For many, creating a startup is the 21st century American Dream. Being able to build a business from scratch, disrupt industries and leave a mark on the world is alluring. But it is also highly technical and complex. The startup founder needs to have knowledge and experience, or at least access to it, in nearly every discipline related to running a business. Product development, financials and accounting, marketing, leadership—there is virtually no end to what a startup founder needs to know to be successful. Add on to that the amount of legal and regulatory restrictions, and it can get overwhelming.
Fortunately, legal consultants such as Andy Altahawi offer their services and expertise to startups to help them navigate complex legal regulations. Mr. Altahawi, who has almost 30 years experience as an international attorney and investment banker, now acts as a consultant specifically for startups. As an attorney, Mr. Altahawi has successfully represented startups in complex, high level, high value public offerings, private offerings, mergers and acquisitions and reverse mergers. He says that his current business is “as a legal and financial consultant focused on helping startups in structuring, SEC filings, mergers and acquisitions, listings, and IPOs.” He also helps startups build syndicate networks for successful fundraising.
The business and startup world is an ultra-competitive, high stakes world, where a lot is changing on a daily basis. Navigating this world and finding success on the other side takes a large degree of wisdom, intuition, and experience. Mr. Altahawi states, “The main challenge is that navigating a business is extra tricky these days. The speed of economic and technological changes means that the right path yesterday may not work today and could be a disaster by tomorrow. Solving these dynamic problems is what separates those who excel from the companies who are closing the doors.” Business and startups need someone with the knowledge of Altahawi to separate themselves from the rest.
In fact, Mr. Altahawi is also a successful startup founder himself. Starting the investment bank Adamson Brothers, Fashion TV network “Lavish TV”, and music TV network “Dandana TV,” he offers extensive and broad wisdom for new startup founders beyond simply legal advice. As someone who has been through the entrepreneurial ringer, he knows what he’s talking about. He says,
“The larger principles of how to be a successful entrepreneur are useful in any region, in any place. And as long as you are good about following those principles, you’ll be successful. I think three of those principles are: 1) Make sure you’re solving a problem, 2) Understand your customer and your market, and 3) Make sure there is a customer willingness to pay.”
But Mr. Altahawi is not done being an entrepreneur himself—apart from his consultation work, and his legal and investment banking work, he still has his own innovative ideas, with his own times to shine still ahead of him. While keeping an appropriate amount of discretion, he revealed “I believe I am on the right track to incubate a few potential unicorns that will solve problems and create wealth in the next five years. They are disruptive.” Aside from consulting and giving advice to startups, Mr. Altahawi is preparing his own game changing ideas to throw into the fire.
One of Mr. Altahawi’s recent startup project is Nowigence, Inc. Mr. Altahawi is an early investor in the company in addition to his role as its legal and capital market advisor, for which he handles all its SEC regulatory filings, structuring, building its fundraising network, and working on its product development. Mr. Altahawi says, “I believe in Nowigence and its capable management team. This company is poised to disrupt the AI market.” Nowigence is a fast-growing SaaS company that develops and sells a ready-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) robot called PluarisTM. Its human-like capabilities allow it to comprehend data with precision when retrieving, extracting, and analyzing information; benchmarking; and creating outputs for its users in real time. Mr. Altahawi believes that Nowigence is a unicorn, and the company is planning to offer its shares to the public in 2021.
The simple truth is that not everyone can make it on their own. No matter how much grit and determination an entrepreneur has, without experience or wisdom they are leaving themselves and their weaknesses exposed. Entrepreneurs need to be experts. Mr. Altahawi, who has worn the hat of attorney, investment banker, and startup founder, has the expertise and wisdom needed to help startups be successful.
