A substantial part of Weinberg Gonser’s practice is devoted to the representation of consumer packaged goods businesses in various industries including, beauty, fashion, fitness, toys and food and beverage.
We structure financings and partnerships with appropriate entities and mechanisms for each stage of growth. Capital needs and structuring in the direct to consumer and consumer retail industry is key, as is an understanding of digital marketing, labeling, real estate, HR, brand and other intellectual property issues.
We have the goals of the client in mind and the tools to assist as we guide founders through fund-raising, investor relations and governance and control issues with personal advice based on business experience. Our lawyers have founded, bought, raised capital for, invested in, and sold several start-up and other businesses over the years as principals — in good times and bad — and we utilize this unique business and legal experience every day on behalf of our clients.
In short: Weinberg Gonser offers a perfect combination of assets for both new and experienced entrepreneur-led growth companies in all consumer product industries: We have the large law firm knowledge and experience to work on financings involving the biggest lenders and investors (opposite large national and international law firms), yet we fully understand the entrepreneur and retain the ability to guide and advise on all the needs of brand-based growth companies from their founding.
WGF becomes an integral part of your team to provide all legal services a ‘consumer packaged goods’Â business requires throughout its life cycle, for example
Start-up:
- Entity selection, formation and documentation
- Information, options and the WHY behind the type of entity (e.g., C-corp, S-corp, LLC or partnership) and jurisdiction/state of formation
- Equity incentive plans, including stock options, profits interests or alternative mechanisms
- Initial capital raise
- We handle all aspects of your initial financing, whether that be a “friends and family” or “seed” round, preferred equity, convertible note offering or SAFE note
- Intellectual Property
- We help you establish and protect your brand, including registration and/or filing all trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and patents.
- Commercial leasing/real estate
- We help negotiate and finalize a lease or purchase of real estate.
Launch:
- Labor
- Employment agreements
- Contractor, consultant and advisor agreements
- Intellectual Property and confidentiality agreements
- Website/Ecommerce
- All guidance and documentation to launch and run your digital presence, including, privacy policies, terms of use, ecommerce and ongoing compliance
- Manufacturing
- Negotiation and documentation of your relationships with your contract manufacturers, domestically and internationally
- Compliance matters for packaging, labeling and marketing
- Fulfillment
- 3PL agreements
- Distribution
- Negotiation and documentation of distribution relationships with distributors, wholesalers and retailers
- Marketing
- Collaboration agreements
- Influencer agreements
- Work-for-hire agreements with all outsourced creatives
Growth:
- Growth Capital
- At this stage, we help you complete your growth capital needs, which may include one or more of the following: priced equity rounds (e.g., Series A, Series B, etc.), convertible note offerings, SAFE notes, purchase order financing, lines of credit, and secured or mezzanine debt
- Advanced Structure
- Evaluate, inform and advise on corporate structure options to reduce/segment risk and provide for flexibility in growth and financing
- Outside General Counsel
- During growth, we act as your outside general counsel to handle your day-to-day legal needs as an intimate part of your team
- Intellectual Property
- Ongoing needs, which may include international trademarks to cover all appropriate territories worldwide
- Licensing agreements
- Litigation
- Pursue or defend legal claims that tend arise at this point in a company’s life cycle
Exit:
Finally, we assist you in evaluating and executing on your options to sale your business.
- Merger & Acquisitions
- Merging into an existing acquirer or selling the equity of your business to an acquirer
- Asset Sale
- Selling all or substantially all the assets of your business through an asset purchase agreement