Tailored legal support for emerging companies
Insights|October 16, 2024
Roschier’s multidisciplinary Emerging Companies practice specializes in advice to emerging companies that are looking into expanding or are experiencing a growth spell. The practice aims to meet all legal advisory needs of emerging and growth companies, with a particular emphasis on tech companies across industry sectors, and with intellectual property as one of the core assets.
In addition to billable legal advisory, the Roschier Emerging Companies team has a long tradition of working pro bono, focusing especially on entrepreneurship and innovation.
Recently, Roschier has partnered with SILTA, a non-profit initiative supporting early-stage startups by providing a valuable network for growth to promote entrepreneurship. As part of the SILTA program, selected startup entrepreneurs spend nearly half a year developing their companies, including a three-month period in San Francisco. In preparation for the journey to San Francisco, the entrepreneurs participated in customized legal training at Roschier office. The training covered all legal essentials, including the following:
- Intellectual property: Intellectual property (IP) forms the core asset of emerging companies aiming at securing competitive advantage and freedom to operate. In addition to IP registrations, emerging companies should focus on IP strategy and planning at an early stage as well as consider how to protect non-registered IP assets, such as know-how and trade secrets.
- Equity financing: Equity financing is essential for early-stage companies to raise capital by selling shares. By understanding the related legal aspects, structuring deals appropriately, and planning exit strategies, companies can successfully navigate the equity financing process.
- Commercial agreements: For emerging companies, mastering the legal essentials in commercial agreements is vital to protect their interests and ensure smooth operations, but also to secure financing and profitability. Companies should also develop negotiation strategies helping to secure favorable terms. This includes understanding the other party’s priorities, being ready to compromise, and knowing own non-negotiables.
- Taxation: Tax considerations include choosing the right business structure, registering for tax IDs, understanding payroll taxes, taking advantage of deductions and credits, and ensuring compliance with sales tax regulations.
- Employment: Entrepreneurs should not only consider and define their own role, but plan on onboarding employees to their company. When employing talent, the entrepreneurs should focus on securing the generated IP to the company and deciding when and how to use non-compete and non-disclosure agreements to protect business interests.
You can find more information about the SILTA program and the cooperation with Roschier here and here.
Interested in meeting the Roschier team: We will be attending the annual Slush event in Helsinki, Finland on 20-21 November 2024. Red more about the event here.