When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

1. Draper Fisher Jurvetson
2. Sequoia Capital
3. Accel Partners
4. Intel Capital
5. First Round Capital
6. Dag Ventures
7. New Enterprise Associates
8. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
9. Benchmark Capital
10. Ron Conway

What does infidelity have to do with entrepreneurs?  A lot.  When you first start building a business you put quite a bit of trust in your partners.  Would you go into business with someone who was actively cheating on his wife?  In general I would hope your answer would be no.  If someone was willing to betray their spouse, would it be a stretch to think they might betray you?  Despite this obvious point, many entrepreneurs choose to ignore the personal foibles of potential partners.  This may seem to be the mature decision - i.e. someone’s private life should remain private, but it isn’t necessarily the smart decision.

Investors do quite a bit of checking into the entrepreneurs they back.  Credit checks, background checks, interviews with classmates from college not to mention your Facebook page and Twitter account.  You would be surprised what they dig up.  The amount of money they are planning to put at risk is directly proportional to the level of diligence they will conduct on you and your team.  Several investors I talked to were quick to suggest they would punt on an investment in a company with a key employee who was committing adultery. One investor told me he would make the investment, but actively seek to replace the unfaithful founder.  Another suggested he might put a morals clause into the founder’s employment agreement to take advantage of the founder’s weakness.  Eric Engineer, with Sevin Rosen Funds here in Dallas explained,

“It would certainly make me question his trustworthiness as a business partner and significantly hurt his chances of an investment.  I’ve found that people who regularly lie start to feel comfortable doing it; so even if that pattern of behavior starts in his personal life, it’s likely to bleed into his business dealings with employees, customers, partners, and investors.”

Charlie Humphreyson, a venture partner in HO2 and an entrepreneur himself suggests,

“Fidelity/Adultery is a personal issue and a character issue.  It is the responsibility of the investor to do his/her due diligence and put context around an investment.  Just as a product needs context in the market, character issues need context as well.  I expect intellectual honesty and openness when it comes to entrepreneurs and so my willingness to invest would be based on how I learned about the adulterous situation and how the entrepreneur communicates.  Just as in politics (Clinton, Spitzer, Edwards, and now SC Gov, etc.) performance on the job is rarely affected by fidelity, but trust affects everything.  In the end, investment decisions are based on confidence the investment will be in the hands of good stewardship and the risks the investor is willing to assume.”

Being an entrepreneur is risky enough, why add additional risk by going into business with people you know to be dishonest; even if that dishonesty only manifests itself in your partner’s personal life.   If there is a good reason for his infidelity (is there ever a good reason?) you should consider how customers, key employees or investors would react if they were to learn of his various skeletons.

Scott Kirsner’s piece in the Boston Globe yesterday titled, “Startups stifled by noncompetes” is a great reminder, that while legally valid, non-competes are a bad idea for business.  Scott tells a story of a 3D video game artist who had to leave Massachusetts to escape a non-compete.  Ironically, the company he escaped to was in Austin and even more competitive to his former employer than the company he wanted to join in Boston.

Theodore Anderson’s article titled, “Is Texas Handcuffed by Employment Non-Compete Resitrictions?” explains,

Texas is not alone in excepting from antitrust laws limited non-compete provisions. But in other states like California, home of Silicon Valley, these contracts are unenforceable. Indeed, it is now conventional wisdom among scholars that non-compete agreements restrict employee mobility and innovation. In 1965, an area called Route 128 in Massachusetts had approximately three times more total technology employment than Silicon Valley. Massachusetts, like Texas, enforces non-competes. By 1975, Silicon Valley tripled Route 128 in technology employment. Scholars blame the non-competes.

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering two bills, one that would eliminate non-competes entirely and another that would limited them to employees making $100,000 a year or more.  Scott points out Michigan’s experience with non-competes explaining, “During the decades of that state’s greatest economic growth, from 1915 to 1985, noncompete agreements were illegal.”  By 1985 the party had ended and non-competes were allowed and Michigan’s economy has gone into the crapper - of course Michigan has other problems.

Non-compete agreements hurt startups specifically because employees with non-compete agreements are less likely to join a startup than another larger company that might be better able to defend them against litigation from their former employer.

What can you do?  First, don’t sign them.  Second, if you must sign one - actually find an employment lawyer and have him review it.  No really, take the contract to the lawyer and ask him to explain whether or not it is valid and have him suggest potential modifications.  Finally, email your state legislator and ask him to pass legislation making non-compete’s illegal in Texas.

The Garage will feature two tracks:
-Developing for Platform/Connect
-Marketing/Business Opportunities

Covering:
-OpenStream API
-Connect
-Connect for iPhone
-Social Metrics
-App Verification Program
-fbFund
-and more…

You can RSVP -http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=93629945905

We are planning to attend.  If you can join us, wear a green t-shirt in solidarity with the Iranian people.  If you can’t attend think about wearing a green shirt anyway.  Millions of Iranians have risked their lives over the past week attending rallies in support of democracy - while our lives aren’t at risk it is our obligation as a free people to support people who are not free.  As Thomas Paine said, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”