.svg)
For a lot of founders a formation tool is genuinely the right call. Here is where each one works, and where all of them stop.
Fast, cheap, and strong on the operational side: incorporation, EIN, and a bank account, including for founders with no US presence. Built to get a company existing and transacting quickly.
Built by lawyers for the venture path, and noticeably more careful about the paperwork: founder stock, 83(b) support, and documents that hold up when an investor reads them. Slower and more deliberate by design.
Judgement about your specific situation, plus documents that do not exist as templates. Costs more, and is worth it only when your circumstances actually need it.
We would rather tell you this than have you pay us for something you did not need.
These are the situations founders bring to us after using a tool. Not because the tool failed, but because none of them are template problems.
Milestone based trial vesting. Revenue gated equity tranches. Dual class shares. Credit for work done before incorporation. There is no dropdown for any of it.
IP assignment that has to reach through a foreign entity, vesting that accounts for immigration risk, and treaty questions. Tools assume US founders.
Patents, existing code, an earlier company, a prior employer with a claim. Chain of title is a legal judgement, not a form field.
Missed 83(b) windows, unsigned consents, a cap table that does not tie out, a co-founder who left without paperwork. Tools create records. They do not fix them.
The honest summary: a tool plus a missed 83(b) election costs far more than a lawyer. A tool plus a clean, simple setup costs far less. The variable is your situation, not the provider.
We already incorporated through a tool. Do we have to start again?
+
Almost never. It is normally a cleanup: issue stock properly, get IP assigned, produce the consents nobody signed, and check whether the 83(b) window is still open.
Will investors care which one we used?
+
They care about the documents, not the logo on them. Clean paperwork from a tool is fine. Missing paperwork from a law firm is not.
Can we use a tool and a lawyer?
+
Yes, and plenty of founders do. Incorporate with a tool, then have the founder equity, IP and anything unusual handled properly. We are happy to work that way.
What is the single most common mistake you see?
+
Unfiled 83(b) elections, by a wide margin. The tool prepares it, the founder means to send it, the 30 days pass. There is no remedy.
Tell us how many founders you have, where they sit, and whether anything is being contributed to the company. If a tool is enough, we will say so.
Book an intro call