Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean sitting in a home office typing into a computer day in and day out. It also does not mean working solo in the startup phase. It actually brings a long list of things like getting the company registered, choosing a company logo, writing contracts or work agreements with people, and paying taxes. Did you read that part about contracts, logos, and work agreements? I cannot emphasize enough the importance of getting those three things correct from the very beginning.
Laws vary from state to state. That is why the procedure of legalizing your business also varies from place to place. At the initial stages of your business, it may not seem necessary to waste money on counsel from a startup legal service. But as things progress and you move into the investment phase, it becomes quite important for you to deal with the legal angles of the business (whether you like it or not).
Common Legal Mistakes
Before we move on to the counseling phase, it is really important to understand the problems that might incur you during a startup. Following are some common causes of conflicts:
- Disagreement between the founders
- Faulty legal structure
- Not having everything in writing
- Choosing a name without registering it
- Not engaging the workforce
- Not claiming copyrights
- Improper finance handling
- Not seeking a professional startup legal service
Startup Legal Advice
To Avoid common pitfalls of startups, the following are the tips that will help you with the legal aspects of your startup:
1) Define Your Business
The first step in starting a startup company is to define your business. Here, the word “define” means to elaborate on your company’s mission and define your goals and objectives. It also means making a list of all the stakeholders of your company. You can also describe your initial aim for the company. All of these things will help in determining the legal status of the company and will tell you about the taxes that incur on it.
2) Take Partnerships Seriously
The biggest reason most of the startups fail, at their most crucial time, is a disagreement between the founders. Let’s say you’re doing a startup venture with your friend, in the early stages of the business you may not feel you require the need for any legal agreement and will be happy to work out the details in conversation. But this mistake can come back to haunt you in case of any disagreement about the company in the future. That is why you should always look for a startup legal service to provide the most ironclad partnership agreement that will ensure you both are protected in the event of a disagreement that can result in the dissolution of a partnership.
3) Check Registries for Business Names
Let’s say you’ve come up with a fantastic name for your startup and are really excited about it. You start the work and come up with ideas relating to the name. Before confirming the name on business documents, have you checked the legal status of the name? What if the name is already registered to someone else?
To save yourself from the heartache of a legal suit or having to rename your company, you should consider getting a startup legal service that will provide you advice to ensure your name is one of a kind. It will also help in registering all the names and trademarks if you choose to go that route..
4) Protect Your Brand
Protecting your brand is another important step to establish yourself in the startup industry. If you have an idea and prepare everything for your startup and you don’t take the necessary precautions before legalizing it before sharing it with the world; you can run the risk of losing the idea to someone else. Trust me, you’d always regret not getting everything on the legally submitted first.
To prevent copyright events, it is better that you protect your startup brand by registering all of its names, trademarks, and intellectual properties in a legal manner. This can prove to be tedious and hard to read through at times, so using a startup legal service can save you time, heartache, and money.
5) Create a Legal Budget
While taking your startup to new heights, you wouldn’t want to mess it up by not allocating a budget for legal assistance. Not legalizing the aspects of your business can lead to bitter consequences in the future. To prevent this from happening, you should allocate a percentage of your budget for startup legal service.
Not creating a legal budget will also hurt your business decisions, as it will make it harder for you to take care of the finances.
6) Seek a Startup Legal Service
Finally, the most important decision in your startup will be whether to hire a startup legal service or not. In the early stages, you would be quite comfortable doing the work yourself but as soon as you enter the business world in full swing, you will realize its needed to fulfill certain areas of your operations.
You could seek counsel from a startup legal service in:
- Legalizing an agreement
- Labeling your business structure
- Checking out your licenses
- Securing your intellectual property
- Registering and trademarking
- Designing a budget
- Drawing up employment contracts
- Modifying the terms and conditions
- Website terms and conditions
- Privacy rights of consumers or clients
There are so many reasons to have startup legal services. When it in business, it is better to protect yourself, your company, and your brand. It will help you avoid lawsuits and many pitfalls in the future. And will keep your business on the right track from the beginning and throughout..