Early-Stage Founders

Start right. Scale clean.

Free founders agreement generator and ESOP vesting calculator — for Indian pre-seed and seed-stage founders. Built to survive Series A diligence.

Generate a Founders Agreement Talk to a Startup Lawyer

Four founder mistakes that kill the Series A

Founders who never wrote it down

WhatsApp commitments on equity, roles and vesting. Eighteen months later, one co-founder disengages and walks with 33% of the company. Preventable, but only with paper at day one.

Vesting as a ‘Series A problem’

Every institutional term sheet demands founder vesting. Retrofitting vesting after a term sheet is where term sheets die. Get four-year + one-year-cliff locked on day one.

IP that sits with individual founders

The Copyright Act, 1957 and the Patents Act, 1970 treat the creator as the first owner. Without a written assignment, every line of code, logo or spec sits with the founder, not the company.

ESOP pools set up wrong

ESOPs issued under Section 62(1)(b) require a Board-approved scheme, ESOP pool sizing, valuation and grant letters. Most pre-seed founders discover this at the first institutional round.

Tools for you

Two free tools for Indian founders

Founders Agreement Generator

Four-founder ready. Vesting, IP assignment, roles, decision rights, exit, reverse vesting and arbitration — aligned to the Companies Act, 2013 and the Indian Contract Act.

Use free

ESOP Vesting Calculator

Four-year monthly vesting with one-year cliff, or custom schedules. Compute unvested, cliff-unmet and tax-liability-at-exercise per grant.

Use free

Guides every Indian founder should read

Legal 101

Legal 101 for Pre-Seed Founders in India

The 12 legal foundations every pre-seed founder in India must get right before they spend a rupee on growth.

Read the guide
ESOPs

ESOP Grants, Vesting and Cliffs in Indian Startups

Pool sizing, grant letter drafting, acceleration mechanics, tax on exercise and sale — a founder’s full ESOP playbook.

Read the guide
Fundraising

Term Sheet Red Flags Founders Should Walk Away From

Liquidation preference stacking, founder lockups, drag-along, anti-dilution — the clauses worth a ‘no’.

Read the guide
IP

IP Protection for Bootstrapped Founders in India

Trademarks, copyright, patents and trade secrets — cheap, essential, and often missed.

Read the guide

Founder-law updates in your inbox

Weekly briefing on SHA/SSA, DPDP, employment codes, term-sheet trends and ESOP updates — for Indian founders.

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Frequently asked questions

The questions founders bring us before cap-table day.

Before a single share is issued and before the first employee joins. The founders’ agreement is the most important document in the life of the company, covering equity split, vesting, IP, roles, and exit.

Series-A-ready from day one.

Generate a founders agreement, compute vesting, and stay out of diligence hell.

Generate a Founders Agreement Talk to a lawyer