Technology & Startup Law
Lawyers at Relevant Law offices work with startups and established technology companies, including software, SaaS, AI, and tech-enabled businesses. Practical counsel for contracts, IP, financing, governance, and growth.
The Practice
A passion for technology starts with an interest in the people building it, the problems they are solving, and the businesses they want to grow. From a first product to an established platform, legal counsel should reflect how the company operates, earns revenue, and plans for the future.
Lawyers in this practice handle the transactional and business-side work that keeps a technology company clean as it grows. Forming the entity, building a cap table that holds up under diligence, protecting the IP, papering the commercial contracts, and structuring the financing and M&A that move the company forward. The work is practical and commercial, built around the lifecycle of a real technology company.
The goal is to understand the implications of each decision and put clear agreements in place, with counsel available as new questions arise.
Why It Matters
Equity promised loosely, founders without vesting, and missed paperwork all compound. A cap table that accurately records ownership helps investors and founders evaluate a proposed financing.
For a software or AI company, the code, the models, the trademarks, and the trade secrets are the asset. If inventions are not properly assigned and IP is not protected, the thing being valued may not actually belong to the company.
AI, data privacy, and platform regulation are shifting quickly. Building reasonable compliance into contracts and policies now keeps a company from inheriting problems as the rules harden.
Term sheets can carry signing windows, and acquirers expect organized diligence. Knowing which documents are ready and which terms need attention helps founders negotiate deliberately.
Investor term sheets, vendor agreements, and acquisition drafts arrive written to protect the party who sent them. A careful review surfaces the terms worth negotiating before a founder signs.
A broad assignment in a vendor contract, a missed 83(b) election deadline, or an unusual liquidation preference can shape decisions for years. Careful review helps clarify the consequences before commitments are made.
Services
Nine service areas covering the transactional and business-side legal work most relevant to technology companies, AI and software startups, and the founders and investors behind them. Engagements are scoped to the matter, ongoing counsel is available for companies through their full lifecycle.
How a company is formed shapes everything that follows. Lawyers form the entity, structure the founder equity with vesting, set up the governance documents, and build a foundation that holds up when investors and acquirers start looking closely.
Accurate equity records matter when a company raises capital or considers a sale. Lawyers help structure equity, document issuances, and review the cap table with the next transaction in mind.
For a software or AI company, the IP is the value. Lawyers handle invention assignment, trademark protection, trade secret practices, licensing terms, and open source policy so the thing being built actually belongs to the company.
Whether the round is a SAFE, a convertible note, or a priced equity round, the documents set the terms of the relationship with investors. Lawyers draft and review financing documents and the investor rights that come with them, on the company's side.
Equity is how startups hire and retain. Lawyers structure the option pool, draft the plan and grant documents, and guide the timing decisions, including 83(b) elections, so the compensation works for the company and the team.
Revenue runs on contracts. Lawyers draft and review the customer agreements, terms of service, vendor contracts, and data terms that govern how a technology company sells, buys, and handles information.
Co-founder relationships work when the terms are clear. Lawyers paper the founder agreements, define roles and equity splits, and set up the governance and board structure that keeps decision-making clean as the company grows.
Hiring brings legal structure with it. Lawyers draft offer letters, employment and contractor agreements, confidentiality and IP assignment terms, and the policies that keep a growing team on solid footing.
An exit or an acquisition is the moment everything is tested. Lawyers handle buy-side and sell-side transactions, diligence preparation, deal structuring, and the documents that get a software or AI company across the finish line.
Who We Work With
Model and data terms, IP protection, commercial contracts, and the financing and governance structure that supports a company building on machine learning.
Subscription agreements, terms of service, vendor contracts, and the formation, equity, and financing work behind a growing software business.
Licensing and open source policy, commercial agreements, IP assignment, and the foundational documents infrastructure companies need to scale cleanly.
Commercial contracts, data and confidentiality terms, entity structuring, and financing documents for companies building in and around financial services.
Customer and vendor agreements, IP protection, equity and governance, and the M&A counsel that enterprise software companies rely on through growth.
Clean cap tables, financing documents, equity compensation, and the diligence-ready structure that keeps a venture-backed company fundable round after round.
How It Works
An engagement may begin with a contract or transaction. Further counsel depends on your needs and the agreed scope.
01
The initial conversation establishes your goals and the documents at issue. Legal advice begins with an engagement and review by a lawyer.
45-60 minutes
02
Lawyers review or draft the documents within the engagement, with clear recommendations on the terms worth negotiating.
3-7 business days
03
Lawyers handle the back-and-forth with investor or counterparty counsel, or sit beside you while you negotiate. You keep the relationship; the lawyer holds the legal line.
Varies by deal
04
Final review, signature, and the entity, equity, and registration filings the transaction requires. Documents land in your MyRelevant portal.
1-3 business days
05
Most technology clients come back. Lawyers stay on call for the next financing, the new hire, the commercial deal that needs review, and the acquisition down the road.
Ongoing
Client Portal
MyRelevant is the client portal for managing the legal side of a technology company. Documents in one place, renewal alerts before contract and option terms lapse, direct messaging with your lawyer, and the audit trail every founder eventually wishes they had.
Every financing document, commercial contract, and equity grant in one place. Searchable, dated, and accessible from anywhere.
Automatic alerts before contracts auto-renew, option exercise windows close, or filing deadlines arrive.
Share a contract for review within the scope of your engagement and discuss the terms that need attention.
Financing documents, IP assignments, and sensitive correspondence stored with the security a growing company requires.
Message your lawyer directly through the portal — direct answers without waiting on callbacks.
Active financings, pending signatures, and completed transactions tracked in one view.
Frequently Asked
Formation, founder equity, vesting, and IP assignment deserve attention early. Clear records and agreements help founders understand their obligations before a financing or acquisition.
It depends on the founders, the equity promised so far, and the financing path ahead. Lawyers structure founder equity with vesting, document every issuance, and keep the cap table organized so the next round and the eventual exit hold up under diligence.
Yes, on the company's side. Term sheets set valuation, liquidation preferences, board composition, and investor rights. These are drafted to protect the investor, and a careful review surfaces what's worth negotiating before you sign.
The essentials are invention assignment from every founder, employee, and contractor, trademark protection for the brand, sound trade secret practices, and a clear open source policy. Together these keep the IP actually owned by the company.
Yes. Lawyers draft and review SAFEs, convertible notes, and priced equity rounds, along with the investor rights and side letters that come with them, all on the company's side of the table.
Lawyers structure the option pool, draft the equity plan and grant documents, and guide timing decisions including 83(b) elections. The filing windows are short, so it helps to handle this correctly from the start.
Yes. Lawyers handle buy-side and sell-side M&A, diligence preparation, deal structuring, and the purchase agreements involved in a transaction, all on the transactional and business side.
Related Services
Next Steps
Schedule a confidential consultation with the Client Intake Team to discuss your goals and the documents involved. Legal recommendations follow a lawyer's review during an engagement.
State Disclosures
Virginia: Legal services in Virginia are provided by independently owned and operated Virginia law firms doing business as Relevant Law. The responsible licensed Virginia lawyer and office address for each Virginia location are listed on that location's office page.
Washington: The Supreme Court of Washington does not recognize specialties in the practice of law, and no representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.
Relevant Law offices are independently owned and operated by licensed attorneys.