Choosing the right business structure in Nigeria
Sole proprietorship, partnership or limited company? The choice affects your liability, your tax position and your ability to raise money.
Read articlePractice area
Start-Up Advisory
Early-stage companies do not need every legal problem solved at once. They need the right ones solved first.
Overview
What this work involves
Founders come to us at every stage. Some before registering anything, some mid-raise, some after a co-founder disagreement has already started. What they want is rarely a lecture on company law. It is someone to say what needs to happen now, what can wait, and roughly what each costs.
So we prioritise ruthlessly, explain the trade-offs, and are comfortable saying that something is not worth your money yet. As the business grows, the advice grows with it.
What we help clients with
The work, set out plainly.
Getting incorporated properly
Entity type, share structures, and founder arrangements documented while everyone is still on good terms.
Founder and vesting arrangements
Agreeing what happens if a co-founder leaves, before it becomes a live question.
Fundraising documents
Reviewing term sheets, convertibles, SAFEs and investment agreements, and explaining what the terms mean for control and dilution.
Employment and contractors
Employment contracts, contractor agreements, confidentiality and IP assignment.
Customer-facing terms
Terms of service, privacy notices and the agreements your product actually needs.
Compliance foundations
Working out what applies, so you are not fixing it during due diligence.
Typical matters
Examples of instructions in this area.
These illustrate the kind of work this practice area covers. They are not descriptions of specific client matters.
- Setting up a company for two founders with different contributions
- Reviewing a term sheet ahead of a first institutional round
- Preparing contractor agreements that assign IP to the company
- Drafting terms of service and a privacy notice
- Untangling ownership where a product was built before incorporation
Frequently asked questions
Questions we are asked most often.
Usually: register the right entity, document what the founders agreed, and make sure the company owns the product. Those three prevent most of the expensive problems we see. Our free compliance tool covers a broader starting list.
As soon as there is more than one owner, ideally before real value has been built. The conversation is easy while everyone is aligned and much harder once there is something to argue about.
Tell us the budget and we will say honestly what it covers. We would rather scope a smaller piece of work properly than start something underfunded.
For a small friends-and-family round, sometimes not. Once you are looking at liquidation preferences, anti-dilution, board rights and protective provisions, those terms have long-term consequences worth understanding before signature.
These answers are general.
They describe how things usually work, not how they will work in your situation. Requirements
and timelines change. Please take advice before acting.
Related insights
Further reading
What actually belongs in a shareholders' agreement
Most founder disputes are not about the law. They are about something that was assumed rather than agreed.
Read articleHow to build a compliance calendar that people actually use
Most compliance failures are not decisions. They are dates that passed while everyone was busy.
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