Entrepreneurial decisions and legal issues in early venture stages: Advice that shouldn’t be ignored

The organizational design of entrepreneurial ventures

“…These firms typically have limited reporting requirements; thus, secondary data are rarely available. While some scholars have made creative use of archival information such as Articles of Incorporation (e.g., Marcum & Blair, ) or Initial Public Offering (IPO) prospectuses (e.g., Welbourne & Cyr, ); such sources rarely reveal much organizational detail beyond team member identities and roles. They typically do not provide fine‐grained information on organizational design aspects such as coordination mechanisms, decision‐making processes, or managerial practices.…”

Heed Our Advice: Exploring How Professionals Guide Small Business Owners in Start-Up Entity Choice

“…Selecting the best entity for the particular small business client is a high priority (Mann et al. ), and small business owners need to utilize their advisers early in the start‐up process to derive the best benefits (Marcum and Blair ).…”

“…Out of all the legal decisions to be made regarding the organizational structure of the venture-agreements between founders and owners, financing, contracts, risk management, intellectual property, management and control of business entities, ease of transferring interests, and labor relations (Mann, O'Sullivan, Robbins, and Roberts 2004;Schanz 2007)-one of the most common legal issues in this phase is entity formation (Malach, Robinson, and Radcliffe 2006). Selecting the best entity for the particular small business client is a high priority (Mann et al 2004), and small business owners need to utilize their advisers early in the start-up process to derive the best benefits (Marcum and Blair 2011).…”

“…Recent work (Dyer and Ross ; Marcum and Blair ; Scott and Irwin ) suggests that seeking professional advice is an important early step in creating a new business. Robson and Bennett () found evidence that small and medium‐sized enterprises that sought professional advice had greater firm performance.…”

“…Robson and Bennett () found evidence that small and medium‐sized enterprises that sought professional advice had greater firm performance. The advice given by third parties, particularly professionals, can have a very strong influence on the future of the business (Marcum and Blair ). Issues with legal implications require time to deliberate and a specialized body of knowledge that most small business owners do not have (Goossen ).…”