One week ago yesterday, on Sunday May 28, 2023, CEOWorld magazine published an article I wrote on “IP Ownership as Leverage for Founder Equity Negotiations.”

This new article is designed for CEOs and C-level executives, who are also company founders, who have relinquished control of the company in favor of greater growth but where you now find yourself out-lawyered by investors, ending up with terms that result in loss of much of the equity value you expected to receive and hold.

This article discusses how intellectual property that you developed, that has in the past and continues to form an integral part of your company’s value and identity, and which you my potentially still have ownership claims, can be tapped into and leveraged to protect your interests, rights and distribution share in the success of the company you founded or co-founded, in connection with any of these important events that presage organic changes in the company –

• Significant round of funding,
• IPO — the company’s first public offering or its shares
• Merger, acquisition or sale of significant assets

For any of those events, if the founder can raise a potential cloud over the company’s title to its core IP, this can provide leverage for an equitable adjustment to assure the owner’s fair share of the proceeds of the success event.

To see my full CEOWORLD magazine. article, go to LINK: https://ceoworld.biz/2023/05/28/ip-ownership-as-leverage-for-founder-equity-negotiations/

Or on my website at https://www.executiveemploymentattorney.com/ip-ownership-as-leverage-for-founder-equity-negotiations/

This was my 42nd article published in CEOWORLD since 2016. Previously, the editor advised that I can use “Featured in the CEOWORLD magazine” and the CEOWORLD “Logo” on my website and add CEOWORLD magazine in my LinkedIn profile’s “Experience Section” as an “Opinion Columnist.” and authority in the field.

On its own initiative, CEOWORLD magazine created on their website a library of Robert Adelson published articles. You can peruse this library and/or read as many of my 41 published articles as you wish. See https://ceoworld.biz/author/robert-adelson/

With more than 12.4+ million-page views, CEOWORLD magazine is the world’s leading business magazine written strictly for CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, senior management executives, business leaders, and high net worth individuals worldwide. https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceomagazine/
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It is my hope that this article will be of benefit to CEOs, C-level and senior executives who are company founders and who seek leverage in negotiations after seeing diminished value to your equity position as result of vesting, re-vesting, participating preferred, investor anti-dilution and other investor-friendly terms that have worked to your disadvantage and might have a self-help remedy in IP ownership. If you or any colleague of yours has a need in this area, please do reach out to me @ 617–875–8665 or [email protected].

On Friday November 4, 2022, CEOWorld magazine published an article I wrote on “How to Manage Multiple C-Level Executive Job Offers”

This new article is designed for CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and other C-level and senior executives, who currently have or expect to soon have multiple job offers, each job offer presenting an attractive opportunity, and where you as C-level executive, seek guidance of how to manage these offers for best effect financially, and for your families and your career.

This article discusses the art of managing multiple executive job offers to get the best results for yourself, including

• How to evaluate multiple job offers,
• How to manage the process and in doing so manage expectations of the parties,
• What executive contract terms to seek from each company,
• How to negotiate for the best terms from those available and still position yourself well for future opportunities,
• How to navigate this process while maintaining your current position.

Finally, the article discusses planning your exit to do so on good terms that enhance your reputation.

To see my full CEOWORLD magazine. article, go to LINK: https://ceoworld.biz/2022/11/04/how-to-manage-multiple-c-level-executive-job-offers/

Or on my website at https://www.executiveemploymentattorney.com/how-to-manage-multiple-c-level-executive-job-offers/

This was my 39th article published in CEOWORLD since 2016. Previously, the editor advised that I can use “Featured in the CEOWORLD magazine” and the CEOWORLD “Logo” on my website and add CEOWORLD magazine in my LinkedIn profile’s “Experience Section” as an “Opinion Columnist.” and authority in the field.

On its own initiative, CEOWORLD magazine created on their website a library of Robert Adelson published articles. You can peruse this library and/or read as many of my 39 published articles as you wish. See https://ceoworld.biz/author/robert-adelson/

With more than 12.4+ million-page views, CEOWORLD magazine is the world’s leading business magazine written strictly for CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, senior management executives, business leaders, and high net worth individuals worldwide. https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceomagazine/

It is my hope that this article will be of benefit to CEOs, C-level and senior executives to offer them insights and guidance to make the most of the opportunity when you are being courted and …more than one suitor company is vying for your services for you to accept their job offer for next executive position.

Feel free to tweet or share this article. If you or any colleague of yours has a need in this area, please do reach out to me @ 617–875–8665 or [email protected].

On Thursday September 1, 2022, 2022, CEOWorld magazine published an article I wrote on “Stock Rights That Protect the Value of Your Executive Equity Compensation.”

This new article is designed for CEOs, C-level and senior executives, who have recently received a job offer or expect to receive a job offer and will be negotiating terms of executive compensation which will include executive equity. 

In those negotiations, executive equity is often a very significant and often a major part of the executive compensation and a often a driver to accept a job offer.  This is so because executive equity offers the prospect of greater financial upside value than from your fairly fixed and limited cash compensation.  This special upside potential for executive equity arises from three different factors: (a)  Appreciation – with your service the stock price or value might rise significantly, (b) Liquidity Event – a potential acquisition or an IPO  might also significantly increase value, (c) Favorable Taxation – with appropriate structuring, appreciated equity on cash out may be taxed at a much lower rate than cash compensation for much greater take home pay. 

Thus, given the high importance of equity in the CEO’s or C-level executive’s compensation package the focus of my article then moves to discuss these five (5) critical areas of stock rights and terms you want to be sure to give proper attention in your negotiations to give you the best chance to achieve the potential value from the equity you are granted: 

• Meaningful Level of Equity – to be sure that sufficient equity is granted so that if success is achieved, it will be impactful for you,
• Tax Favorable Structure – negotiation over the form of your equity at the outset is quite important because in tax law – “form is substance” – different forms produce very different tax results and you want tax-favored equity if possible,
• Severance Protection – if midway through the buildup you are forced out, you want your severance buy-out to embrace your equity as well as less important cash components of your comp package,
• True Up Adjustment – especially if you are brought in to secure a financing raise, you don’t want to be a victim of your own success and seeking a level anti-dilution protection is a fair ask,
• Cash-out protections – if after a number of years, no liquidity event is on the horizon, it is helpful to have a put option with the company to assure at some point you can tap into the value you achieved.

To see my full CEOWORLD magazine. article, go to LINK: https://ceoworld.biz/2022/09/01/stock-rights-that-protect-the-value-of-your-executive-equity-compensation/

Or on my website at https://www.executiveemploymentattorney.com/stock-rights-that-protect-the-value-of-your-executive-equity-compensation/

This was my 38th article published in CEOWORLD since 2016.  Previously, the editor advised that I can use “Featured in the CEOWORLD magazine” and the CEOWORLD “Logo” on my website and add CEOWORLD magazine in my LinkedIn profile’s “Experience Section” as an “Opinion Columnist.” and authority in the field.  

On its own initiative, CEOWORLD magazine created on their website a library of Robert Adelson published articles.   You can peruse this library and/or read as many of my 38 published articles as you wish.  See https://ceoworld.biz/author/robert-adelson/
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With more than 12.4+ million-page views, CEOWORLD magazine is the world’s leading business magazine written strictly for CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, senior management executives, business leaders, and high net worth individuals worldwide. https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceomagazine/

On January 26, 2022, the career advice website Ivy Exec published under executive “Leadership” an article  I wrote on “Are You Getting the C-Suite Executive Salary You Deserve?

This new article is designed for designed for CEOs, C-level and senior executives, who are negotiating new job offers where, in my view, the normal metrics a Gartner or Mercer surveys are just not appropriate for the CEO or C-level executive compensation package, and I am called upon to suggest, design and then lead the negotiations for a custom executive compensation package.

My article first suggests three situations well suited to justify development and deployment of a custom executive compensation package:

• Start-up and early stage company CEOs,
• Turnaround CEO situation, and
• Special needs executive recruitment – where a CEO or C-level executive has special attributes that fill a critical need for the company.

My article then moves on to discuss that the custom package must not only make up for your loss of pay and benefits to leave your current employer, but even more so, to make up for three further critical intangibles as well, and hence – what should be included on your custom executive compensation package? And how much equity compensation should you ask for? 

The article then concludes with my suggestions for how the executive can achieve company “Buy-in” – how do you sell the custom CEO or C-level executive compensation package to a skeptical employer?  This last part shares there of my best “sales” techniques:

• You (employer) want and need an “A” team player and one who will attract more A team players to the company.
• You want alignment and this custom package greatly magnifies alignment, and
• Success for my executive, even with this full custom package, means vastly greater success to the company’s stockholders, often 10x, 15x and even 20x pay back return for the company’s stockholders, if the CEO or C-level executive succeeds in his or her mission, and costs little or nothing if he or she does not succeed.

​To see my full IvyExec article, go to LINK: https://www.ivyexec.com/career-advice/2021/executive-equity-structure/

Or on my website at https://www.executiveemploymentattorney.com/are-you-getting-the-c-suite-executive-salary-you-deserve/

IvyExec hosts articles and webinars from experts in the career, leadership, and business spaces who wish to share their knowledge with our audience.  In April 2021, I was invited to write for IvyExec since it seeks original content on the topics of career development, leadership, and business strategy as it applies to senior-level and C-Suite professionals.  IvyExec blog posts and webinars are shared with its community of more than 2 million members on its website, in its newsletter, and on its social media channels.  https://www.ivyexec.com/career-advice/write-for-us/

IvyExec claims a “Community of 2.5M+ Leaders”.

It is my hope that this article will be of benefit to C-level and senior executives who are considering job offers in situations where a custom executive compensation package of salary, bonus, and equity is appropriate.  Feel free to tweet or share this article. If you or any colleague of yours has a need in this area, please do reach out to me.

One week ago, on Tuesday August 3, 2021, the website Ivy Exec published under “Career Advice” an article I wrote on “Executive Stock Options, Restricted Shares and Restricted Stock Units — What’s Best for You”.

This new article is designed not only for C-level and senior executives, but even for many directors and mid-level executives, where a major part of executive compensation involves executive equity in the employer company. This article is intended to assist executives in those negotiations by setting out key things to look for in your equity package, including the level, tax structuring and terms of equity compensation.

The article discusses the merits and issues among the four main choices for structure of equity:

• ISOs — Incentive stock options, qualified under the tax code,
• Non-quals — Non-qualified stock options,
• Restricted Stock — where you are actually issued shares and might want to make a tax election to take unvested shares into income, and
• RSUs — Restricted Stock Units, where stock is also issued and taxed as it vests.

My article first discusses where equity might achieve its highest value for you using important favorable tax leverage, and then the level of equity to seek appropriate to your position. The remainder of my article goes over the different circumstances under which each of the four main equity choices can be beneficial to you, to help you determine which structure is best for you in your case.

To see my full IvyExec Career Advice website article, go to LINK: https://www.ivyexec.com/career-advice/2021/executive-equity-structure/
Or on my website at https://www.executiveemploymentattorney.com/executive-stock-options-restricted-shares-and-restricted-stock-units-whats-best-for-you/

IvyExec hosts articles and webinars from experts in the career, leadership, and business spaces who wish to share their knowledge with our audience. In April 2021, I was invited to write for IvyExec since it seeks original content on the topics of career development, leadership, and business strategy as it applies to senior-level and C-Suite professionals. IvyExec blog posts and webinars are shared with its community of more than 2 million members on its website, in its newsletter, and on its social media channels. https://www.ivyexec.com/career-advice/write-for-us/

It is my hope that this article will be of benefit to C-level and senior executives who have the opportunity or should have the opportunity to gain an equity stake in the company that their management skills and efforts or helping to build, so that you along with the investors can share in the benefits of that company growth. This article discusses the merits of the four main choices among equity structures. Taxation and financial benefits differ among them. As I tweeted… One size does not fit all. So, I hope this article will be instructive for you. Feel free to share this article. If you or any colleague of yours has a need in this area, please do reach out to me.
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