from Hacker News

Ask HN: Recommend a legal service to review startup offer

by soulbadguy on 7/10/24, 12:59 AM with 3 comments

About to get an offer from a startup and i am looking for a professional review to make sure there is no obvious catch, and the offer is pretty standard.

Also, should i expect the exercise window and % ownership be mentioned on the offer ? The recruiter did no seem to have those details.

  • by matheist on 7/10/24, 5:59 PM

    > should i expect the exercise window and % ownership be mentioned on the offer

    In my experience it's unfortunately somewhat common to not provide this information up front, and more so when it's not favorable. If you're looking for language to request the information, you might ask something like "I expect to consult counsel about the offer, as I'm sure you understand, so I'd appreciate if you could please give me a copy of all the documents you'd expect me to sign as part of employment, including the employment agreement, any NDA[0], IP[1] assignment, and equity grant, and anything else I'd need to evaluate the offer like what percentage my options would represent (fully diluted), and exercise window and tax status (ISO vs NSO, etc)."

    [0] non-disclosure agreement

    [1] intellectual property

  • by brudgers on 7/10/24, 4:09 AM

    If you are in the US, call your state bar, describe your legal need, and ask for a referral. Referrals are a service state bars provide in exchange for their monopolies.

  • by yamumsahoe on 7/10/24, 11:29 AM

    does clerky support this?