about this book:

Knowing the ins and outs of setting up a startup and picking the right lawyer isn’t a matter of intelligence—it’s about experience and expertise.  You may have a great deal of both when it comes to your industry, but most entrepreneurs don’t know much about the law.  Your strengths lie elsewhere.  As a result, you may find yourself intimidated by the idea of selecting legal counsel.

Containing nearly three dozen money-saving, angst-minimizing tips, The Entrepreneur’s Legal Guide to Starting Up is a go-to resource for the entrepreneur who wants to streamline the budget while leveraging the most effective legal services available.

You will learn:

•How to select a legal firm:  Should you go small, medium, or large?

•What a corporate lawyer can do—and what a specialist can do better

•How law firms are organized, and how you can tailor your legal consultations to save you hundreds or thousands

•Why getting an opinion in writing isn’t always a good idea

•When the do-it-yourself approach can save money—and when it can cost you big

•How a lawyer can protect your ideas—even before you quit your day job

•How to protect yourself when financing or borrowing

•How to fire your lawyer

•The basics of intellectual property and protection, including the ins and outs of patents

•How to select the right legal entity structure for your startup

These tips aren’t just academic or theoretical—they are the product of startup expert Naeem Zafar’s twenty years in the trenches, as well as his extensive interviews with some of Silicon Valley’s premier lawyers.  This volume compiles advice and information unavailable in any other single source, putting countless hours of field research at your fingertips.

The Entrepreneur’s Legal Guide to Starting Up is a one-stop resource for any entrepreneur who realizes that, without expert legal help, the dream of growing a successful startup cannot become a reality.  This information will help you avoid some of the most common (and expensive) mistakes entrepreneurs make every day. 

The guide also includes: 

•A step-by-step guide to finding and hiring the right lawyer for your company.

•An easy-to-understand chart explaining the differences between the various corporate structures.  (This chart alone can save you thousands of dollars in tax obligations every year!)

•Proven communication strategies that will slash your legal bill by half each month.  (Zafar didn’t dream up these strategies—they come straight from the mouths of top Silicon Valley attorneys.)

•A quick guide to the most common legal issues plaguing entrepreneurs, as well as effective methods for overcoming them.

Zafar doesn’t waste words.  An entrepreneur himself, he knows the value of your time.  The Entrepreneur’s Legal Guide to Starting Up is a powerhouse of information, packing 35 tested and proven methods into 60 tightly written, value-filled pages.  Follow the tips within, and you will swiftly find this volume more than paying for itself.

reviews:

“The Entrepreneur’s Legal Guide to Starting Up” offers a straight-talk, no-nonsense approach for entrepreneurs. Naeem Zafar’s writing style makes you feel like you’re having a fireside chat with an experienced uncle who’s giving you the straight scoop. The wisdom offered in this book keeps your startup out of harm’s way while optimizing your chances to soar. Naeem walks you through how and why lawyers add value to your startup, showing you how to get maximum value at minimum cost. Delicious morsels of tried-and-true advice and wisdom pop from each page. This book is a must-read, whether you are embarking on your first or your fifteenth startup venture.”

1. -    Martin Hart, CEO Mirror Semiconductor
   

“A great book with practical advice to maximize the value of lawyers' services.  Naeem's overview of factors influencing the choice of legal structure as well as the discussion of law firms and legal professionals provide valuable insights to effectively manage a company's legal matters.”

-Jemma Israyelyan, Entrepreneur

“The biggest challenge for entrepreneurs is that they have to suddenly deal with problems in many areas in which they have little or no knowledge.  Given that most entrepreneurs hail from a technical background, legal looms as one of those 'dark areas' that they will try to ignore.  “The Entrepreneur’s Legal Guide to Starting Up”  is a must-read book for entrepreneurs who lack experience dealing with lawyers.  It's a quick read that will pay back in multiples that would make a VC salivate...”

-Michel Courtoy, CEO, Certess Inc. Silicon Valley CA

“As an entrepreneur, I've had to learn many of the lessons of dealing with lawyers the hard way -- often wasting hundreds of dollars worth of legal fees in the process.  Save yourself the cost and hassle, and read this book instead!  Naeem's book gives the reader a treasure-trove of suggestions, clearly the result of many years worth of experience, and Naeem's clear and concise presentation makes it a pleasant and quick read.  There's a certain amount of unwarranted mythology surrounding the issue of dealing with lawyers, and this book helps clarify all the relevant issues very effectively, with concrete suggestions to maximize the efficiency of your dealings with your lawyer, while minimizing the costs.  I strongly recommend this book for anyone starting out as an entrepreneur.” 

-Jahanzeb Sherwani  Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon University, Founder & CEO iTeleport

books

The Entrepreneur’s Legal Guide to Starting Up: 35 Little-known facts, secrets, techniques, and tricks to making sure you get every penny’s worth of value

By Naeem Zafar, University of California, Berkeley

Format: eBook

Price: $29.00