
Start-ups and Emerging Companies
Legal foundations for founders building, financing and scaling businesses in India.
Early legal choices affect ownership, control, investment readiness, intellectual property, employee incentives, product risk and the ability to contract with customers. DB Legal works with founders and emerging companies at key stages, with documentation calibrated to the company's present needs and next financing or commercial milestone.
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Formation and founder arrangements
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Choice of entity and incorporation coordination.
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Founder shareholding, vesting and reverse-vesting arrangements.
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Founder roles, decision rights and reserved matters.
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Intellectual property assignment and confidentiality.
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Transfer restrictions, leaver provisions and dispute mechanisms.
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Constitutional documents and initial corporate approvals.
Fundraising
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Angel, seed, venture capital and strategic investment rounds.
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Term sheets, subscription and shareholders' agreements.
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Equity shares, preference shares and convertible instruments.
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Legal due diligence preparation and virtual data rooms.
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Foreign investment, pricing and reporting issues for overseas investors.
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Closing, conditions, corporate approvals and cap-table implementation.
Equity incentives and workforce
The Firm assists with employee stock option plans, grant documentation, board and shareholder approvals, employment and consultant agreements, confidentiality and intellectual property provisions, workplace policies and separation matters.
Customer, vendor and partnership contracts
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Customer terms, master services agreements and statements of work.
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Software subscriptions, licensing and technology development agreements.
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Vendor, outsourcing and cloud-service contracts.
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Distribution, reseller, referral and strategic partnership agreements.
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Confidentiality, pilot, proof-of-concept and evaluation agreements.
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Website, application, privacy and marketplace terms.
Product, data and intellectual property
DB Legal helps emerging companies identify ownership and licensing issues, put invention and work-product assignments in place, review brand and technology arrangements, prepare privacy and user-facing terms, and assess legal dependencies for digital products and e-commerce models.
Governance and scaling
As the company grows, the Firm supports board and shareholder processes, delegated authority, related-party matters, group restructuring, commercial template systems, senior hires, acquisitions, secondary transactions and preparation for later-stage investment or exit.
Founder-investor alignment
Investment documents must balance investor protection with a workable management structure. DB Legal focuses on practical operation of board rights, reserved matters, information rights, dilution protection, founder obligations, transfer provisions and exit mechanisms after the round closes.