Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Startup Advice & Tips”
If you’re a startup with two co-founders, you may be tempted to split your equity 50/50. In theory, this may seem like an easy and fair way to divide ownership. However, an equal equity split may lead to a number of future problems that you should consider before going this route. Although rarely discussed because it’s a sensitive matter, founder …
Splitting equity in a startup can be a sensitive topic. How much equity does each founder deserve? The answer to this question is usually different based on each founder’s perspective and, consequently, can be a cause of conflict. But, if you ask the right questions, it’s possible to divide equity in a way that feels fair and satisfactory to everyone. …
Many startups do not know that SEIS Advance Assurance requirements have changed. Are you one of them? The sooner you comply the sooner you can secure your investors. What is SEIS Advance Assurance? SEIS is designed to help your company raise money when it’s starting to trade. It does this by offering tax reliefs to individual investors who buy new …
What is SEIS? SEIS is designed to help your company raise money when it’s starting to trade. It does this by offering tax reliefs to individual investors who buy new shares in your company. What can you claim? You can receive a maximum of £150,000 through SEIS investments on which your investors can claim relief. An can claim an income …
Negotiation is a part of everyday life, but negotiation is even more important in case of conflict. Dispute brings up concerns about the cost of litigation, loss of reputation and loss of time and energy. In case of a dispute, negotiating might allow you to avoid these costs or, at the very least, mitigate them. What do you need to …
Tip #1: Let them lead When building a startup often co-founders would want to do everything themselves. However, this will often lead to fatigue and burnout. The whole point of having a co-founder is to have a partner along with you on the journey of your new business venture. This means that you can’t do everything by yourself and it …
Co-founders are key for the success of a business but many founders overlook the importance of building a great team and fall into the trap of working with and employing people who might initially support their idea but who in time, are not the right fit or don’t bring the right skills. Consequently, it is important to conduct proper vetting …
A remarkable statistic to throw your way … “65% of high-potential startups fail due to co-founders fall out” This statement was made by Noam Wessman, Harvard Business School Professor and author of The Founder’s Dilemma who states that co-founders fall out for many reasons, such as money, business strategy, and leadership. A simple solution to this problem is to create …
What Is The Difference Between SEIS And SEIS Advance Assurance? An investor usually invests if they know they will benefit from this tax break. If you make your investor wait for this, once you have it your investors could be long gone. Since SEIS was launched in 2012-13, 6,665 individual companies have received investment through the scheme and £621 million in …
Startup Launch: Ten Free Tools That Will Help Your Business Grow Nowadays most of the people who are planning to establish a new business in the UK or at any other part of the world, face the same mistake. Young entrepreneurs who have inspiring and innovative ideas think that it is impossible to create a start up without any business …
“I don’t want to spend an arm and a leg to get this done.” – Luke, Founder and CEO of Happy Clouds LTD
Luke is founder and CEO of Happy Clouds LTD, a cloud service provider for companies of all sizes. He started this business by himself but shortly after took on a co-founder, Lucy. Luke and Lucy have been working together for a year but have yet to set up a shareholders’ agreement.
They have been bootstrapping Happy Clouds’ growth and so have spent the bare minimum. A year on, the business is generating revenue and as the client base grows, Luke and Lucy need to ensure that their business foundations and customers contracts are bulletproof.
Luke and Lucy are fast-paced – they don’t have time to spend explaining their business model to lawyers, they want someone who can quickly understand what they want and run with it. They also don’t want to spend an arm and a leg to get this done.
Luke and Lucy come to Linkilaw. After getting their initial terms of business set out, they realise they also will need another 3 to 4 contracts in the next 12 months.
PRO MEMBERSHIP
| Contracts (drafted by specialist lawyers) | 4 contracts |
| Drafts allowed per contract | 3 drafts |
| Bonus legal advice | Digital only |
| Priority of service | Over non-members |
| Speed of contract turnaround | 7 working days |
| Annual business review conference call | Included |
| £2,500/year or £235/month |
“We are scaling up but we want to make sure we get everything updated and in place too.” – Liam, Co-Founder of WineToGo
Liam is the co-founder of WineToGo. His business sources wine from a large network of wine producers and helps their customers select the best wines for their taste to get delivered to their homes. He founded his business with 3 co-founders (Lance, Lily and Larry) and has a shareholders’ agreement in place. The four of them met at university and decided to build their marketplace.
Lance and Larry are passionate about wine and have a background of oenology. Lily is a developer; she built the first platform and collaborated with Liam on business-related matters. They all work in a small office in North London.
After 1.5 years in business, WineToGo features a first selection of 20 UK wine providers and developed its activity in London. However, the business requires funding to expand to the UK (especially Manchester and Birmingham).
Liam and his co-founders are looking towards the future and are happy to get legal advice. They have a focus on investment but also want to explore the possibility of needing future contracts. They plan on having more team members in the near future (business development consultants to prospect wine producers and developers). Liam and his co-founders want to know what to expect and they should have in place for their growing company.
PRO MEMBERSHIP FOR
| Contracts (drafted by specialist lawyers) | 5 contracts |
| Drafts allowed per contract | 4 drafts |
| Type of communication | Digital + calls + in-person meetings |
| Priority of service | Over non-members and digital members |
| Speed of contract turnaround | 5 working days |
| Annual business review conference call | Included |
| Bonus legal advice | Unlimited |
| £7,500/year or £650/month |
“My businesses are successful and I want legal services in the long term” – Lynn, Founder of ConsciousDressToImpress.com.
Lynn is a serial entrepreneur who has founded 6 businesses and successfully exited 3 of them. Her sixth and last business is a sustainable fashion brand that retails exclusively online on her website, ConsciousDressToImpress.com.
Lynn is currently generating a stable £4 million a year of revenue and makes between £750,000 and £950,000 of net profit yearly. She really loves being able to bring sustainability and awareness to one of the most polluting and wasteful industries on the market, and now wants to stop building businesses to just focus on this one.
Unlike her previous businesses, Lynn does not want to sell. She wants to stay managing director for the foreseeable future, as ConsciousDressToImpress grants her a job she loves and stable, high income.
Lynn has used Linkilaw previously in her other businesses and loved the work they did for her. It was made easy, accessible, and affordable. She loves being a Linkilaw member because she feels the Linkilaw team is focused on the long-term and on maintaining an honest, professional and friendly relationship with her and her business. Amelie, her dedicated legal point of contact is also a fan of sustainable fashion and loves wearing ConsciousDressToImpress.
PRO MEMBERSHIP
| Contracts (drafted by specialist lawyers) | 6 contracts |
| Drafts allowed per contract | 3 drafts |
| Type of communication | Digital + calls |
| Priority of service | Over non-members and digital members |
| Speed of contract turnaround | 5 working days |
| Annual business review conference call | Included |
| Bonus legal advice | 30 minutes per contract |
| £9,000/year or £800/month |
“I want a check-up on my contracts and make sure everything is in place.” – Logan, Founder of InvestMap App
Logan created the InvestMap App 5 years ago with one of his long-term colleagues, Lauren. InvestMap is the tool for people who never invested and want to start. Via the app, the consumer learns about how to make wise and long-term beneficial choices; is invited to invest at the right time, and gets updated on the next gold mine.
Logan and Lauren already have a few consultants and their app has been adopted increasingly that it’s now difficult for them to manage their activity with their original team. They now want to implement more structure into InvestMap in order to get more staff and be able to get to the next level.
Logan comes to Linkilaw and expects to review the first contracts that have been drafted when he started his business and get more for his new coming employees. He is very keen on ticking boxes and making sure that InvestMap is secure as it goes on.
PRO MEMBERSHIP
| Contracts (drafted by specialist lawyers) | 9 contracts |
| Drafts allowed per contract | 1 draft |
| Type of communication | Digital + calls |
| Priority of service | Over non-members and digital members |
| Speed of contract turnaround | 7 working days |
| Annual business reivew conference call | Included |
| Bonus legal advice | 30 minutes per contract |
| £8,600/year or £750/month |
“At this stage, Move.In will need legal counsel.” – Leah, Founder and CEO of Move.In
It’s been 8 years since Leah created Move.In, selling kits for students moving to another city (including cutlery, first food, sanitary and emergency essentials). Leah started on her own the business but hired 41 employees during these couple of years. She has now 30 employees and operated over the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
With long-term partner contracts who feed her a stable stream of leads, Move.In has established itself as a leader in the market and currently generates over £3 million of yearly revenue. Its growth is also steady (5-10% a month).
Leah is looking for a legal advisor who will take on the role of in-house legal counsel, but without working full-time. She wants to work with someone who knows and understands her business and proposes the most commercially minded decisions. She doesn’t have the budget for full-time legal counsel, but would nevertheless like to have a lawyer she can reach whenever she wants.
Leah was looking for someone who had expertise in both commercial contracts – ensuring she created real win-win situations in her partnerships – and employment – managing employee onboarding documents such as offer letters, employment and option agreements, staff handbook. Leah now works with a dedicated Linkilaw lawyer and is delighted that she is able to work with a senior lawyer at a rate that is significantly under her budget.
PRO MEMBERSHIP
| Contracts (drafted by specialist lawyers) | 9 contracts |
| Drafts allowed per contract | 2 drafts |
| Type of communication | Digital + calls + meetings |
| Priority of service | Over non-members and digital members |
| Speed of contract turnaround | 7 working days |
| Annual business review conference call | Included |
| Bonus legal advice | 1 hour per contract |
| £12,800/year or £1,200/month |
“I want to get legal work sorted with a moderate budget.” – Lara, App developer
Lara is an app developer who created custom mobile applications for startups. She often works from her clients’ offices to get immediate feedback on her work. When she’s not working from a client’s office, she works from a co-working space or from a local cafe. Her accountant recently told her she should create a business entity for tax and liability purposes.
Lara’s business is already taking off, so she has a moderate budget to spend on getting her legal work sorted. She knows she wants to incorporate her business, write her own terms of business to use with clients (instead of just accepting the terms they provide her with), and make sure her new website has the documents it needs, but she’s not confident in her legal knowledge. She wants access to legal advice for all the small questions that pop-up day-to-day.
Lara loves working with Linkilaw because her dedicated legal point of contact, Gillian, is knowledgeable, responsive and friendly. She likes that Gillian knows and understands her business and long-term goals. The legal solutions Lara receives from Linkilaw are not only accurate, but they are also commercially-minded and thoroughly thought through.
Lara is grateful to have been introduced to Linkilaw by a friend and she now recommends the Linkilaw membership to her clients.
PRO MEMBERSHIP
| Contracts (drafted by specialist lawyers) | 3 contracts |
| Drafts allowed per contract | 5 drafts |
| Type of communication | Digital + calls |
| Priority of service | Over non-members and digital members |
| Speed of contract turnaround | 7 working days |
| Annual business review conference call | Included |
| Bonus legal advice | Unlimited |
| £4,000/year or £350/month |
