Entrepreneur Corner: Avoiding jail and improving the boardroom

Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner.

How to launch a startup and avoid ending up in jail – It’s tempting to cut corners in the early days of a startup, but cut the wrong ones and you could face penalties you never expected – even when you thought you were doing the right thing. Attorney Scott Edward Walker showcases four of the most common infractions.

2011 is proving to be a good year for job demand – Wondering how much competition you’re going to face in hiring that ideal candidate? Charley Polachi, a partner at executive recruiting firm Polachi polls his peers around the world to get a sense of how the job markets are and what positions are most in demand.

Proposed: The boardroom for the 21st century – Startups have evolved, but boardrooms haven’t. Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank proposes a new way for startups to get feedback from investors in a timely fashion, rather than waiting months and wasting both time and cash until that meeting can take place.

Startup lessons learned from Moneyball by Michael Lewis – “Moneyball,” the story of how general manager Billy Beane turned around the Oakland A’s might not seem a lesson in entrepreneurship, but Javier Rojas, managing director for Kennet Partners, says the book is full of valuable lessons for startup owners. He runs down the most important.

Right idea, wrong time: Twitter in the pre-Twitter days – Just because you have a good idea doesn’t mean the market is ready for it. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey tells of his initial efforts with a microblogging site – and how it fell flat on its face.