
- Handspring's Licensing Agreement with Palm Computing
- VeriSign's Merger Agreement with Network Solutions
- VA Linux's Purchase of Andover.net
- Palm's Separation Agreement with 3Com
- Priceline's Warrant Agreement with William Shatner (Kirk)
- Martha Stewart's Membership Interest Purchase Agreement with Kleiner Perkins
Some of the more relevant categories for entrepreneurs and high tech companies include:
- Commercial
- Intellectual Property Licenses
- Patent & Trademark, Content License
- Telecommunications
- Executive Compensation
- Stock Purchase, Registration Rights
The site is very user friendly and you can see the deals either alphabetically or via the above categories.
The Tech Deals section is an excellent source for you to find comparables as you run your own company. For example, under executive compensation, you can see exactly how some well known executives are compensated - salary, options, bonuses, etc. You can also see their vesting periods and their exact duties. Use this information as build your own management team. Use it not only for the numbers involved - but also for the complete compensation packages that are being offered today.
Another example is the section on joint ventures and alliances. Here you can view the actual agreements including:
- Technology Development and License Agreement By and Between Sega Enterprises, Ltd. and 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. (a California Corporation)
- Product Development and Distribution Agreement Between Accent Color Sciences Inc., and Xerox.
- Master Technology Ownership and License AgreemenetBetween Agilent Technologies, Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Company.
- Distribution Agreement Between Disney and Bear Stearns, CSFB, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Lehmann Bros., Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley
- Content License Agreement Between Yahoo!, Inc. and TheStreet.com, L.L.C.
These agreements and the others you can find provide a vast amount of valuable information that you should apply to your own company. Now, when you are involved in any of the business relationships, you have comparables you can use during the negotiations. You also have an excellent source to use to prepare you for the negotiations as well.
Enable highly recommends that you take the time to explore findlaw.com. The information it has is unique and priceless. Use it for yourselves, and against your adversaries.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on August 8, 2000.