Startups

Starting a company is exciting, but fraught with many choices.

Should you form an LLC or a corporation? California or Delaware? A Kronenberger Rosenfeld startup lawyer gives entrepreneurs pragmatic advice to help them navigate these questions, and guide them throughout the process. The end result: a solid foundation for building a successful startup.

FINANCING

Whether you’re just beginning to think about raising money or you’ve just received a term sheet, experienced counsel from a startup lawyer is key to a successful startup financing. Our attorneys will help you:

• Select the best way to finance your company (convertible debt, Series Seed, etc.)
• Prepare and negotiate the term sheet—standing by your side as a trusted advisor
• Work through the definitive financing agreements with investor’s counsel
• Get through due diligence smoothly
• Avoid securities and tax compliance pitfalls

IP PORTFOLIO STRATEGY AND PROTECTION

Kronenberger Rosenfeld’s startup lawyers assist our startup clients in developing, registering, and enforcing their unique intellectual property rights. We work with you to:

• Protect brands with trademark registrations
• Protect software, designs, and other creative works with copyright registrations
• Develop proactive trade secrets protection programs
• Make sure founders, employees, and contractors have all validly assigned their IP to the startup
• Understand the current patent landscape and work with specialist patent counsel to protect inventions

OPEN SOURCE LICENSING AND COMPLIANCE

Open source is more important than ever in software, and today almost all technology startups leverage the work of open source communities. Understanding the license terms of the components your team incorporates into your software is essential. Not doing so can mean costly remediation efforts or, in the worst-case scenario, litigation. We help startups identify and minimize licensing risks proactively, ensure compliance, analyze existing codebases, publish projects as open source, and commercialize open source offerings.

COMPLIANCE: ADVERTISING, SPAM, TELEMARKETING, AND OTHER REGULATIONS

We routinely ensure that clients stay compliant with the latest rules and guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission and other regulators. For example, we assist our clients in:

• Implementing best practices in online advertising
• Navigating new FTC regulations on native advertising
• Implementing best practices in commercial email, and defending spam litigation
• Preparing robust affiliate marketing agreements, and defending them in court
• Making adequate disclosures and collecting opt-ins to comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which regulates telemarketing calls and promotional text messages
• Making adequate disclosures around subscription billing (also called “negative option billing” or “continuity billing”)

WEBSITE AND APP AGREEMENTS

Startups’ websites must have well-drafted agreements—specifically, the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy. This is just as important for mobile apps, as recent enforcement efforts by the California Attorney General and other regulators have shown. Kronenberger Rosenfeld’s startup lawyers tailor these agreements to each business, taking care to assess risks and create agreements to give every client the best protection.

SAAS AGREEMENTS

As data and software move away from on-premises deployments and into the cloud, software-as-a-service agreements (SaaS agreement) and service level agreements (SLAs) setting uptime expectations and guarantees have become very important. Many government and enterprise customers will demand robust SLAs, and it is critically important to understand the responsibilities under these documents. We draft and negotiate favorable SaaS agreements and SLAs for your company.

DATA PRIVACY AND SECURITY

User privacy and company information should always be at the forefront of startup executives’ thinking. Our attorneys are skilled at dealing with the aftermath of a data breach. Several state laws—especially California—impose strict requirements on notifying users if their personal information has been disclosed. In addition, we have litigated cases under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and related laws, and have used the discovery process to help uncover anonymous hackers.

From beginning to end, Kronenberger Rosenfeld guides entrepreneurs through all legal aspects of creating a thriving startup company. Regardless of what stage your startup company is in, call our attorneys today, we carry the technical know-how and the legal expertise to help you build a solid foundation for business’ future.

To learn more about our services for business startups, we welcome you to contact us through our online case submission form or call us at 415-955-1155, ext. 120.