Founder agreements, equity, SAFE notes and startup financing documents
What this page covers
This section brings together pages on founder agreements, startup equity, SAFE notes, convertible notes, and related financing documents for U.S. startups.
It is designed for situations where a financing round, investor review, or internal founder issue affects multiple documents at once, including equity records, IP ownership, and core company agreements.
Use the pages below to explore narrower topics on cofounder arrangements, startup financing instruments, corporate housekeeping, due diligence preparation, and operating agreements such as API, data processing, and service level terms.
What to choose
- Choose founder and cofounder topics if you need help with roles, ownership expectations, founder agreements, or founder disputes within a startup.
- Choose SAFE, convertible note, and startup equity topics if you are reviewing conversion issues, dilution, ownership outcomes, or financing documents before a priced round.
- Choose contract and data topics if your issue involves API terms, data processing, subprocessors, cybersecurity, master services agreements, or service level commitments.
Where to go next
The pages below break this area into more specific startup legal topics, including founder agreements, founder disputes, equity, SAFEs, convertible notes, and financing document review.
They also cover related operating documents that often matter before investor review, such as data processing terms, API agreements, subprocessor terms, master services agreements, and service level agreements.
What matters
- Before investor due diligence, startups often need to organize corporate records, consents, equity documents, option grants, and IP ownership files.
- Outstanding SAFEs and convertible notes can raise practical questions about conversion, post-conversion ownership, dilution, and inconsistent terms across older instruments.
- Seed and financing preparation often involves several linked workstreams at once, including entity matters, equity, IP, investor documentation, and cleanup of key commercial contracts.