

Ask HN: What Tech Startup Law Book can you recommend? - andreshb

What books do you recommend that go in depth into Startup Law specifically for tech?<p>So far, I have found: 
Lifecycle of a Technology Company: Step-by-Step Legal Background and Practical Guide from Startup to Sale<p>http://www.amazon.com/Lifecycle-Technology-Company-Step-Step/dp/0470223928
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grellas
This is an area in which I have been interested, both as a startup law
practitioner and as someone who has thought about doing my own entry in this
field (I have toyed with the beginnings of this on my firm's website with a
"Startup Law 101 Series").

Here are a few of the good resources in this area:

1\. The Miller book mentioned in OP ( _Lifecycle of a Technology Company_ ) is
actually quite good, with a strong focus on Delaware law. This work had its
genesis in a multi-volume work prepared by lawyers at Morse, Barnes-Brown &
Pendleton, PC, a prominent Massachusetts firm. As written originally by
multiple lawyers, it was accurate, in-depth, and pedantic. When repackaged for
Wiley as the _Lifecycle_ book, it was much streamlined and became eminently
more readable. Lots of good detail here - very helpful for entrepreneurs.

2\. Constance Bagley and Craig Dauchey, _The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business
Law_ \- Ms. Bagley is a former Bingham McCutchen partner who went on to gain
distinction at Harvard Business School. Mr. Dauchey is a partner at Cooley
Godward in Palo Alto and a veteran startup lawyer. This work is also done with
excellence and covers the range of issues faced by a typical "emerging
company," including most of the basic IP issues faced by a tech company.

3\. Jack S. Levin and Martin Ginsburg, _Structuring Venture Capital, Private
Equity and Entrepreneurial Transactions_ is by far the best technical
treatment of the corporate startup issues - written for lawyers, it is a
highly readable resource for the intelligent layman and Jack Levin (of
Kirkland & Ellis) is nothing short of a genius in his field. If you want to
dig deep into how deals and company structures work (including superb
treatment of tax issues, which are quite important in this field), this is by
far the best resource extant.

4\. Joseph Bartlett, _Fundamentals of Venture Capital_ is a book with a
slightly misleading title owing to marketing reasons. The book was originally
put out by Mr. Bartlett (lately of Morrison & Foerster) in the late 1980s with
a fuller treatment of the broad range of startup issues but later shortened to
its current format - while dealing with venture capital, it gives a very
concise and helpful rundown of the range of legal issues faced by every
startup, with excellent overviews of the key issues.

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andreshb
Thank you very very very much, excellent synopsis and reviews. I think Ill
start with 1 and 3 first.

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daleharvey
smarter ventures was a good introduction into the company creation / funding
process, from a legal perspective.

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smarter-Ventures-Survivors-
Venture-C...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smarter-Ventures-Survivors-Venture-
Capital/dp/0273654039)

