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"That advantage is compounded when it's the structure that happens to be used by a whole bunch of YC companies, since YC has a lot of experience pounding corpor

by larrys 14y ago

"That advantage is compounded when it's the structure that happens to be used by a whole bunch of YC companies, since YC has a lot of experience pounding corporations into a shape that is acceptable for next funding rounds." There is nothing on clerky website that seems to indicate this "good for YC" so the issue I see is that they are selling the same package to anyone (YC company and a guy in Alabama wanting to do a startup who may or may not get funded or get funded differently). As an aside I'm not seeing on the "about" page at Clerky exactly how long the 2 principles worked at Orrick either just that they were startup attorney's there. Lastly I question how "in to the law" [1] someone who worked as a lawyer and then decided they would rather do a startup "clerky" is. I like to deal with people who really like what they do and are devoted to it (practically) 24/7 and don't have their mind elsewhere. I'm guessing you spend quite a bit of your time on security because you enjoy it any and all hours, right? That's why you are good at it. [1] I'm reminded of a few Doctors that I know that work hard during the day but never pick up a journal and pick medical conferences based on the nice location they are held in. On the other hand I've met academic physicians who live and breathe what they do and are up on all the latest happenings.

tptacek 14y ago
My guess is that the practice of corp law is littered with processes that could be automated and extracted from bespoke billable practice. Company formation seems like a great first candidate. Most of what lawyers do is thoroughly routine. Nobody is arguing that startups like Clerky are going to put lawyers out of business. They're just taking something you don't need bespoke counsel for and making it simple to do. The fact is, you're likely to end up in a better state having used Clerky than you are if you try to find your own lawyers and get them to do something customized. A huge number of lawyers suck at this. Different people specialize in different things, and the ones who specialize in company formation are just as likely to be expert in e.g. capitalizing and running a local restaurant as they are in setting up vesting schedules for a tech startup.

by larrys 14y ago

tptacek 14y ago

My guess is that the practice of corp law is littered with processes that could be automated and extracted from bespoke billable practice. Company formation seems like a great first candidate. Most of what lawyers do is thoroughly routine. Nobody is arguing that startups like Clerky are going to put lawyers out of business. They're just taking something you don't need bespoke counsel for and making it simple to do. The fact is, you're likely to end up in a better state having used Clerky than you are if you try to find your own lawyers and get them to do something customized. A huge number of lawyers suck at this. Different people specialize in different things, and the ones who specialize in company formation are just as likely to be expert in e.g. capitalizing and running a local restaurant as they are in setting up vesting schedules for a tech startup.