From the MediaBerkman blog:
In the early days of the LLC launching a business might have been a simple task. After all, chances are your partners were close by and you probably worked within the laws of your state. It was mostly a local task.
Setting your shingle out in the 21st Century might be a bit more arduous. You’ve got partners in different time zones, and where once you might have met face to face, now you’re making decisions over conference call, IM, maybe even Twitter and Facebook. And all of the paperwork and record keeping involved with staying legal seems somehow past its expiration date.
Today’s guest says the LLC was probably one of the greatest inventions of all time, on par with the steam engine and electricity. This legal infrastructure for operating a business helped promote innovation by pinning the cost of risk to a collective entity rather than to the individual.
But the humble LLC has a lot of growing to do if it wants to keep up with the digital revolution.
Oliver Goodenough — of the Law Lab at the Berkman Center — talks with guest interviewer Zeba Khan about the evolution of business law, and a new initiative he’s been working on with the State of Vermont to let new businesses function online.