

Ask PG: Can you paste paperwork used to get YC startups incorporated? - newbcoder

I'm in CA, and about to form a corporation. I've read lots of conflicting things on the web. I was going to pay to talk to a lawyer. Then it hit me, YC does this all the time, numerous times a year. They must have this process highly optimized.<p>Can you share the documents you use to get YC startups incorporated, along with administrative info (things like: pay franchise tax every year) that needs to be covered?<p>Thanks!
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pg
Good idea. We should do something like this. I can't do it, though. Jessica is
the one who does all this stuff. Maybe she'll post something. But if she does
it won't be soon, because she is busy now getting this summer's startups set
up.

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sachinag
It's be great if you could. I just talked to Yokum this past Friday and he
conceded that these docs aren't out there: [http://www.sachinagarwal.com/how-
to-legally-incorporate-your...](http://www.sachinagarwal.com/how-to-legally-
incorporate-your-startup-quick)

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luckystrike
One useful resource: (Just in case, if you have not seen it before.)

<http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/>

Some previous related discussions here:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41308>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37112>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=244009>

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alain94040
The trick with incorporation is not the formation of the company as seen by
the secretary of state's office. As a previous poster pointed out, that's a
standard form with nothing that will make or break your startup.

What matters initially is the founder agreement structure. Later on, the terms
of the first round of funding.

YC and TheFunded.com already put out there terms for funding and terms for
founders. I believe with license to use on your own startup.

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vaksel
I dunno how it is in CA, but here you just fill out a simple form on the state
website to incorporate. I don't think pg posting the YC info will help you
very much, since its very basic stuff like name and address.

The administrative things, you don't really need YC specific info either, just
ask one of many CA based startups on here.

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agmiklas
What I'd appreciate seeing is the YC shareholder's agreement. It will be time
for us to incorporate soon, but we've been putting it off because we don't
know how to handle setting up things like a dispute resolution mechanism,
vesting, terms in case one of the founders wants to sell to a third-party,
etc.

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tewks
YC isn't a charity. They compete in a marketplace like any other business. Any
optimization you speak of is a competitive advantage. Why would they comply
with your request?

Somewhat relevant:

[http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/23/adeo-ressi-fights-
atroc...](http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/23/adeo-ressi-fights-atrocities-
of-investors-with-new-class-of-founder-stock/)

~~~
newbcoder
What do I have to lose by asking?

~~~
tewks
I never implied that you had anything to lose; I think it's an interesting
question.

I asked, "why would they comply with your request" because I was interested if
you thought it made sense for them to do so.

I suppose it comes down to whether they gain more through such a release via
others contributing back and improving the process, paperwork, etc. while
keeping in mind the insight and potential efficiencies provided to competitors
in doing so.

Has anyone tried an open source/creative commons type licensing and repository
for standard legal documents? Does such a thing exist?

~~~
luckystrike
Series AA Equity Financing Documents have been open sourced by Y Combinator.

<http://www.ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html>

