10 Documents You NeedBefore Your Seed Round.
The same documents Turley Law builds for funded clients on the $1,200/hour engagement, written down so a founder can use them.
Legal Debt Compounds Faster Than Technical Debt.
Most founders discover the legal layer of their business when a prospective investor or hire asks for a document they have never heard of — bylaws, an 83(b) confirmation, a CIIAA, a cap table — and realize the legal debt has been quietly accumulating while they shipped features.
By the time someone writes a term sheet, it is too late to fix the foundation cheaply. The investor’s counsel will find every gap, and you will pay to close them at deal speed — which is the most expensive speed there is.
The 10-Document Legal Stack for Venture-Path SaaS.
This white paper covers the ten documents a venture-path SaaS company should have on file before it walks into its first institutional round. Each chapter tells you what the document does, why an investor cares, the clauses that actually matter, and the traps founders fall into.
No theory. No boilerplate legal prose. Just the documents, explained by the attorney who builds them for funded clients — so you can start closing the gaps before anyone asks you to.
The 10-Document Checklist.
Certificate of Incorporation
Delaware C-Corp formation, authorized shares, and why the state matters.
Bylaws
Board structure, voting rights, and the operating rules investors expect to see.
Founder Restricted Stock Purchase Agreement (with 83(b))
Vesting schedules, cliff periods, and the 30-day IRS filing that saves you a fortune in taxes.
Founder IP Assignment
Transferring pre-incorporation IP into the company so investors know the company owns its own product.
Employee CIIAA
Confidential Information and Inventions Assignment Agreement — the document that makes sure every line of code belongs to the company.
Independent Contractor Agreement
IP assignment, misclassification protection, and clean termination rights for your 1099 hires.
Mutual NDA
Bilateral confidentiality terms for investor meetings, partnership talks, and vendor evaluations.
Customer MSA / Terms of Service
The contract your customers actually sign — SLAs, liability caps, data handling, and renewal terms.
Cap Table
Who owns what, how much is authorized, and what the dilution math looks like after your round.
Privacy Policy & Terms of Service
User-facing legal pages that comply with CCPA, GDPR, and whatever your enterprise customers require.
Download the Checklist
Enter your email and we will send the full white paper straight to your inbox. No sales calls, no retainer pitch — just the 10-document legal stack every SaaS founder needs.
Blake Turley, managing attorney at Turley Law PLLC, wrote this white paper based on the legal infrastructure he builds for venture-backed SaaS companies. These are the same ten documents he assembles for clients on the $1,200/hour engagement — the difference is he wrote down what each one does and why it matters so a founder can understand the legal layer before the first term sheet shows up.
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Need These Documents Drafted?
The checklist tells you what you need. If you want them built right — by the attorney who wrote the guide — let's talk. Turley Law drafts the full 10-document stack for venture-path SaaS companies.