Eden S. Blair

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

There is little work on how attorneys and accountants evaluate new small businesses when giving advice. The focus of this paper is to gain a better understanding of those factors that are important in the practice of advising small business owners on entity choice. We utilize a policy‐capturing methodology to study how attorneys and accountants evaluate the likelihood they would advise a particular entity. Our results suggest that these two categories of advisers appear to prefer different factors when determining the form—a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability companies, or corporation—small business should take.

Overfunded Crowdfunded Projects: An Even Bigger Headache?

Erik Chevalier’s The Forking Path Co. sought

Entrepreneurs Can Benefit Society

35,000 from backers to create a board game and actually raised

'L3C' Designation Doesn't Matter to Consumers

122,000. Instead of providing the backers with copies of the game or pewter game figurines as promised, Chevalier used the funds for personal expenses. This case was eventually settled with the Federal Trade Commission. Chevalier agreed to refrain from misrepresentations in the future and was ordered to pay

Developing a scale to measure liabilities and assets of newness after start-up

111,793.71. In 2012, creator Andy Muldowney’s portable thermal printer, the mPrinter, hoped to raise only

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

10,000 but received

The Disproportionate Costs of Forming LLCs VS. Corporations: The Impact on Small Firm Liability Protection

88,018 from 706 backers. However, Muldowney did not deliver the rewarded printers and canceled the project in 2015. He did not offer a refund. Many of his backers have filed claims with the FTC. Jennifer Hintz’ FibroFibers Kickstarter campaign received

The Power of 'Wow' to Attract New Customers

26,068 after originally requesting

When Kickstarter Campaigns Don’t Deliver: A Case Study of Phenom Fabrics

15,000. She could not deliver the hand-dyed skeins of yarn she had promised to investors. Her business has since closed. The Coolest Cooler, which raised over

In Search of a Unique Identity: The L3C as a Socially Recognized Brand

13 million after requesting only