Startups & Founder Advising
Early legal work is infrastructure: invisible when done well, expensive when done late. The firm advises founders from formation through the enterprise-customer stage — entity and equity architecture, founder arrangements, IP ownership from day one, contractor and employment documentation, and the commercial contract stack the first real customer will stress-test. For technology, SaaS, and AI companies, this typically matures into the standing outside general counsel relationship described on that page.
The firm’s startup work extends beyond formation. It includes the operational contract systems IP-intensive companies depend on: founder and investor terms, intercompany IP, platform and subscription agreements, customer and enterprise contracts, privacy and data provisions, content and moderation rules, payment-processing allocation, contractor and employment documents, and commercialization arrangements.
Services
SIX ITEMS- Formation and founder equity architecture
- Founder agreements, vesting, and IP assignment
- Contractor, advisor, and early employment documentation
- Commercial policies and the initial contract stack (NDA, MSA, terms)
- Commercialization and customer-contracting strategy
- Growth-stage legal infrastructure audits
Representative Experience
TWO MATTERSOutside general counsel to an AI-driven startup — built its legal and commercial contracting infrastructure from founder documentation through enterprise customer agreements.
Counsel to a technology-enabled education platform in enterprise formation and commercialization — multi-entity structure, founder governance, equity structuring, and brand licensing.
Representative matters. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Process
FOUR STEPSFoundation review
What exists, what’s missing, what will break at scale.
Infrastructure sprint
The core document set, delivered as a package.
Commercial readiness
The contract stack and negotiation posture for real customers.
FAQs
THREE QUESTIONSWe can’t afford big-firm startup counsel. What’s the model here?
Scoped packages for foundation work and predictable arrangements for ongoing counsel — boutique economics, institutional documents.
Do we need all of this before revenue?
You need IP assignment and founder terms before anything else — those are nearly impossible to fix cheaply later. The rest phases in.
Our IP is the company. How do you protect it?
Ownership by assignment from every contributor, licensing structured deliberately, and confidentiality that actually binds. See SaaS, IP & Technology Transactions.