A one-stop legal health check and planning session for early-stage founders
A focused legal advisory session covering entity structure, founder agreements, IP ownership, ESOP basics, and the key contracts you need at each stage — so you build on a solid legal foundation from day one.
Most founders start with a great product idea and push legal hygiene to later — and then scramble when a co-founder dispute, an IP ownership question, or an investor's due diligence list surfaces a gap. A Startup Legal Advisory engagement is a structured session (typically two to three hours) covering the key legal questions every early-stage founder should resolve: Is the entity structure right for fundraising (Pvt Ltd is almost always the answer for VC-backed startups)? Have co-founders signed an agreement with a vesting schedule and IP assignment? Does the company own the IP — not the founders personally? Are key employees on proper employment agreements with IP assignment and confidentiality clauses? Is the cap table clean? Are founder shares on a vesting schedule? What contracts are needed before the first customer signs? Are there any regulatory licences required for the business model? The output is a prioritised legal to-do list with specific next steps — tailored to your specific business, structure, and stage.
First-time founders at the idea or pre-incorporation stage, early-stage startups preparing for a Seed or pre-Seed round, founders who have been building without formal legal hygiene and need a gap assessment, and any startup founder who wants an independent legal perspective before signing an investor's documents.
Pre-session questionnaire
We send a short questionnaire covering business model, entity status, founder details, and investor timeline so the session time is focused on issues, not background.
Legal health check session
A two-to-three hour session covering entity structure, founder agreements, IP, employment, cap table, regulatory requirements, and immediate priorities.
Prioritised to-do list
We deliver a written list of the specific legal actions needed, prioritised by urgency and sequenced for your stage and funding timeline.
Follow-up support
For items identified in the session, we prepare the specific documents as a separate engagement.
Items marked Required are mandatory; others are situational.
Pre-session inputs
Fees
Government fee
No government fees for an advisory session
Advisory session fee
Quoted upfront — fixed fee per session, follow-on documents quoted separately
* Government fees may vary. GST applicable on professional fees. Final pricing confirmed after review.
It is the ideal time. Deciding on entity structure, co-founder terms, and IP ownership before incorporation is far easier and cheaper than restructuring after the company is registered and equity has been issued.
A post-incorporation legal clean-up is still very achievable. We assess the gap and prioritise what must be done before a funding round versus what can wait.
For an early-stage startup, the most important legal work can all be handled by one team. Specialist tax or IP counsel is called in for specific complex matters — we flag when that is needed.
IP assignment. Founders build the product before the company is incorporated, so the IP is technically owned by individuals. Without a formal IP assignment agreement, the company does not own what it is selling.
Yes — setting up an ESOP pool and allocating it pre-money is standard practice. We cover ESOP basics in the advisory session and help you set up a plan if needed.
We cover the common licensing requirements for most startup models in the advisory session. For regulatory-intensive models, we bring in the relevant specialist.
Startup Legal Advisory
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