Service
Startup General Counsel for Australian Founders
A Fractional GC built for the startup legal profile — cap table, ESOP, customer MSAs, Series A prep.
Startup General Counsel is Fractional GC support shaped for the specific legal profile of an Australian startup — heavy on cap table, employment equity and customer contracts, light on the corporate boilerplate that dominates traditional in-house work. The angle here is founder-native: a GC who has actually worked through SAFEs, ESOPs and founder vesting, not one learning on your dollar.
Who This Fits
- Pre-seed and seed startups with paying customers and no in-house lawyer
- Founders who have raised on a SAFE and now need to convert
- Teams issuing options and needing a real ESOP, not a template
- SaaS businesses drowning in customer-paper redlines
- Founders approaching Series A who want the legal house in order before a term sheet lands
What Startup GC Actually Covers
- Cap table hygiene — founders' agreement, equity splits, shareholders' agreement, constitution
- Raising capital — SAFEs, convertible notes, priced rounds, side letters
- Employee equity — ESOP rules, option grants, ESOP vs phantom, leaver provisions
- Customer contracts — SaaS ToS, MSAs, order forms, enterprise redlines
- Employment — offers, contractor agreements, NDAs, IP assignments
- Governance — board minutes, resolutions, director duties
- Compliance — privacy, website terms, ACL
Priced for Startup Cash Flow
Startup GC engagements start lower than our standard Fractional GC tier because the workload is different — spiky, project-shaped, and often front-loaded around fundraise events. We fix the monthly fee and separately fix-fee large transactions (rounds, key customer deals) so the retainer stays predictable.
Related
- Startup Legals — the full service page
- Startup Lawyer Sydney Guide
- Fractional General Counsel
- Scale-Up General Counsel
Talk to us
Ready to talk it through?
Send us a note about what you're working on. We'll respond within one business day and, if we're a fit, book a free 15-minute consultation with a senior lawyer.