Startups
Your first documents will outlast your first product.
Founder equity, vesting, convertible instruments and early commercial agreements shape control and economics long after they’re signed. We help founders structure them with care, bringing senior-level counsel on venture terms, investor expectations and how today’s choices play out at exit.
Start a conversationHOW WE HELP
Counsel for the decisions a company compounds.
From the first cap table to the term sheet that defines the next stage, we focus on the choices that are hardest to undo.
Outside General Counsel
Ongoing senior counsel on the contracts, decisions and risks of a growing company, without the cost of an in-house legal department.
Read →Company Financing
Seed, venture, convertible and debt financings structured with an eye on control, dilution and the next round.
Read →Technology, Data & Commercial IP
Licensing, IP ownership, data and technology agreements that protect what the company builds and sells
Read →M&A & Strategic Growth
Acquisitions, sales, mergers and strategic investments, from letter of intent through closing and integration.
Read →SIGNAL
Written for companies and their owners.
Notes on the issues that come up most often in owner-led businesses.
All 10 SIGNAL articlesQualified Small Business Stock and Venture Economics
The 2025 expansion of Section 1202 brought Qualified Small Business Stock into a much wider range of venture outcomes.
Airtable and the Exit Math of Venture Capital
Airtable is a reminder that a financing valuation is not an exit, and that preferred stock, capital raised and market repricing can materially change the common-stock outcome.
Founder Equity is Governance
Founder equity is not simply compensation. Every meaningful grant also allocates control, incentives, risk and future flexibility.
SELECTED EXPERIENCE
Matters of record.
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Represented a consumer-brand founder in private-capital matters, a proposed majority-sale negotiation and subsequent restructuring-related advice
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Served as counsel and a founding equityholder of Freespeech, helping launch the venture at SXSW. Continued advising Jason Fertel on DealBurner, including its incorporation and sale to CityPockets.
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Represented Maman and its parent, Sugar Beets, from the first New York cafe through early growth, multi-location expansion and private equity investment, advising on corporate, commercial and strategic matters.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Representative matters may include work performed at prior law firms.
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