10“Lawyer Up” the Right Way
Company founders often wonder what a lawyer contributes to a startup or why they even need a lawyer at all. It may sound obvious, but the most important thing a lawyer brings to the startup table is their knowledge of the law surrounding everything to do with founding, financing, and operating a startup! That doesn't make it any less important.
There are an enormous number of laws that cover the world of business, and exponentially more once you start dealing with fund-raising and financing. More often than not, I've seen startups skimp on legal expenses in the early days only to learn a hard lesson when work has to be done over again and in some cases even jeopardizing the company's existence. The peace of mind that comes from knowing that a good lawyer has your back is extraordinarily liberating. Believe me.
Beyond that fundamental and important function, I've found that other valuable things that a law firm brings to a startup are:
Formation/organization documentation and administration: This technical legal function is essential and includes a number of decision points that can have a real impact on the future of the business. In the last chapter we saw that incorporating your company in Delaware was pretty easy . . . but, in fact, it's everything that comes afterward that can get you into big trouble.- Validation and credibility: While this ...
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