The Top 10 Online Legal Tools Every Startup Needs
Starting a business can be an exciting yet daunting task. Between developing your product or service, building a customer base, hiring employees, and securing funding, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. However, having the right legal protections and documents in place is essential in those early startup days.
Searching online reveals an endless array of legal services and tools for businesses. But how do you know which ones are really necessary versus a waste of precious time and money during the bootstrap phase?
As a startup founder turned business writer, I’ve experimented with many different online legal services over the years. In this post, I’ll share the top 10 essential online legal tools I believe every startup needs right from the beginning. Some help you build the strong legal foundation every successful business requires. Others provide valuable protections as your company grows.
Why Online Legal Tools?
But first, why go with online legal tools versus hiring a traditional business lawyer? For bootstrapped startups, online services provide several key advantages:
- Cost savings – Hiring a lawyer can cost thousands. Online tools offer similar services for a fraction of the price.
- Efficiency – Most online legal platforms let you generate customized documents with ease. No need to schedule appointments or wait days for a lawyer to draft agreements.
- Convenience – Online tools allow you to handle legal tasks anytime, anywhere through a computer or mobile app. No need to commute to a law office during business hours.
Now let’s explore the top 10 online legal services I believe every startup should utilize right out of the gate.
1. Stripe Atlas – Easily Create Your Business Entity
The first order of business when starting a company is formally establishing your business structure and entity. Will you be a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, LLC, or other entity type?
Stripe Atlas makes choosing and forming your business entity fast, easy, and affordable. The web-based service guides you through picking your structure, naming your business, and filing the proper paperwork in just minutes.
Atlas covers all state filing fees and even provides useful tips for setting up business banking and payroll accounts. Pricing starts at $200, a fraction of what it typically costs to hire a lawyer for these services.
2. LegalZoom – Prepare Your Business Formation Documents
Another excellent option for creating your official business entity is LegalZoom. Like Stripe Atlas, you answer a few questions about your envisioned company and LegalZoom generates customized entity formation documents.
However, LegalZoom also lets you create company bylaws, resolutions, and other useful formation documents. An LLC formation package costs around $79 plus state fees. LegalZoom also provides helpful education on choosing the right entity type and common legal pitfalls to avoid.
3. Shake – Create Legally Binding Agreements
Once your business structure is defined, you may need to create legal agreements with business partners, employees, contractors, suppliers, customers, and others. Shake makes crafting customized, legally binding agreements simple and inexpensive.
With Shake, you choose a template agreement, answer a few questions about the specifics, and receive a comprehensive, professional contract within minutes. No legal expertise is required!
Shake offers partnership, contractor, vendor, customer, and other common business agreements starting at $39. Well worth it to quickly gain protection and peace of mind when entering new business relationships.
4. Upcounsel – Get Expert Legal Advice
Sometimes, you need personalized advice from an attorney when making major business decisions. However, typical lawyer fees can bust startup budgets.
Upcounsel bridges this gap by connecting businesses to experienced, vetted lawyers for on-demand legal guidance. You post the specifics of your legal question or situation and attorneys respond with their advice and price to assist you.
I’ve used Upcounsel several times over the years for help on issues like trademark disputes, business insurance, and lease agreements. Their network makes tapping legal knowledge affordable, fast, and easy for startups.
5. Copyright.gov – Secure Your Intellectual Property
If your startup involves any written, visual, or other creative work, it’s essential to protect that valuable intellectual property (IP). The best way is to officially register your IP with the U.S. Copyright Office.
Their online registration portal makes the process fast and straightforward. You describe what IP you want to register, upload any relevant documents or images, pay the $55 registration fee, and you receive a formal copyright registration certificate.
This establishes you as the creator and owner of original IP assets like logos, articles, videos, and software code. Having registered copyrights helps you pursue infringement and gives your startup valuable legal protection.
6. Trademarkia – Trademark Your Business Assets
Similar to copyrights, securing trademark protection is key for any original names, logos, taglines, and branding your startup develops. Trademarkia offers a full-service online trademark registration process, from researching availability to filing your application.
Their DIY trademark search lets you easily determine if your envisioned business name or mark is taken. Filing your own trademark application costs $199, or you can hire Trademarkia’s licensed attorneys for assistance.
Having an officially registered trademark prevents others from stealing or profiting from your intellectual property. Trademarking key assets can help build trust in your brand and protect its value.
7. Priori Legal – Access On-Call Legal Experts
As your business grows, you may need fast legal help responding to things like customer disputes, vendor agreements, or HR issues. Hiring a full-time general counsel is a major expense.
Priori Legal offers an affordable alternative with their subscription-based access to a team of attorneys. For as little as $95 per month, you can quickly tap experts via phone and email for unlimited legal guidance.
It’s like having knowledgeable lawyers on-demand without costly retainers or hourly fees. Priori also offers more extensive plans with contract reviews, document drafting, and standard operating procedure creation if needed.
8. LawTrades – Find Specialized Legal Talent
Eventually, your startup may require more hands-on help from a lawyer with expertise in specialized areas like patents, taxes, or immigration.
LawTrades makes hiring specialized legal talent easy and flexible. Their platform allows you to post your specific legal project or needs and receive bids from pre-vetted, experienced attorneys. Plus, billing options like fixed fees or hourly consulting prevent surprise costs.
I used LawTrades to hire a legal drafting expert when I needed assistance creating HIPAA-compliant policies for my healthcare technology startup. The experience was quick, affordable, and fruitful.
9. Termly – Generate Privacy Policies
Speaking of healthcare startups, any business that gathers user data needs an airtight privacy policy to ensure legal and ethical data handling.
Rather than trying to write one yourself, use Termly’s privacy policy generator. Their user-friendly questionnaire about how your startup collects and uses data automatically creates a customized privacy policy document you can post on your website.
Having a policy like this published lets customers know you take privacy seriously while protecting your company from potential legal issues. Termly’s generator makes the whole process fast, automated, and secure. Pricing starts at just $499 per year.
10. CoverWallet – Get Business Insurance
Finally, once your startup is up and running, it’s crucial to get the right insurance coverage to protect you from potential liabilities. CoverWallet is a great online resource that makes understanding and shopping for business insurance simple.
You answer a few quick questions about your company’s operations. CoverWallet then recommends the specific types and levels of insurance policies you likely need. You can easily compare quotes from top insurers to find affordable coverage that fits your budget and risks.
Their platform helps you get general liability, professional insurance, cyber insurance, and other critical protections so you can focus on building your business with added peace of mind.
Don’t Go Bare – Use Legal Tools!
Trying to handle all your startup’s legal and compliance needs yourself may seem daunting. But as you can see, there are now many easy-to-use online legal tools and services to fit a lean startup’s budget.
Rather than winging it or hiring expensive lawyers, utilize modern platforms to quickly gain proper business formation, IP protection, agreements, policies, insurance, and legal advice tailored to your unique needs.
Having these fundamental legal protections and documents in place from the start helps set your new business up for success. The last thing you want is to neglect key legal bases early on, only to encounter headaches or threats down the road.
So don’t leave your startup bare and vulnerable! Use these handy online legal resources to give your exciting new venture the coverage it requires as you work hard to make it thrive. Here’s to legal preparedness providing peace of mind so you can focus on growth. Just don’t forget to trademark my wisdom 😉
