Legal Structuring Solutions for SaaS & Marketplace Startups
A proper legal structure of your SaaS / Marketplace Startup helps you to raise investments and avoid dealbreakers when working with clients.
Book a personalized demo to discover your legal structuring options.
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Your startup needs a legal structure to secure new clients and investors.
Don't let the wrong legal structure be the dealbreaker. Make sure your startup has the best legal structure in place.
These are the friendliest countries for SaaS & Marketplace startups
Legal Roadmap for SaaS & Marketplace Startups
The Incorporation stage covers legal works that are required to assist with hiring team members, paying salaries, renting office spaces, and creating IP assets.
It also includes Cap Table analysis which helps to define the best corporate structure (HoldingCo & OperatingCo) and the most suitable jurisdictions for it.
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The Operations stage helps startup founders to acquire users for their tech products, sign documents with B2B clients, and engage partners.
It also helps to retain employees by creating a share option scheme and ensuring that the company doesn't violate any financial or data protection regulations.
The Fundraising & Growth stage helps founders to attract financing from angel investors and VCs by setting up classes for shares, forming a board of directors, and defining other important investment terms.
It also helps founders to avoid the risk of losing control over the company and helps them to prepare a proper exit strategy that meets investors' preferences.
How it works
Figure out your next legal steps. Get answers to critical questions with help from legal experts.
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Get started on your legal tasks. Set up your global business with help from a team of legal, tax, accounting, and compliance experts.
Get ongoing legal support as your business grows. Legal Nodes will be by your side to ensure your business remains compliant and future-proof.
We take the complexity and confusion out of legal structuring for venture-backed startups
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Tap into a network of legal experts who’ve helped many businesses:
Legal Nodes helped us when we needed legal support the most. We were looking for a legal team willing to jump on the project from day one and be dedicated to the project for a long time.
I was impressed with the professionalism of lawyers who knew the ins and outs of venture deals and were able to predict all the issues we needed to resolve.
We're glad we've partnered with Legal Nodes to help us with the due diligence. The lawyers from a virtual team acted quickly and were on top of everything we needed to achieve in the process.
Legal Nodes helped us when we needed legal support the most. We were looking for a legal team willing to jump on the project from day one and be dedicated to the project for a long time.
I was impressed with the professionalism of lawyers who knew the ins and outs of venture deals and were able to predict all the issues we needed to resolve.
We're glad we've partnered with Legal Nodes to help us with the due diligence. The lawyers from a virtual team acted quickly and were on top of everything we needed to achieve in the process.
Learn how we've helped Finmap team to kickstart their Legal structuring for their startup and prepare for fundraising.
FAQ
The best legal structure for a startup will be one that takes into consideration all four limbs of the business (clients, investors, employees, and core business needs) and also thoroughly prepare the business to pass each stage with flying colours; from registration, through to operations, and finally to fundraising and growth.
Legal structures that consider only one stage at a time (for example, are only focused on registration) and don’t take steps according to a long-term roadmap with fundraising or growth as a key goal, will often create more difficulties for startups in the future. Additionally, legal startups that omit to cater for their employees needs (for example, setting up an operating company in a country that is a preferable and legally viable option for your core employees, could create barriers that prevent your team from working.
In order for your startup to raise venture capital, several key legal requirements need to be satisfied. First, your company should be registered in a jurisdiction that is friendly to investors, customers, and your employees. Investors will want to see a legal structure that has a solid foundation and that addresses issues that arise through each of the three stages of business; registration, operations, and growth.
Investors will look for a captable that isn’t “broken”, along with a certificate of incorporation and Articles of Association or equivalent. They will want to see agreements between founders and shareholders and agreements pertaining to share option plans.
Once they are satisfied that all of the requirements for incorporation are met, investors will assess the operational side of the business; are there appropriate agreements in place concerning licensing, contractors, partners, employees, and suppliers? Are privacy laws met, and is there protection in place for IP assets?
Finally, investors will investigate whether your startup is ready for investment. Are there stock purchase or share subscription agreements in place? What kind of corporate documents govern these matters? Are there convertible loans or SAFEs, and what kind of shareholder agreements are in place?
If these questions cannot be answered to the satisfaction of your investors, then it's possible that your legal structure is lacking in some areas.
Avoid going with gut feelings or friendly founder advice, instead think about the needs of your investors, your clients, your employees, and your business. The best jurisdiction isn’t always the most popular or the most obvious. Different countries will be appealing for different reasons; Estonia can provide e-residency, the UK offers plenty of friendly e-banking options, and many different EU countries will assist with virtual office solutions. Speak to a member of the Legal Nodes team to begin the process of assessing which is the best jurisdiction for your startup.