Dear Associate,

I’ve been looking around at company formation, and I’m at a fork in the road.   Some people are telling me to use a proper firm and spend $2500, while others are saying just to use LegalZoom or Rocket Lawyer and spend $400.  For all my research, I cannot find a differentiating factor for using one firm or another over what seems to be a common, form-filling process.  Do you as an entrepreneur or an analyst have any advice on this?   I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Looking for Law & Order

Dear Looking,

If I were in your shoes I would do the cheaper. I’m cheap though & have lucked out because my dad is an attorney & reviews legal docs for me from time to time. I’m not surprised that you’re getting mixed responses from folks. VCs will pry say spend the $2500. Entrepreneurs probably the cheaper. I have done both – used attorneys & gone with template/boiler plate cheaper options online.  Honestly, both have been fine for me.  However, something to note is that the company I didn’t hire an attorney for (other than my dad) documents, I didn’t raise equity capital for. The companies we invest in at RPM use attorneys, but they are funded or about to raise funding so it’s a different budget scenario.  Are you incorporating as a C/S Corp or LLC?  I recommend the former if you plan to raise VC money.  I don’t expect that you’d regret hiring an attorney, in the long run, because it’s not just about the docs, but also about building that relationship with an attorney for the future.  Because if you do raise money you will need an attorney for investment docs.

Venture on,

mel, the venture gal