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FAQs


What’s with the name Yokum?

My legal name is Yoichiro. In Japan, people are called last name-san. For young boys, it may be first name-kun. Yoichiro gets shortened to Yo-kun. Sometime when I was little, my parents probably told people to call me Yokum because Yoichiro was too hard to say. (Please note that this was before Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners was a household name.)

Why are you blogging?

Two of my clients, Ballhype (which incidentally aggregates sports blogs) and Education Revolution started blogging about their experiences in starting up their companies. After reading their blogs, I realized that there was a lack of easily digestible legal information for entrepreneurs starting companies. I seem to answer the same questions over and over again, so I thought I would start blogging to disseminate what I know. (Oh, and I represent a company called Spotplex, which TechCrunch ponders as a potentially better Digg, so I figured I should join the blogging bandwagon.) Due to this blogging interest, I also started to represent Hatena, a Japanese blogging company.

What are you going to cover in this blog?

I’ll try to cover common startup company questions from my practice, including incorporation, founders stock, stock options, seed financings, convertible note bridge financings, Series A financings, M&A issues, IPO planning and other things that seem to come up over and over again.

How often are you going to post?

I’m not sure. Probably when I don’t have a client waiting for an immediate deliverable. I’ll aim for about once a week. Writing some of these answers takes a significant amount of thought and time.

Why are all of your posts in the form of responses to questions?

It seems like what I do most of the time is respond to questions.

Did you write all of these posts yourself?

Yes. However, I have recycled some WSGR client alerts and other memos at times.

Can I ask you a question?

Sure, but read the disclaimer. If you communicate with me in connection with a matter for which WSGR does not already represent you, you should not send me confidential or sensitive information via email because your communication will not be treated as privileged or confidential. If I answer a question on this blog site, it’s because I thought the question and answer would be helpful to other people and it doesn’t mean that I’m your lawyer.

What if I think one of your answers is wrong or misleading?

Let me know. I’ll revise the answer accordingly.

Did you change the contents of one of your posts?

Probably. I write quickly and misspell things. If you read some of my emails, especially from my wireless email device, you’d realize this. I will change things as I notice errors or think of a better answer or if someone makes a comment. You may want to think about this site as a pseudo-wiki where I am the sole editor (until I get someone to volunteer to write more content).

Did you edit a comment?

Maybe. I reserve the right to do whatever I want, like fix typos and edit for clarity.

Why don’t you offer an email feed?

See the previous two answers. I may make tweaks to questions and answers (and comments), and I think each change will trigger a new email. I don’t want to spam anyone.

Why does your feed look funny?

See the previous three answers. I probably posted, then decided to change something.

Did you set up this blog by yourself?

Yes. I think I’m relatively technically proficient for an attorney. One of my clients called the WordPress interface slicker than any fantasy sports application he’d seen, which convinced me that I could do it myself. (Of course, it isn’t hard to have a better application than ESPN Fantasy Sports, which seems to have issues all the time.)

What does this blog run on?

This blog is powered by Wordpress and uses the Revolution News theme.

Why can’t you make this site look better?

I just did a complete overhaul in January 2008, so I’m not sure what more I can do. As Doctor McCoy might say, I’m a lawyer, not a web designer. It’s a work in progress. I will take suggestions and constructive criticism.