Please get an attorney with startup financing experience
One of the biggest pieces of advice I give entrepreneurs: find an good attorney with experience in startup financing. Do not use your uncle’s friend who’s been doing family law for the past 30 years.
Your investors will have great attorneys, and you need someone who can skillfully represent your interests. Find someone who’s more than a corporate law mechanic, that can contribute business advice during investor negotiations. A good attorney will be able to suggest deal terms, based on their experience with other deals (or even deals with your investors).
Ideally, you can find someone that does nothing but startup financings. Here’s a great list of lawyers with the right kind of experience. (This is the group that worked on the National Venture Capital Association’s Model financing documents.)
January 1st, 2008 at 4:14 pm
I agree with your assessment. There is a specific set of knowledge around venture and angel financing that is not that intuitive unless you have seen the movie before.
I have been relatively happy with David Gammell at Brown Rudnick in Boston. Lots of startup experience.