

Ask HN: How much did it cost to setup the legal foundations for your startup? - yoseph

Our startup is based in Toronto, Canada. We're looking at getting our legal foundations put in place and want to gauge how much that might cost.<p>By legal foundations, we mean items like a shareholders' agreement, sorting out IP rights, etc.
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emreas
Our total costs for all the initial docs from Silicon Valley lawyers were
$2,000. I have seen costs range from $2,000 up to $15,000 (the higher range
was usually because fees were deferred until fundraising or more IP was
involved).

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erohead
Waterloo, Ontario startup chiming in.

Incorporated for $200(ish) online with Industry Canada. Very simple process.
To do our term sheet/NDA/employment agreements we turned to James Smith from
Labarge Weinstein (Ottawa). Excellent startup lawyer who travels all over
Canada. No upfront costs for the minor paperwork, he's into building longterm
relationships.

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Gibbon
I have no affiliation with this site, or any experience with their services,
but Pinsky Law in Toronto is offering several promotions for startups right
now: <http://www.pinskylaw.ca/News/startup_legal_package.htm> there are
several more promotions for trademarks, IP etc.

Also take a look through their site, lots of information there for you.

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rachnaspace
Incorporation in US would cost between $200 - $400.

The other stuff you mentioned come under Formation Services package (fixed
fee) offered by most startup law firms - the fee for this generally ranges
between $3K - $5K. And you can negotiate to defer this fee with most of the
law firms, until one of these triggers occur - funding, or revenue, or exit.

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simonk
Vancouver here.

$15,000 - incorporation, shareholders agreement, minor angel investment, and
employment agreements.

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babeKnuth
anyone know of the main differences between setting up in the usa vs canada?
is it better to set up in one or the other (if you're coming from the canadian
side)?

anyone set up shop in both?

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arpan888
ours was about 2K. although, they overbilled us at nearly 3K so make sure you
get estimates in writing.

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phlux
Orrick offers startups a package that costs nothing until they raise 500K+ in
funding, and then they take their fee.

