Lawyers for Startups
Startups are newly created companies with a technological base, led by entrepreneurs and individuals with an innovative and proactive profile. These startups emerge in a dynamic and highly demanding market that requires perfect adaptability to the environment.
After many years of experience with large companies, at Summons we have specialised in legal advice for entrepreneurs. We support startups from the earliest stages through potential investor entry via funding rounds, and even during divestment or exit. Our main differentiation as startup lawyers is our knowledge of the entrepreneurial ecosystem; a startup lawyer must understand the mindset of entrepreneurs and act with enough flexibility to generate business for the startup while considering the required legal security.
We are specialist startup lawyers in Madrid and throughout the national territory, with experience in each of the phases that these tech companies go through. As startup lawyers, we are in contact with the main incubators and accelerators, supporting entrepreneurs from the seed phase (or birth of the startup) to the exit (sale of the startup). We adapt legal documents for each stage of the startup’s life, accompanying the entrepreneur in negotiating shareholders’ agreements and achieving the best objectives in successive funding rounds.
If you have a great idea, are thinking of starting a business, or already have experience in the startup sector, as lawyers for entrepreneurs we can support and guide you from a legal perspective in your startup project. We offer legal advice for startups from the incorporation of the company to its possible sale to achieve maximum profitability.
Depending on the market and the startup itself, the phases that startups may go through are as follows: (i) seed: development of the idea; (ii) early stage: initial market interaction and metrics existence; (iii) growth: growth and sustainable scalability phase; (iv) expansion into new markets; (v) exit: sale of the startup or going public.
Yes. The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office has established an administrative procedure for the registration of any brand, which can be managed by Summons as the startup's lawyers. Brand registration involves submitting the application, formal analysis by the reference body, registration in the Official Industrial Property Bulletin, and substantive analysis of the brand.
In addition to the ordinary operation of the company (which can include various reserved matters), the shareholders' agreement of the startup should primarily regulate the conditions for investment and divestment of the partners. Entrepreneurs and founding partners of the startup need to secure their rights and expected returns, balancing them with the interests of investors.
Besides the usual means of financing a company, in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, depending on the startup’s phase, various investor agents can be found: private investors (seed), business angels, venture capital (growth), private equity, and the stock market.
As specialist startup lawyers, it’s important to note that what is protected is not the idea itself but its materialization (e.g., software development, logistics model, etc.). Nonetheless, there are various official registries like the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, where the registration of certain project elements should be evaluated by specialist startup and entrepreneur lawyers.
Yes, it is highly recommended. Whenever the project has more than one partner, besides the corporate bylaws, it is essential to draft and agree on a shareholders' agreement that regulates both the operation of the company and the conditions and organization of the partners.
At Summons, we recommend that all partners of the startup and the company itself adhere to this shareholders' agreement to make it binding among all parties.
