Start-up and Emerging Companies Practice
| Start-up Company Formations • Structuring Advice • Seed and Early-Stage Financings • Securities Law • Tax • Founders Agreements • FinTech, DeFi and Cryptocurrency Start-ups • Artificial Intelligence Start-ups • AgTech, Biotech, BioPharma, B2B, and B2G Start‑ups • Consumer Product Start-ups • Strategic and R&D Joint Ventures | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Schwartz LLC regularly advises start-up companies and their founders on the full life cycle of corporate and financial transactions, in a wide range of industries from traditional products to cutting-edge FinTech and AI (artificial intelligence) ventures. Our clients include start-ups in the United States and around the world, in some cases with founders located in multiple countries.
We assist start-up entrepreneurs in selecting an appropriate jurisdiction and type of entity, and then form the entity and assist our clients in preparing the legal structure of their company to begin operations, execute their growth strategy, and negotiate various types of financings, such as convertible notes, SAFEs (simple agreements for future equity), and preferred stock from Series Seed to private investor or institutional venture capital financings. |
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| Corporations and Limited Liability Companies – Delaware, Wyoming, Nevada, and other states |
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| Schwartz LLC has decades of experience in forming and structuring start-up companies. We help clients incorporate new corporations in Delaware as well as other states, and registering their company to do business in other states where the company will have a presence. When appropriate, we also assist clients in forming limited liability companies (LLCs) as start-up companies, or as holding vehicles for groups of founders or key employees.
Our firm handles the full range of start-up corporate and legal needs, including drafting corporate organizational documents, shareholder agreements, non-disclosure agreements, assignment of inventions agreements, employment agreements, and other legal documents. We work with outside specialists to provide other services in areas typically required by start-ups, such as registration of trademarks or patents. |
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| For most of our start-up clients, such as founder groups that include a financial backer or clients that are self-financed serial entrepreneurs, provide legal services through a traditional corporate law firm model, with services performed directly by our attorneys and team members. This model allows documents to be custom-tailored to a client’s particular circumstances. In many cases we are able to offer clients a fixed-fee start-up package that includes a range of key agreements personally prepared in-house by our attorneys and team members, with additional services billed on a traditional time-spent basis.
In other cases, such as smaller startup companies with limited anticipated needs and limited available funding, it sometimes makes sense for a client to engage tech-enabled platforms (such as Clerky, AngelList, Stripe Atlas, Carta, Pulley, Global Shares, Mosey, and similar services) that provide a package of services that include a combination of standardized forms of legal documents that traditionally would have been prepared by lawyers, as well as non-legal services traditionally performed by accountants or other non-legal professionals, such as bookkeeping, record-keeping, transfer agency, capitalization tables, and Section 409A valuations. |
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| For a limited number of qualifying start-up clients, we offer the option of incorporating using a technology-enabled bundled service through our relationship with Clerky.[1] In addition to incorporation, Clerky provides entrepreneurs access to a valuable suite of standardized legal documents and record keeping for corporate maintenance, capital stock, initial financings, employment agreements, basic commercial agreements, and more, in tandem with access to the professional advice of Schwartz LLC lawyers at preferential discounted hourly rates.[2] Tech-enabled start-up platforms such as Clerky have some attractive features and a lower cost than traditional legal services, but also have some limitations on customization. As a result, platforms such as Clerky may not be appropriate for all clients. You should discuss these issues with us before selecting this option.
We are also happy to explore working with clients that are using any other tech-enabled platforms. |
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| Operating and Regulatory Advice
Whether a start-up is selling or importing a food product, providing a novel financial service, or engaging in any other industry sector, there are often federal, state and foreign regulatory considerations or licensing requirements. Schwartz LLC can advise start-ups on the regulatory implications of their proposed business plan. |
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| Social Impact and Mission-Driven Start-ups
Our team is happy to work with clients setting up social impact ventures and is well versed in the unique considerations relevant to the operation and financing of these companies – including corporate entities and legal provisions specifically suited to social impact companies, and various types of certifications. |
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| International Holding Company Formations
In addition to forming start-up companies in the United States, we assist clients in organizing companies, limited partnerships, trusts and other entities in leading offshore jurisdictions, including:
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Together with specialist outside tax counsel, we are active in assisting clients on implementing ‘onshore’ holding company structures in leading holding company jurisdictions, including:
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| We also have the capability to form companies in domiciles typically used for holding commercial maritime assets, such as Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in addition to the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Knowledge and Experience
On each deal, our team brings to bear many years of combined experience in complex corporate and financial transactions as well as relationships with top law firms throughout the United States and in many countries throughout the world. In addition to our start-up and emerging companies practice, our firm has experience in a wide variety of other corporate and financial transactions. Schwartz LLC is also recognized for its established track record in private equity investments, private investment funds, and emerging markets. |
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Primary Contact:
[1] Requires purchase of the Clerky ‘Company Lifetime Package’.
[2] Clerky is a registered trademark of Clerky, Inc. We do not have any ownership interest in Clerky and do not receive any compensation from Clerky. Clerky is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Clerky’s services are subject to Clerky’s terms and conditions which you will be deemed to have accepted and instructed us to accept on your behalf if you select this option or otherwise elect to use Clerky’s services through our law firm.