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by Bluestrike2
3710 days ago
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I think the most important thing for anyone to understand about any sort of legal startup guide or sample agreements is that they don't replace the need for an actual attorney. If you think they're a quick and cheap alternative, it'll probably blow up in your face at some point. If you're aware of their limitations, then they can become a tool that can at least help you understand the process and the need for agreements and actions that might not seem obvious at first glance. They're references, no more and no less. Anyhow, it looks like most of the sample documents attached to that spreadsheet are from Orrick's tech group: https://www.orrick.com/Practices/Emerging-Companies/Pages/St... |
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Under the section for "When should I use a lawyer", I added the below (I also introduced "Finding a lawyer" as the first step of the Delaware corp checklist tab): Though the formation documents are sometimes similar, mistakes can be made easily and are often costly (or impossible) to later remedy. I strongly recommend consulting with a startup attorney to provide guidance throughout the process and review important documents before you finalize them, even if you wish to file most of the incorporation paperwork yourself to reduce legal costs. Many startup lawyers will even do the basic incorporation for free of labor charge (passing through only the filing fees directly to you) in the interest of gaining your business as a long-term client down the road. Other lawyers will also/alternatively allow you to defer payment for legal work (up to a certain maximum, sometimes as high as the $10k range) until you've raised funding.
See here for a horror story involving DIY incorporation: http://bit.ly/incorporatinghorrorstory And the corresponding HN thread from 5 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2399139 (I had to use a bit.ly link=>web archive because it seems the original link is now dead).