Carl Niedbala

Mary Meeker of KPCB Sounds the Cyber Security Alarm

With the release of her annual report this week, veteran internet analyst and Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker sounded the alarm on the state of cyber security. Meeker’s reports are essentially the bible to investors and entrepreneurs in the space.  The report contains valuable data on everything from mobile to emerging markets, but the slides on cyber security

Top Reasons Your Startup Needs Product Liability Insurance

Product liability insurance is an extremely important piece to the risk management puzzle, particularly for startups that sell a tangible product.  Usually included in a General Liability policy (though sometimes offered standalone), product liability insurance protects your company from liability lawsuits related to bodily injury or property damage caused by product defects. Whether you’re e-commerce

Best HR Practices for Your Startup

This is a guest post from Amy Klimek, VP of HR at ZipRecruiter.com. Startups cannot run their businesses the way established companies can. Established companies leverage their name and stability to attract the best talent in the industry. Your startup does not have an established name or track record of stability, but you do have other principles

The Business Insurance Renewal Checklist (for Startups)

Business insurance renewals are usually uncharted territory for a young startup.  Typically, venture-backed startups experience significantly more change/growth year over year compared to your standard new business venture.  It’s important to understand how this affects your startup’s insurance coverage and how to ensure you’re properly protected.  Here’s the “checklist” of items to be aware of as your policies renew.

The 2013 Target Data Breach: Insurance Coverage Recap

Retail Giant Target was hit with a massive data breach incident during the holiday season of 2013.  We posted a few articles outlining the severity of the breach and speculating on how cyber insurance may be their lifeline.  Here’s a quick follow up on the claims the company has seen since the incident. VentureBeat recently reported

Founder Shield’s SXSWi 2015 Recap

Now that the dust has settled from this year’s SXSW Interactive weekend in Austin and we’re back in the big Apple, we wanted to share some of the highlights of our weekend with you.  Founder Shield’s VP of Sales, Jeff Samuels, recaps what went down:

Startup Risk Tips: Don’t Let Your Business Insurance Lapse

Sometimes things don’t go quite as planned and your company ends up a bit more cash strapped than anticipated at year end.  The typical gut reaction is to pull the rip chord and cut any and all “extraneous” expenses.  Insurance is considered by some to be one of those expenses.  Here’s why you shouldn’t be quick to

Insurance for Fintech Companies

  Founder Shield 101: Insurance for Fintech Companies. From financial products to payments to investing, fintech is a red hot.  The market is forecasted to grow to $6-8 billion by 2018 and Q1 2014 alone saw 1.7 billion invested across 167 deals.

Don’t Wait: 7 Reasons to Find a Good Startup Lawyer Now

We’re all about teaming up with great startups on a mission to help the startup community excel.  Priori Legal is one of those awesome companies.  This guest post from proiri is important from an insurance perspective because many underwriters will ask for the legal work described below when quoting your insurance policy.  Without these documents, insurance can be more

Insurance for Ecommerce Companies

Consumer Ecommerce is booming. With the vast array of web developers, payment processors and digital currencies, it has never been easier to get an online business off the ground. The US market alone is estimated at $409 billion for 2017. By 2022, it’s expected to make up to as much 17% of all retail sales nationwide. Risks

Priori Legal’s Guidelines for Finding the Right Lawyer

We’re all about teaming up with great startups on a mission to help the startup community excel.  Priori Legal is one of those awesome companies.  This guest post provides some helpful tips for hiring a startup lawyer. Priori Legal is an online platform for connecting start-ups and SMB’s with a network of vetted lawyers at below-market (and wherever possible)

Inside Job: The 2014 Morgan Stanley Data Breach

While most of us are coming back rested and refreshed for the new year, Morgan Stanley can’t quite say the same as the bank’s 2014 ended with a massive data breach. Just two days after Christmas, information security employees at the bank discovered the data breach.  The bank was conducting a standard sweep of known criminal websites

Meet Priori Legal: Connecting Startups to Trusted Lawyers

  We’re all about teaming up with great startups on a mission to help the startup community excel.  Priori Legal is one of those awesome companies.  This guest post will introduce the company and shed a little light on the kind of advice they’ll be sharing on our blog.  

Intellectual Property Insurance — What Startups Need to Know

Startup Risk Tips: Know When Business Insurance Kicks In

Q: When is my company actually covered by our insurance policies?

3 Risks an On-Demand Services Company Needs to Consider

Update: We’ve released a new whitepaper examining the Sharing Economy industry. We dive into the insurance landscape, legal climate and how to approach risk management for companies in this sector. You can download the report here! Food for thought: on-demand services company risk profile The on-demand services company (think Uber, Makespace, Fly Cleaners…) is taking over the

2 Sneaky Ways Business Insurance Adds Value for Startups

Startups that Give us More to be Thankful For (UPDATED)

Last year we did a post on startups out there that are giving people more to be thankful for.  Here’s an update on those companies:   

Under the Hood: Creating Your Business Insurance Quote

So you’ve gone through the process of applying for insurance on the Founder Shield site.  In the the interest of transparency, here’s how we create your business insurance quote and how your insurance policy becomes a reality: 1. We review your submission internally As soon as you click submit, our team is alerted to review your

Startup Risk Tips: Admitted / Non-Admitted Insurance Policies

Q: What’s the deal with “admitted” insurance carriers vs “non-admitted” insurance carriers? Insurance quotes are a pain to read.  If you’re not in the industry, most of the terms might seem like complete jibberish.  One term that comes up is the whether the policy is with an Admitted or Non-Admitted insurance carrier.  Here’s the deal:

Updated 2014 Data Breach Notification Costs by State

Data Breach Notification Costs Cyber liability costs are soaring these days for all kinds of businesses (startups included).  Most people think of these “costs” as those related directly to the data breach: legal defense fees, settlements with users and 3rd party vendors, and forensic costs. Loss attributed to data breach notification costs can go under the radar.

Office-Sharing Can Save Startups. Here’s How.

  By now we are all acclimated to the sharing economy model. We share our cars, our homes and our dog sitters. Sharing your office may not be the first thing that comes to mind as the next sharing economy service, but it should be, especially if you’re a startup. It might even save your