Getting your company structured correctly from day one, or fixing it early, can save enormous time, cost, and distraction later. We help founders make smart, practical decisions around entity formation, ownership, and governance so the business can grow without unnecessary friction.
Rubicon works with tech startups at the very beginning of their journey, as well as companies that need to clean up legacy issues before raising capital or scaling.
What we help with
- Entity formation & structuring. Choosing the right entity, jurisdiction, and ownership structure based on your business model, growth plans, and investor expectations, not generic templates.
- Founder equity & vesting. Allocating equity fairly and defensibly, implementing vesting schedules, and documenting founder relationships clearly to avoid future disputes.
- IP ownership & assignments. Ensuring the company, not individuals, owns its intellectual property, including software, inventions, and brand assets, from the outset.
- Early hires & advisors. Setting up offer letters, contractor agreements, advisor equity, and early equity compensation in a way that scales.
- Cap table setup & cleanup. Creating clean, investor-ready capitalization tables, and fixing messy ones before they become a problem.
Why this stage matters
Early legal decisions have long-term consequences. Issues like unclear IP ownership, informal equity arrangements, or poorly documented relationships often don't surface until a financing, acquisition, or dispute, when they are hardest and most expensive to fix.
Our goal is not to over-lawyer the early days, but to help you make durable decisions that align with how tech companies actually grow and raise capital.
How we work with founders
- Practical, not theoretical. We focus on what actually matters to investors, future acquirers, and operators, not academic perfection.
- Efficient by design. Clear scope, straightforward advice, and documentation that's built to scale, without unnecessary complexity.
- Tech-native. We understand modern startup workflows, remote teams, and how founders actually build companies today.
- Future-ready. We structure companies with financings, growth, and exits in mind from the beginning.
When founders typically come to us
- "We're incorporating and want to do it right the first time."
- "We have co-founders and need to formalize equity and roles."
- "An investor is asking questions about our cap table or IP."
- "We've been operating informally and need to clean things up."
- "We're preparing for our first institutional round."
Common outcomes
- A clean, investor-ready corporate structure
- Clear ownership of equity and IP
- Reduced friction in future financings
- Fewer surprises during diligence
- Confidence that the legal foundation supports real growth