PC EDGE

Perkins Coie is committed to doing our part to help end racism and create a more just and equal society. We have launched PC Edge to help Black and Latinx founders and entrepreneurs more easily gain access to capital through networking opportunities, educational resources, and seminars.

PC Edge offers members exclusive online and in-person classes and workshops on topics including the following:

• Governance and risk.
• Finance and investor relations.
• Employment and “equity incentives.”
• Data privacy.
• Go-to-market
• Preparation for a liquidity event.

Programs and Eligibility

Startup Springboard

Startup Springboard is a Perkins Coie program helping develop and facilitate long-term relationships and open doors for Texas entrepreneurs and investors. This emerging company ecosystem delivers content and networking opportunities for early-stage company founders through collaborations with emerging growth community leaders in Austin and Dallas.

Whether for first-time founders or seasoned entrepreneurs, we want to encourage connections and create opportunities across our network. Startup Springboard opens communication with serial entrepreneurs, investors, board members, mergers and acquisitions advisors, established enterprises looking to foster the startup ecosystem, and professional services providers.

Program Objectives

• Collaborate with local leaders in the emerging company ecosystem to deliver relevant content based on collective experience.
• Invite founders of early-stage companies into the ecosystem so they can build a network of advisors.
• Organize cohorts to foster peer-level relationships with other founders (in-person and hybrid sessions).
• Build an ecosystem to open doors for entrepreneurs and investors.

Topic Areas

Designed for high-energy startups, from seed to later stage, our programming covers a variety of topics such as:

• Co-founder selection and relationship structuring.
• Product development, product-market fit, and intellectual property (IP) protection.
• Startup hiring, compensation, and benefits, including engaging a remote or international workforce.
• Equity compensation, tax pitfalls, and cap table management.
• Financial forecasting, pitch deck development, and learning from “no.”
• Board dynamics and responsibilities.
• Growth through strategic partnerships and acquisitions.
• Bootstrapping and nondilutive debt financing.

Cohort Profile

Each Startup Springboard round will be tailored to the corresponding cohort of companies. For our first cohort in 2023, we selected a total of 17 high-energy companies in Austin and Dallas and provided them with eight complimentary sessions developed by serial entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, and seasoned M&A advisors. Future cohorts could operate similarly or could be organized as one-day intensive sessions. Cohorts might be grouped by development stage, by industry, or by other common characteristics, fostering peer-level relationships with other founders.

Cohort Selection Criteria

• Eligible companies must have an established business plan, even if they are early in implementation.
• Seed-stage, post-seed, and later-stage companies will find programming most relevant.
• Ideally, companies will be in high-growth areas that require significant ($5M+) in external financing for expansion.

Le[a]dBetter® and Le[a]dBetter® Imagine

Le[a]dBetter® was inspired by the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, drafted in response to the Ledbetter gender wage gap lawsuit and the first bill President Barack Obama signed into law. Le[a]dBetter® is an innovative educational, networking, and alternative fee arrangement program supporting startup companies demonstrating inclusion and diversity in their executive suite.

Qualifying startups with at least one woman in a leadership role may receive a 15% discount off our standard hourly rates for certain legal services for a limited period. We also offer fee packages not based on hourly rates, one example of which is Le[a]dBetter® Imagine.

To help encourage women inventors, Perkins Coie developed Le[a]dBetter® Imagine. Inspired by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Progress and Potential Report, Le[a]dBetter® Imagine provides women inventors and their companies with educational programming, networking events, and discounts for select patent services under the Le[a]dBetter® program.

Le[a]dBetter® Imagine offers credit for nonprovisional patent application filings that name women inventors to qualified startups and emerging companies.

Perpetual Motion® Podcast

In this series, Perkins Coie patent lawyers show their passion for technology, interviewing inventors and tech pioneers on exciting innovations and inventorship-related topics.