4 ms·

Y Combinator To Offer Standardized Angel Funding Legal Docs

156 points by danielrhodes 18y ago

theklub 18y ago
This is great, thanks!
mattmaroon 18y ago
We used a version of these (though had to edit them some) in our recent funding round, and I can't even imagine how much money they saved us. They are, if nothing else, a great starting point. Were I an angel, I'd use them for sure.
- ian 18y ago
  We did as well and they saved us a fair bit of cash - not to mention the hassle of figuring out what vanilla terms should look like.
zaveri 18y ago
Thanks PG and YC!
wd40 18y ago
game. changing.
davidw 18y ago
PG has "made noises" about this for a while here. I'm glad to see this, as it's really not rocket science, and as Matt says, "a great starting point". Thanks also to the lawyer folks involved for getting it. This sort of thing won't mean less work for good lawyers, it will mean more work doing real stuff, and less twiddling around with boilerplate.
YuriNiyazov 18y ago
Not to be pedantic or anything :) but there's a typo on seriesaa.html page: "...many situations with without too many modifications." 'with' is extraneous.
- rms 18y ago
  email pg
  - YuriNiyazov 18y ago
    done
samataro 18y ago
OOOOOOOOOOO YESSSSSSSSS
vaksel 18y ago
Could you add scribd to it, so people can read them w/o downloading?
pxlpshr 18y ago
Wow, pure awesome! This makes life so much easier for grass root startups and young entrepreneurs. Much <3
sh1mmer 18y ago
This is great! I can't say how positive a step this is. It's really common for things like NDAs, etc to be provided by independent organisations free of charge (e.g. the UK patent office provide one) but moving this into other documents is a must. I'd like to see a plain English description of each clause, possibly with extra optional clauses, creative commons style. I love the idea of pick'n'mix legal documents. As long as they are drawn up by good lawyers it would make the law a much more accessible thing to regular people/companies.
babul 18y ago
Hopefully this will provide more transparency and uniformity to the process and help all concerned get a better deal, especially startups who cannot afford decent lawyers and hence often more vunerable.
akd 18y ago
Where do we send these forms once we fill them out? How do we make it "official"?
- apgwoz 18y ago
  I believe these documents are useful for getting funding from venture capitalists, not necessarily to incorporate. To make it official you'll need to actually find funding. These documents are helpful in assisting the startup in "securing" this funding from the legal side of things.
gleb 18y ago
Adding corresponding term sheet as part of this document set would be really nice.
gaborcselle 18y ago
This is really really useful. Thanks so much! Jessica / Paul - do you have the source code of this as wall, not just the byte code? I'd love to have a summary of these terms, e.g. what rights the preferred stock created in these documents has (anti-dilution, liquiditation preference, double-dip, etc.).
- gleb 18y ago
  Yes, corresponding term sheet would be very helpful.
vv 18y ago
It'd be great if someone could back this out into a 1 or 2 page term sheet
apgwoz 18y ago
Not to sound ungrateful (this is actually really awesome, not that I have use for it right now), but why only ".doc"? In the spirit of openness, it'd be great if they were also available in an open format such as the OpenDocument Format.
- aston 18y ago
  The .doc is actually a more widely readable format. Why care how hackable a document format is if all you want to do is view and edit it?
  - apgwoz 18y ago
    It's been a while since I've used a .doc on my personal computer, but when I do, I use Open Office. It's never understood .docs perfectly and has always been a pain to send back and forth to people. Now, I think I remember reading something about Microsoft "opening" it's formats, so maybe this is a non-issue these days? Even still, in the more general case, the idea that a file format is locked up and has to be reverse engineered for some people to view/edit it always presents at least some problems for someone. Supporting open formats, while perhaps not as widely used right now, at least is a step in the right direction. Maybe Joe Hacker, whose been using MS Office all his life, gets curious when he sees a .odt. Maybe he looks it up and sees that he'd rather be apart of a movement to free the world of non-open/proprietary office file formats and makes a vow to only create documents in a free format like OpenDocument (and convert .docs to .odt). Maybe he tells all his friends and the demand for OpenDocument is increased. Oh, and I hear Microsoft is supporting OpenDocument these days (at least via a plugin).
- pxlpshr 18y ago
  a hacker can't use Google Docs (ie: free) to open a .doc file and copy/paste? :)
  - apgwoz 18y ago
    While Google Docs is free (as in beer), it is not free as in freedom. Some people will not use software because of that. I'm not so much a zealot and would consider using Google Docs, if I could be sure my "sensitive" documents were only readable by myself. These documents, in particular, I would think, lend themselves to being a bit more private than your average college paper. Also, Google Docs supports OpenDocument, at least according to WikiPedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_OpenDocument_software http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_OpenDocument_soft...)
ALee 18y ago
Just thinking about thesedocs coming out o a meeting with wilson sonsini, who quoteda convert debt round of 300-500k to be around $15k in costs. Will have to look closer, but excited to cut tha amount down.
ctingom 18y ago
I couldn't download them. Does anybody have them?
mariorz 18y ago
The article links to the ycombinator homepage, I see no legal docs there. Am I missing something?
- froo 18y ago
  You could do a Google search for them, I quickly tried "site:ycombinator.com legal" and came up with the following: http://www.ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html http://www.ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html I'm sure we can patiently wait, they're doing us a huge favour which I for one, am very grateful for :)
  - mariorz 18y ago
    I agree, didn't intend for it to come off as a complaint, was more curious than anything. Now I'm even more curious though.
    - froo 18y ago
      It's okay - I didn't think it came off as a complaint, I was just showing how I found the relevant page. I hope the last comment about being grateful didn't come off as arrogant, I just think its fantastic when people release information like this as this is valuable in its own right, but also a good starting point for people trying to get a handle on the startup business. Top work YC!
auston 18y ago
Hey man, where'd they go? Anyone got a copy they want to share?
dejb 18y ago
"The documents were created with their law firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and are available ->HERE<-." Is it just me or does the link on 'here' not actually work? Actually I found a link somewhere else to one of the actual pages - http://www.ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html http://www.ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html And the page now has a message saying 'Sorry, there's a glitch with the documents and we had to take them down. We hope to have something back soon.' I wonder if the glitch is technical or legal? My guess would be it's an IP issue with one of the legal documents. I can't imagine why lawyers wouldn't want this to go ahead.
- cstejerean 18y ago
  Not sure that I like the sound of "We hope to have SOMETHING back soon."
skmurphy 18y ago
This is a good strategy for YC: it "commoditizes the complements" (borrowing a phrase from http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/StrategyLetterV.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/StrategyLetterV.html ) of a deal, lowers the cost of an early stage financing round (giving more value for their investment) and makes it easier for prospects to evaluate aspects of the offer in advance.
stanley 18y ago
Great stuff. I wish more legal documents were standardized and in the common domain.
elijahblue 18y ago
No longer available? Tease.
crocus 18y ago
This is exactly what the startup community needs. I am surprised no one has done it before, actually. I know several rich post-startup people who would probably be angel investors if the process were more standardized. I bet the number of potential angel investors is 10 times larger than the number who jump through all the hoops to actually do it. With that much more early stage investment to feed on, there could be 10 times as many startups.
dshah 18y ago
Just in time for the YC Demo Day tomorrow.
jlogic77 18y ago
Found this in the TC Comments. http://rapidshare.com/files/137276513/Documents_YCombinator.zip.html http://rapidshare.com/files/137276513/Documents_YCombinator....

156 points by danielrhodes 18y ago

This is great, thanks!

We used a version of these (though had to edit them some) in our recent funding round, and I can't even imagine how much money they saved us. They are, if nothing else, a great starting point. Were I an angel, I'd use them for sure.

ian 18y ago
We did as well and they saved us a fair bit of cash - not to mention the hassle of figuring out what vanilla terms should look like.

zaveri 18y ago

Thanks PG and YC!

wd40 18y ago

game. changing.

davidw 18y ago

PG has "made noises" about this for a while here. I'm glad to see this, as it's really not rocket science, and as Matt says, "a great starting point". Thanks also to the lawyer folks involved for getting it. This sort of thing won't mean less work for good lawyers, it will mean more work doing real stuff, and less twiddling around with boilerplate.

YuriNiyazov 18y ago

Not to be pedantic or anything :) but there's a typo on seriesaa.html page: "...many situations with without too many modifications." 'with' is extraneous.

rms 18y ago
email pg
- YuriNiyazov 18y ago
  done

samataro 18y ago

OOOOOOOOOOO YESSSSSSSSS

vaksel 18y ago

Could you add scribd to it, so people can read them w/o downloading?

pxlpshr 18y ago

Wow, pure awesome! This makes life so much easier for grass root startups and young entrepreneurs. Much <3

sh1mmer 18y ago

This is great! I can't say how positive a step this is. It's really common for things like NDAs, etc to be provided by independent organisations free of charge (e.g. the UK patent office provide one) but moving this into other documents is a must. I'd like to see a plain English description of each clause, possibly with extra optional clauses, creative commons style. I love the idea of pick'n'mix legal documents. As long as they are drawn up by good lawyers it would make the law a much more accessible thing to regular people/companies.

babul 18y ago

Hopefully this will provide more transparency and uniformity to the process and help all concerned get a better deal, especially startups who cannot afford decent lawyers and hence often more vunerable.

akd 18y ago

Where do we send these forms once we fill them out? How do we make it "official"?

apgwoz 18y ago
I believe these documents are useful for getting funding from venture capitalists, not necessarily to incorporate. To make it official you'll need to actually find funding. These documents are helpful in assisting the startup in "securing" this funding from the legal side of things.

gleb 18y ago

Adding corresponding term sheet as part of this document set would be really nice.

gaborcselle 18y ago

This is really really useful. Thanks so much! Jessica / Paul - do you have the source code of this as wall, not just the byte code? I'd love to have a summary of these terms, e.g. what rights the preferred stock created in these documents has (anti-dilution, liquiditation preference, double-dip, etc.).

gleb 18y ago
Yes, corresponding term sheet would be very helpful.

vv 18y ago

It'd be great if someone could back this out into a 1 or 2 page term sheet

apgwoz 18y ago

Not to sound ungrateful (this is actually really awesome, not that I have use for it right now), but why only ".doc"? In the spirit of openness, it'd be great if they were also available in an open format such as the OpenDocument Format.

aston 18y ago
The .doc is actually a more widely readable format. Why care how hackable a document format is if all you want to do is view and edit it?
- apgwoz 18y ago
  It's been a while since I've used a .doc on my personal computer, but when I do, I use Open Office. It's never understood .docs perfectly and has always been a pain to send back and forth to people. Now, I think I remember reading something about Microsoft "opening" it's formats, so maybe this is a non-issue these days? Even still, in the more general case, the idea that a file format is locked up and has to be reverse engineered for some people to view/edit it always presents at least some problems for someone. Supporting open formats, while perhaps not as widely used right now, at least is a step in the right direction. Maybe Joe Hacker, whose been using MS Office all his life, gets curious when he sees a .odt. Maybe he looks it up and sees that he'd rather be apart of a movement to free the world of non-open/proprietary office file formats and makes a vow to only create documents in a free format like OpenDocument (and convert .docs to .odt). Maybe he tells all his friends and the demand for OpenDocument is increased. Oh, and I hear Microsoft is supporting OpenDocument these days (at least via a plugin).
pxlpshr 18y ago
a hacker can't use Google Docs (ie: free) to open a .doc file and copy/paste? :)
- apgwoz 18y ago
  While Google Docs is free (as in beer), it is not free as in freedom. Some people will not use software because of that. I'm not so much a zealot and would consider using Google Docs, if I could be sure my "sensitive" documents were only readable by myself. These documents, in particular, I would think, lend themselves to being a bit more private than your average college paper. Also, Google Docs supports OpenDocument, at least according to WikiPedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_OpenDocument_software http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_OpenDocument_soft...)

ALee 18y ago

Just thinking about thesedocs coming out o a meeting with wilson sonsini, who quoteda convert debt round of 300-500k to be around $15k in costs. Will have to look closer, but excited to cut tha amount down.

ctingom 18y ago

I couldn't download them. Does anybody have them?

mariorz 18y ago

The article links to the ycombinator homepage, I see no legal docs there. Am I missing something?

froo 18y ago
You could do a Google search for them, I quickly tried "site:ycombinator.com legal" and came up with the following: http://www.ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html http://www.ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html I'm sure we can patiently wait, they're doing us a huge favour which I for one, am very grateful for :)
- mariorz 18y ago
  I agree, didn't intend for it to come off as a complaint, was more curious than anything. Now I'm even more curious though.
  - froo 18y ago
    It's okay - I didn't think it came off as a complaint, I was just showing how I found the relevant page. I hope the last comment about being grateful didn't come off as arrogant, I just think its fantastic when people release information like this as this is valuable in its own right, but also a good starting point for people trying to get a handle on the startup business. Top work YC!

auston 18y ago

Hey man, where'd they go? Anyone got a copy they want to share?

dejb 18y ago

"The documents were created with their law firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and are available ->HERE<-." Is it just me or does the link on 'here' not actually work? Actually I found a link somewhere else to one of the actual pages - http://www.ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html http://www.ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html And the page now has a message saying 'Sorry, there's a glitch with the documents and we had to take them down. We hope to have something back soon.' I wonder if the glitch is technical or legal? My guess would be it's an IP issue with one of the legal documents. I can't imagine why lawyers wouldn't want this to go ahead.

cstejerean 18y ago
Not sure that I like the sound of "We hope to have SOMETHING back soon."

skmurphy 18y ago

This is a good strategy for YC: it "commoditizes the complements" (borrowing a phrase from http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/StrategyLetterV.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/StrategyLetterV.html ) of a deal, lowers the cost of an early stage financing round (giving more value for their investment) and makes it easier for prospects to evaluate aspects of the offer in advance.

stanley 18y ago

Great stuff. I wish more legal documents were standardized and in the common domain.

elijahblue 18y ago

No longer available? Tease.

crocus 18y ago

This is exactly what the startup community needs. I am surprised no one has done it before, actually. I know several rich post-startup people who would probably be angel investors if the process were more standardized. I bet the number of potential angel investors is 10 times larger than the number who jump through all the hoops to actually do it. With that much more early stage investment to feed on, there could be 10 times as many startups.

dshah 18y ago

Just in time for the YC Demo Day tomorrow.

jlogic77 18y ago

Found this in the TC Comments. http://rapidshare.com/files/137276513/Documents_YCombinator.zip.html http://rapidshare.com/files/137276513/Documents_YCombinator....