11–20 of 33 posts
In my experience, a good lawyer will truly impress you with his ability to think through a problem, but might surprise you with his ultimate conclusion. Virtually any risk makes him hesitant, irrespective of the potential return for taking that risk.
Lawyers don't know the first thing about running startups but a good startup lawyer will be able to think strategically right along with the founders - that is, will give advice, not in a ham-handed way that focuses purely on legal risks but rather in a way that in itself helps put those risks in perspective for the founding team so that they can see at a glance what the likelihood and potential severity of each is a…
Just like an insurance policy, the real test is when you have to make a claim. That's when you might be grateful for some of the terms. Having said that, I think the way Steve describes it is great. Basically, make sure that the strategy points are identified and dealt with by the management team, not the legal team.
Barack Obama ran a very startup-esque campaign, tech development, social media strategy, wired twenty-somethings and all.
It's weird. If you look at a lot of startups ("startups"?) in Germany & Austria, you'll find people with a law background among the founders. I haven't yet figured out why this is the case.
The point is that both lawyers and clients should understand their roles. The lawyer's primary job is to explain to the client the legal consequences of a given course of action. Preferably, the lawyer will have the clients non-legal interests in mind that the same time, so that they can have an intelligent discussion about weighing the risks and benefits of a given course of action. Correspondingly, clients should u…