How to Start a Startup

Starting a company is easy.

The hard part is the first ninety days.

That is when founders make decisions about entity structure, founder equity, fundraising, IP ownership, and governance — all while trying to build a product at startup speed.

Most founders trip over the same early issues.

Step One: Decide What You Are Actually Building

Before you form the entity, you need clarity on three things:

• The problem you are solving;
• The business model; and
• Whether you are building a venture-backed startup or a traditional business.

That distinction affects almost everything that follows.

A company planning to raise institutional capital will usually default to a Delaware C corporation because that is what investors expect.

An LLC may work well for a traditional business but often becomes inefficient for venture-backed fundraising.

Step Two: Put Founder Agreements on Paper

Many startups fail because founders avoid difficult conversations early.

Every startup should address:

• Equity ownership;
• Vesting schedules;
• Decision-making authority;
• IP assignment;
• Compensation expectations; and
• Exit scenarios.

Handshake agreements are cheap until they become litigation.

Step Three: Raise Capital Intentionally

Most startups raise money in stages.

That often looks like:

• Friends and family;
• Pre-seed;
• Seed;
• Series A; and beyond.

Each stage comes with different expectations around traction, metrics, valuation, and governance.

Founders should expect more than one financing round before the company becomes self-sustaining.

Step Four: Build an MVP and Get Market Feedback

Perfection is usually the wrong early strategy.

Most successful startups launch a minimum viable product quickly, collect feedback, and iterate.

The goal is not to launch flawlessly.

The goal is to learn faster than competitors.

Once users arrive, the legal work expands too:

• Terms of service;
• Privacy policies;
• Commercial agreements;
• Contractor agreements;
• IP protection; and
• Employment documentation.

Working with Triumph

Founders often wait too long to involve legal counsel and end up paying significantly more to clean up preventable problems later.

We work with startups from formation through exit and help founders structure early decisions with future fundraising in mind.

If you are about to form a startup, the first major legal decisions are usually the ones that matter most.