And when can a startup get by without one? The members of PIE invite you to join them for a great session on understanding better when and when you don’t need a lawyer.

We have invited one of the tech startup industry’s best law firms to come and talk to the entreprenuers in Portland’s startup scene. Neil Nathanson from the Portland office of the leading startup law firm Perkins Coie, will talk about the critical points in a startup’s lifecycle where having your own legal sledgehammer is essential. Also joining him will be Jeff Bock, addressing licensing and intellectual property issues and Neil addressing corporate and finance issues. He will also cover what sort of services and counsel you can expect from a law firm and then be open for a Q&A session.

There is no fee to attend – but please only register if you intend to come.

RSVP on Upcoming.

One of our goals? Build small nimble companies quickly. Get them to generate revenue quickly. And then figure out what to do from there.

Among those founding startups was a little company that “sold bacon on the Internet.” It was called, appropriately enough, Bac’n. And it was the quintessential archetype for what PIE were trying to do with the incubator: it was a passion project, built with off the shelf tools, that had an immediate revenue stream. And it was pretty and functional to boot.

So pretty and functional, in fact, that less than a year after its founding, Bac’n has been acquired by Bacon Freak.

We’re excited to announce that we have just finalized the acquisition of Bac’n by the good folks over at BaconFreak.com. Rocco and his great team at BaconFreak.com will continue to run the site as-is and existing customers will see the same great service you’ve come to expect from Bac’n.

Congratulations to Scott Kveton, Jason Glaspey, and Michael T Richardson on the liquidity event. We’re excited to see where their current PIE projects—Urban Airship for Kveton and Richardson and Paleo Plan for Glaspey—take them next.

Here at PIE, many of us are participating in our first S-Corp (or adding on our third) and the good ‘ol 1040ez just isn’t going to cut it this year. So, we’ve reached out to two Portlanders, Steve Babcock and Craig Vagt. They specialize in this type of thing, and we’ve asked them to come and share for an evening some tips, tricks, and warnings that we may not know. It’s open to the public, and we hope you all can make it. Also, feel free to leave any specific questions you’d like addressed in the comments below, and we’ll make sure the speakers get to them. We’ll start out with maybe 30 minutes of presentation, and then have a nice chunk of time left for Q&A.

The details:

When: 6pm, October 29th, 2009

Where: PIE (1227 NW Davis)

Who: Anyone who wants to know more about small business finances, taxes, and startups.

RSVP at Upcoming

Bios:

Steve Babcock

Steve has more than twenty years experience providing financial management and consulting services to privately held companies and an additional eleven years as a CPA and senior audit manager with KPMG and predecessor firms.

Steve has served as a consultant to small and medium size businesses since 2001. In so doing he has assisted several start-ups in software and traditional business. He has assisted Fisher Farms, prominent in Oregon’s wholesale nursery industry, in planning and forecasting, resolving an earn-out with the prior owner, an acquisition and several financing and real estate transactions.

Steve was the CFO for Papa Murphy’s, a 20-plus state privately held pizza concept, from 1995-2000. He functioned as CFO of Springtime Inc. and Oregon Garden Products for five years and for two years as Vice President and Regional Controller for a cable television company in Portland.

Steve is currently serving as Past President and Board Member of the Portland Chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI) and as Treasurer and Board member of the Oregon International Air Show.

Steve has a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the University of Oregon and did post-baccalaureate study in accounting and finance at Portland State University.

Craig D. Vagt, CPA
Partner

Craig joined Talbot, Korvola & Warwick LLP as a partner in 2001 when he merged his practice with Talbot Korvola and Warwick LLP. He is currently the managing partner at TKW. Craig began his career in the San Francisco Bay area and eventually was a partner with an international accounting firm. Returning to his hometown of Portland in 1991, Craig joined a local accounting firm as a partner. Over his years in public accounting, he has worked with a wide variety of clients in an equally wide variety of industries… Craig brings his experience in many areas of tax including ownership structures, multi-state and international planning, as well as general tax matters to his clients. His current practice has a major focus on the tax issues and opportunities affecting closely held companies, primarily pass through entities, and their owners.

A graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in finance, he also has a law degree and a Masters in Taxation from Golden Gate University, where he also taught in the Masters in Tax program.

We had some of the first discussions about the idea on a First Thursday, we got everyone together for the first time on a First Thursday, and we had our first open house on a First Thursday.

And, what do you know, today is First Thursday. So it seemed like we should do something.

So we got some artwork and some more cheap beer. And decided to have another open house. If you’d like to swing by, we’d love to see you. Any time after 6, tonight.

Never been by PIE before? It’s at 1227 NW Davis, on the corner of Davis and 12th in The Pearl. Right across the street from North Face and kitty corner from the Art Institute of Portland.

Yes, it’s a bit difficult to find, but just head up the stairs and come in the door.

Looking forward to seeing you.

For more information or directions, see PDX Django on Calagator.

At the moment, this blog will be the extent of that website thing.

Expect more later. And in the meantime, you can read our About page. It has slightly more information.

– PIE