At the very beginning, our advice was to start with the basics: incorporate a SAS and, assuming that the project’s success depends above all on the commitment of its founders, set up a founders’ agreement to provide for various scenarios including cases of exclusion, inalienability of shares and exit clauses.
A few months after, our client raised 600K€ from various investors.
Instead of raising all the funds at once, which would have forced our client to wait several weeks to receive the funding, we set up a power of attorney in favour of the company’s President, which allowed the startup to access the funds as they were received. At the same time, we drafted a new shareholders’ agreement including an antidilution clause and a strong disincentive for founders to leave the company prematurely. Finally, in anticipation of the upcoming hiring of a CTO, we set up an option plan.