Author: Ryan Roberts
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Working With a Startup Lawyer
Working with a startup lawyer is usually about getting legal help early enough to avoid expensive mistakes, keep documents investor-ready, and make better decisions as the company grows. For founders building a venture-backed or venture-aspiring company, that often starts with formation, founder equity, IP assignment, hiring, commercial contracts, and fundraising. As the business scales, startup…
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The Startup Acquisition Process Guide
Startup Acquisition Process Overview This guide is for you if you are a founder or CEO of a U.S. startup and you want to understand the startup acquisition process before you are stuck inside it. If you are asking how does a startup acquisition work, what is an LOI in a startup acquisition, what happens…
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Startup Board of Directors Guide
Startup board of directors guide overview A startup board of directors is the group that legally approves major company actions and oversees management, while the CEO runs the business day to day. If you are a founder or CEO of a Delaware C-Corp, that answer starts to matter as soon as outside investors ask for…
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The Startup Commercial Contracts Guide
What this startup commercial contracts guide covers and what it does not Startup commercial contracts are the agreements that govern how you sell, buy, share data, and work with commercial partners. In practice, startup commercial contracts include startup customer contracts, startup vendor contracts, SaaS agreements, statements of work, data processing terms, reseller agreements, and other…
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Intellectual Property for Startups
What Intellectual Property for Startups Means Intellectual property for startups is not just a filing exercise. It is the practical work of identifying what creates value in the company, making sure the company actually owns it, and choosing the right protection for each asset. For most startups, that means getting the ownership chain clean, protecting…
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The Ultimate Startup Hiring Guide
How to use this startup hiring guide If you’re a founder hiring your first 1 to 20 people at a U.S. startup (assume Delaware C-Corp, venture-style expectations), this is the 80/20 startup hiring legal playbook. The goal is not to turn you into HR. The goal is to help you make decisions that hold up…
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Venture Capital Term Sheet Survival Guide
If you are a founder with a venture capital term sheet in your inbox, you’re not “almost closed.” You’re at the moment where a few pages of business terms quietly lock in years of economics and control for your startup. A VC term sheet is a short summary of the key terms of a proposed…
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Seed Funding: Complete SAFEs vs Notes Guide
Table of Contents – Seed Funding: Complete SAFEs vs Notes Guide If you’re raising seed funding, you’ll almost always hear some version of: “Should I raise on a SAFE or a convertible note?” The honest answer is that either can work, but they fail in different ways. A SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) means…
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Startup Equity 101: Splits and Vesting
Table of Contents – Startup Equity 101: Splits and Vesting Start here: what startup equity means In this guide, “startup equity” means who owns what percentage of the company, under what conditions, and with what tax and paperwork consequences. It’s the cap table plus the legal documents underneath it, not just a spreadsheet with names…
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Startup Incorporation: The Complete Guide
Table of Contents – Startup Incorporation: The Complete Guide This startup incorporation guide is for founders deciding how to incorporate a startup in the U.S., especially if they are aiming for a Delaware C-Corp and a venture-style cap table. I will assume U.S. norms and the common path where the company may raise a pre-seed…