Before You Hire a Lawyer
Get clearer about the decision before you spend money on advice.
Not every problem needs outside counsel yet. But founders usually benefit from getting clearer about the decision before they spend money on advice.
Question Set 01
Before launching a regulated financial product, ask:
- —What exactly is the product doing?
- —Where does money move?
- —Who touches customer funds?
- —What third parties make the model work?
- —What assumptions are we making about licensing, bank partnerships, or infrastructure?
- —What would have to change if a regulator looked at this conservatively?
Question Set 02
Before embedding payments, ask:
- —What part of the flow do we control?
- —What part belongs to a processor, sponsor bank, or platform partner?
- —Where are the operational dependencies?
- —What happens if a key partner changes terms, delays launch, or narrows risk appetite?
Signal
When a startup actually needs senior legal strategy.
A startup usually needs senior legal strategy when the decision has become cross-functional, expensive to unwind, or material to product, revenue, partnerships, or regulatory posture.
Readiness
What founders should be ready to articulate.
The business model, the product flow, the key dependencies, the growth plan, and the company's actual risk tolerance.
The better the framing, the better the advice.
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