Category Archives: Startup & Founders

Legal Documents Every Startup Needs in Argentina (2026)

TL;DR: An Argentine startup needs a specific stack of legal documents from day one, incorporation documents matching the entity type chosen, a Founders’ Agreement, IP Assignment Agreements, compliant written employment contracts, NDAs, and, once the product is public, trademark filing documents. Each protects a different part of the business, and each needs to actually reflect […]

Legal Documents Every E-commerce Business Needs in the USA (2026)

TL;DR: Running an e-commerce business in the US means complying with a genuinely layered set of federal and state requirements most founders underestimate until something goes wrong, FTC advertising and shipping rules, a patchwork of state sales tax nexus obligations since Wayfair, CAN-SPAM for every marketing email, ADA website accessibility, and state-specific privacy laws that […]

Legal Documents Every Fintech Startup Needs in India (2026)

TL;DR: A fintech startup in India needs two layers of legal documentation most other startups don’t: the standard founding, employment, and IP documents every company needs, and a distinct set of RBI-mandated compliance documents, KYC/AML policies, data localisation compliance, Fair Practices Code, and, depending on your specific model, Payment Aggregator or NBFC licensing documentation, that […]

How to Split Equity Among Co-Founders: A Complete Guide (2026)

TL;DR: Splitting founder equity fairly means measuring contributions across two categories, financial (cash actually invested) and non-financial (time, expertise, network, and risk), converting both into a common scale, and applying vesting so the split is earned over time rather than fixed at signing. This guide walks through a genuine, worked calculation method, not just “have […]

Convertible Note Drafting: What Founders Need to Get Right

convertable notes my legal pal

TL;DR: A convertible note is a short-term loan that converts into equity when your next round triggers it. Convertible note agreement drafting decides the principal, the interest, the maturity date, the valuation cap, the discount, and the conversion triggers. These clauses control your dilution and your risk. Quick overview: This guide walks through what a […]

Legal Documents Every SaaS Startup Needs in the USA

legal compliance for saas startups in usa

Building a SaaS company in the United States involves a long list of priorities. Product, pricing, customer acquisition, infrastructure, hiring. Legal documents usually sit somewhere near the bottom of that list, treated as something to deal with later, once there is revenue, once there are real customers, once there is funding. The problem is that […]

Legal Documents Every SaaS Startup Needs: The Complete Founder’s Guide

Legal Documents Every SaaS Startup Needs

TL;DR: SaaS startups need a core stack of legal documents to operate safely and scale confidently. These include Terms of Service, a Privacy Policy, a SaaS Subscription Agreement, an End User Licence Agreement (EULA), a Data Processing Agreement (DPA), an NDA, an IP Assignment Agreement, and founder or employment agreements. Each document protects a different […]

Phantom Stock vs Ordinary Shares: Which Should You Use for Founders, Consultants and Partners?

Phantom Stock vs Ordinary Shares: Which Should You Use for Founders, Consultants and Partners?

TL;DR: You’ve built something worth protecting, and now you want to reward the people who helped: a technical co-founder, a fractional CFO who joined for almost nothing, an advisor who opened key doors. The instinct is to hand out shares. For most early-stage companies, that instinct is expensive to follow for anyone beyond your core […]

The “Due Diligence” Killer: 5 Contract Clauses That Slash Your Startup’s Valuation

5 Contract Clauses That Slash Your Startup's Valuation

TL;DR: When an investor or acquirer’s legal team runs due diligence, they aren’t just scanning for red flags, they are pricing risk into every clause that creates uncertainty, liability, or operational restriction. Five specific clause types account for a disproportionate share of the valuation haircuts, deal delays, and collapsed term sheets founders encounter: broken assignability, […]

Startup Agreements That Investors Actually Read Before Funding You

Startup Agreements That Investors Actually Read Before Funding You

You’ve nailed the pitch. The investor is nodding. Then come the five words every founder both wants and dreads to hear: “Send over your legal docs.” This is where many promising startups stumble, not because of a weak business idea, but because of poorly drafted, incomplete, or missing agreements. Investors and their legal teams are […]