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Goettelman

Insights

Notes on the work.

Plain explanations of the things clients and advisors ask about most — written to be useful on their own, not to sell anything.

Funds & private offerings

August 2026

Ten mistakes sponsors make raising capital

Several conditions of a private offering are lost by accident, early, by people who did not know a condition was in play — and a few cannot be undone once investors have signed.

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Emerging companies

August 2026

Twelve legal mistakes founders make

No founder agreement, shares that never vested, a missed 83(b) election, intellectual property the company does not own. All of it surfaces at the same moment — during a financing or a sale.

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Live Local Act

August 2026

What “affordable” actually means

Almost everything written about the Act describes it as 40% of units at 120% of area median income. That is not the statutory test — and on this coast the difference decides whether projects work.

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Live Local Act

August 2026

Does my property qualify?

Screening questions in the order worth working through them: zoning, the affordability commitment, what the site could support, and the exclusions that defeat a parcel.

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Reference

August 2026

Deal & fund glossary

Plain definitions of the terms that appear in capital raises, business sales, and property deals — for people meeting them in a document they are being asked to sign.

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More to come — on raising money for a real estate deal without creating a securities problem, and on getting a business ready to sell.

Start with a conversation.

Tell us what you are working on. If it is something we handle, we will talk about scope and you will leave the first meeting with it in writing.