Start-Up
Startup lawyers spend most of a typical day working on clients’ larger transactions for their clients spending the time in between handling smaller issues. These attorneys work closely with the founders and executives at their startup company clients and eventually the company’s general counsel at such time as the start-up has a general counsel. Attorneys representing investors work directly with the venture capitalist making the investment and possibly the fund’s General Counsel or Chief Operating Officer.
Here is a list of some start-up related services:
Legal priority list
Mutual non-disclosure agreement,
Website Agreements (Terms of Use, Privacy Policy,
Copyright Policy, Disclaimers, etc.)
Revisions to corporate documents to make them “investor-ready”
Preparation of basic financing documents.
Basic financing strategies and securities law issues
Financing documents
Term sheet
Subscription agreement
Early round financing of common stock
Stock purchase agreement
Convertible note purchase agreement
Convertible promissory note
Stockholders agreement
Preferred stock offering
Venture capital
Investor non-disclosure agreement
Basic employment services
Hire letter template
Employment agreement key executives and employees
Equity provisions
Employment policies and an employment manual
Stockholder Agreements and LLC Operating Agreements
Private placements including angel and venture capital equity financings
Equity incentive plans
Debt financing agreements
Dispositions of businesses
Distressed sales
Wind-downs and dissolutions
Protection from takeovers
Recapitalizations and restructurings
Partial and complete liquidations
Stock redemption programs
SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) Debt
Succession planning
Estate planning transfers of equity ownership to trusts
Employment issues and partnership disputes
Business disputes
Intellectual property protection
Commercial contracts
Business succession matters
Licensing
Tax issues
Regulatory
Securities compliance
Strategic partnering issues
Employment,
Real estate,
Commercial
Public finance
Business planning
Agreements, e.g. employment, independent
contractor, advisor, work for hire
Non-disclosure/non-circumvention/non-use
Founder agreements
Equity incentive plans
Protection of intellectual property
Funding -- founders, angel, SBA
Funding -- convertible notes, series seed, preferred, common
general contract matters
Trademark and copyright registrations
Website terms of use and privacy policies
Non-disclosure and assignment of inventions agreements
Non-competition and non-solicitation agreements
Transfers of IP assets into newly formed entities
Intellectual property infringement
Ongoing program phases:
Starting Phase: Formation, Basic Contracts, Trademark, Website Agreements, General Counsel
Growth: Corporate Structuring, Financing (Debt/equity), Commercial Transactions, IP Prosecution and enforcement, General Counsel
Enterprise: Corporate Governance and Compliance, Commercial Transactions, IP Monitoring, Enforcement and Monetization, Specialty Counsel, General Counsel