Q: I’m raising a seed round for a consumer web startup and I’m getting good interest from VCs. What questions do I need to ask of them to gain insight into how well we’d work together? A: I suggest that there are two stages of research/questions to determine fit with you and your company: Prior to Contact: Research prior to making contact to qualify them in terms of the broader fit and, Prior to Commitment: Questions you want to ask once you’ve made contact to further qualify them since you will be partnering with them for years Prior to Contact:…

Q: I am the sole owner of an S-Corp that has received capital from a lender/investor in the form of a loan. Is there any way I can restructure the capital I’ve received to show up as equity instead of a liability to improve my balance sheet without having to sacrifice the ownership of my company? Basically, I want to keep the investors on a fixed annual return for their money, but classify their capital as a equity to meet certain net worth requirements for my industry. A: You can change the debt to non-convertible preferred equity with an annual dividend…