The ultimate guide to getting your startup off the ground

Founders know that launching a startup needs more than just a good idea — you need a passionate team, customers and capital. Whether you’re looking to protect your intellectual property or hire your first employee, most of the processes and milestones of startup life are underpinned by law.

Entrepreneurs can now access a wealth of information online to help navigate the legal side of business-building. Educational resources created by commercial law firm LegalVision, for example, are tailored to the startup sector and include over 4,000 free legal articles and guides.

Madeleine Hunt, a lawyer on LegalVision’s corporate advisory and startup team, said the company has drawn from its own experience as a startup to create the Startup Manual.

“We know how daunting the journey can be so we’ve shared our tips as well as featured case studies from other leading Australian startups,” she said.

“We wanted startup founders to prepare for the long road ahead and know what legal steps they should take.”

The manual is concise but comprehensive – each chapter provides guidance on each stage in the startup lifecycle including raising capital, structuring for fast-growth as well as dealing with customers and suppliers.

“A startup should check that their business name and logo is unique and doesn’t infringe on anyone else’s IP rights before taking steps to protect it such as registering a trade mark”.  
Founders can consult the Startup Manual as well as LegalVision’s free legal documents including the Website Privacy Policy and Terms of Use to take back some control over their legal spend. Of course, not every legal question can be covered in an article. Madeleine said that if clients don’t understand something, or think they might be missing something important, they should speak with a lawyer.

“We often find startups will come to us when they need to establish their business structure, draft their business’ terms and conditions, raise capital or bring onboard a co-founder,” she explained.

“It’s almost always easier and more cost-effective to speak with a lawyer initially, rather than giving it a go yourself and then asking a lawyer to fix it. And this allows founders to focus their time and energy on growing their business”.

Fortunately, seeing a lawyer isn’t always as complicated or expensive as it seems. LegalVision offers consultations on a fixed-fee basis, meaning founders don’t have to get billed by the hour and have the certainty of knowing how much their legal fees are upfront.

The tech-driven law firm prides itself on providing legal services that better reflect how businesses operate today – through an online model that is responsive to client needs. Their team of startup lawyers deal with a broad spectrum of issues particular to the sector and have the specialised knowledge and experience to be able to assist founders quickly and cost-efficiently.

LegalVision was named one of LinkedIn’s Top 20 Startups in 2018, the fastest growing law firm in the Asia-Pacific by the Financial Times and has been recognised consistently as an up-and-coming disruptor in the Australian legal startup sector.

Download the LegalVision Startup Manual and visit the LegalVision website.