Promised but Not Delivered: Navigating Challenges for Unissued Equity Compensation
It’s a familiar startup story: a founder promises a new hire stock or options – maybe in an offer letter or over coffee – but the formal grant never materializes. I’ve seen this scenario many times, and the reasons vary: Informal Operations: Early-stage startups operate informally, allowing equity promises to…
Belcher, Smolen & Van Loo Represents DesignMind on its sale to 3Cloud
Belcher, Smolen & Van Loo LLP represented DesignMind, a San Francisco-based data and analytics services provider, in its sale to 3Cloud, which closed on March 3, 2025. The acquisition of DesignMind greatly expands 3Cloud’s Data & AI practice. With DesignMind’s team of skilled engineers, 3Cloud now surpasses 1,000 Azure experts and…
Crypto Compensation: Tax Nuances of paying in Crypto
Jon Van Loo draws on his experience advising crypto projects on a wide array of compensation questions in an article he published in Tax Notes. In this piece, among other topics, he tackles one of the thorniest issues startup crypto projects face: the tax treatment of contracts for future tokens…
Crypto Tax 101: Clean Up
Crypto Tax 101: Clean Up Advising crypto projects on tax issues can sometimes feel like being back in law school, wrestling with your professor’s brainteasers—but with much higher stakes. For instance, when a DAO that may or may not have any contractual relationship with an entity generates income, whose income…
Crypto Tax 2025: Renewed Focus on Reporting
The incoming Trump administration has been sending strong signals of reversing course on cryptocurrency and embracing the nascent industry. Not only is Trump selecting Paul Atkins to replace Gary Gensler as SEC Chair, he is forming a presidential crypto advisory council. Replacing Gensler with a pro-crypto SEC Chair could signal…
Belcher, Smolen & Van Loo LLP represented Commure in its acquisition of Memora Health
Belcher, Smolen & Van Loo LLP served as counsel to Commure, a leading healthcare technology company, in its acquisition of Memora Health, a digital care navigation platform. The transaction will broaden Commure’s AI-driven portfolio, which includes solutions for patient engagement, clinical documentation, revenue cycle management, and RTLS. Integrating Memora Health’s…
Belcher, Smolen & Van Loo Represents Sano Intelligence on Sale of its Assets to One Drop
Belcher, Smolen & Van Loo LLP represented Sano Intelligence in its agreement to sell its assets to One Drop. One Drop, a leader in digital care solutions for people living with diabetes and other chronic conditions, acquired all of the assets and intellectual property of Sano Intelligence, an innovator in…
Belcher, Smolen & Van Loo Represents Hyphen on its sale to Betterworks
BSV represented Hyphen, a leading employee listening and engagement platform based in San Francisco, in it sale to Betterworks. Betterworks will integrate Hyphen and its products in the Betterworks software solution for enterprises to have the capability to generate actionable insights from their workforce and create goals to drive measurable…
Belcher, Smolen & Van Loo Represents Arcadia Data on Sale of Assets to Cloudera
Belcher, Smolen & Van Loo LLP represented Arcadia Data in its agreement to sell certain of its assets to Cloudera, an enterprise data cloud company. Arcadia Data provides data analytics tools such as its ArcEngine technology that enables enterprises to obtain faster and deeper analysis from data on cloud platforms. …
Patent-Filing Tip of the Day, a Ditty on the Importance of Accurate Inventorship
While sailing on the Chesapeake Bay this past Labor Day weekend, my mind started to drift (as it often does while sailing) to patent-law-related issues, and at some point the following question popped into my head: who actually invented Labor Day? But the Bay was crowded, and visions of Title…
