Business guides, webinars, and newsletters from Surge Business Law.
Once upon a time in a quaint little town, there lived a passionate baker named Emma. Emma had spent years perfecting her recipes and dreaming of opening her bakery. After countles…
In 2021, Iowa enacted a new type of corporation, the Benefit Corporation, via HF844, signed by Governor Reynolds June 8, 2021. This added subchapter 17 to chapter 490 of the Iowa…
Another company is using my name! We worked with a business owner who had a competitor start a business in a neighboring town using the same name. It was in the same county! The c…
Why do we on the Iowa Business Lawyer team care so much about small businesses? Well, small business ownership is in Attorney Matt Nuzum’s genes. Parents play a huge role in their…
Free help for Iowa LLC owners—every other year you have to file a biennial report. If you’d like help, join this meeting and I’ll walk you through it. The process takes 10 min or…
Define IP, IP types, and their differences, understand the benefits of IP protection, and discover how to get IP protection. What Intellectual Property Means Intellectual property…
We love helping our clients buy or sell a business and have worked with many clients on deals as small as $30,000 up to millions. Buying or selling a business in Iowa isn't as str…
A lease to rent a home is a contract, but landlord/tenant law can cause some unusual results compared to other areas of contract law. When a tenant breaks their lease they are bre…
There is legal terminology running around that says "landlords must hold rental deposits in trust," or similar. This is not exactly what the law says, though at a high level, I be…
As of January 1st, 2022, a new Iowa law takes effect that more clearly defines the rules around bicycles assisted with electric motors, commonly called "e-bikes." I support having…
I wish there was a secret recipe to making a successful business. On Instagram I frequently see "inspirational" posts saying, "if you ___ your business will succeed this year!" Sa…
This is a surprisingly common question, and the answer is usually no, your spouse should not be a co-owner of the LLC. The exception is if your state does not protect sole owners…
Don't panic, this is fixable! In Iowa and most states, you must regularly check that the information you gave to the state about your business is correct. Usually, you also pay a…
Yes, in Iowa and most states, you must have some variation of LLC as part of your legal name. It does not have to be exactly "LLC," but you probably should because people are used…
Naming things is difficult—in fact, maybe one of the most difficult decisions you'll make as you launch your business. In some cases, laws will have a slight impact on what your b…
Recently, an article came out ranking Iowa poorly on a list of states that are business-friendly. The article focused on one, and only one, specific metric—corporate taxation. Man…