创业 · 2005-11-30Startups · 2005-11-30
律师还是保险推销员？Lawyers or Insurance Salesmen?
当你有了一家创业公司，到了某个阶段——很可能是在融资的时候——你就不得不请一位公司法律师了。多数律师收费高得吓人，又让人抓狂。这里有几个小建议：
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别只是顺着 VC 坚持推荐的那位律师走。这些律师为 VC 处理过上百次融资，为你只处理过这一次。你觉得他们的心会向着谁？自己请一位律师，而且寸步不让。
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当心偷梁换柱——你面试时见到的是那位热情健谈、精明能干的资深合伙人，可一旦你签约，他们就把你换成一位不那么受欢迎、经验也较浅的合伙人。新换的人收费或许便宜些，但也便宜不了多少。
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按项目固定收费，尤其是交割融资时，尤其是为对方（VC）请的律师（VC 的老把戏之一，就是在交割时让创业公司替他们付律师费！这种荒唐的做法竟被说成是"行业惯例"）
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如果你对账单有异议，要在付款之前解决。钱一旦出手，主动权就归别人了……
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让你的律师承担起草融资文件的重活。默认情况下，起草的一方在所有的细节条款上都占上风。
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最后，好的律师是顾问——在给出有财务影响的建议（几乎所有的建议都有）时会权衡利弊。坏的律师则是唯唯诺诺的保险推销员——他们会劝你为防范一切可能的风险而花钱花到倾家荡产。风险可以也应该尽可能地被量化。
At some point when you have a startup, probably when raising money, you’ll HAVE to get a corporate lawyer. Most are hideously expensive and infuriating. A few tips:
- Don’t just go with the lawyer that the VCs insist upon. These lawyers will work with the VC on a hundred financings and with you on only one. Where do you think their loyalties lie? Get your own lawyer, and don’t budge.
- Watch out for the bait-and-switch – this is when you interview the gregarious, smart senior partner, who then swaps in the less popular, less experienced partner once you’ve signed them up. And the new person might be cheaper, but not much cheaper.
- Put them on fixed-fee per job, especially for closing a financing, and especially for lawyers for the other side (one of the old great VC tricks is that startups pay for the VC’s attorneys in closings! A ridiculous practice justified as being “standard”)
- If you have issues with the bill, resolve before paying. Possession is 9/10ths…
- Make your lawyers do the heavy lifting of drafting the financing docs. The drafting side wins all of the small points, by default
- Finally, good lawyers are advisors who weight pros and cons when giving advice that has a financial impact (which almost all of it does). Bad lawyers are whimpering insurance salesmen – and will encourage you to spend yourself to ruin by covering against every possible risk. Risks can and should be quantified whenever possible.
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