Seconded on Clerky, they're really amazing, and their support was fantastic. Felt like the future - and anytime I couldn't use it to close an investment, I felt major pain.
Naval is in an amazing position traction-wise though, so it'll be interesting to see how things shake out. I'm pretty confident that either way, entrepreneurs and investors will both be winners.
+1. Thanks Nivi! You made our last funding effort so much easier, we can't say enough good things about angel list. I look forward to trying angel docs for my next startup when the time comes!
Thanks for doing this - while certainly it existed before in Clerky I believe having it in angel list lends credibility which will ultimately save a lot of money and time for people.
If the documents are in relatively stable form and there won't be much negotiation, it absolutely makes sense for a law firm to do this for free particularly as you are then establishing a relationship with what is viable start-up. At least in the sense that they have been able to attract financing (which may or may not stand for very much in the long-term of course).
Of course, if the documents are in a relatively agreed form and are not generally negotiated, it makes me wonder why a law firm needs to be involved at all (speaking as a lawyer). Perhaps this is where Clerky comes in...
I also wonder if the free provision of legal services for the financing is conditional on the company spending fees with WSGR on related agreements? I'm sure there'll be a fair amount of pressure from WSGR for the start-up to use WSGR's paid services.
This is a brilliant move. A lot of entrepreneurs would likely still want to take it offline (if their needs don't satisfy Series Seed) but for the majority of people this will make life a whole lot easier - especially with no legal fees! Brilliant move on AngelList's part.
Brilliant idea. The only other tools I use in conjunction with AngelList are Trello (Investor management) and a mindmap for keeping track of who knows who (AL has asynchronous following so their "You know via" isn't that helpful to me personally)
Nivi, great idea -- thanks! The fine print says WSGR will help (for free?) if the startup is "qualified," what can you tell us about their qualification process?
Yes, WSGR will do the closing for free, for any startup that they're willing to take on as a client (i.e., credible). We'll be announcing other law firms who will do the same shortly.
In most Series Seed financings, the Founders retain Board Control and can't be pushed out by just the Investors. If they're pushed out by the other founders and by the investors together, then their vesting agreement will govern what happens.
