Welcome everyone to another edition of my Global Tech Law Newsletter. I’m going to experiment with keeping the posts short and sweet:
Topic: Similarities between working with (expat) founders in Asia vs US
1. Staying out of Trouble
Similarity: Founders in the U.S. and Asia are interested in staying out of trouble. That is the most basic job of the lawyer, as long as the client tells us all the facts and heeds our advice!
Context: The perceived trouble is different. For Asia, the concern of foreign founders would be staying out of trouble with the government. For the U.S., it’s just as much about avoiding a potential lawsuit.
2. PMF First
Similarity: The emphasis for both founders is product market fit and traction before worrying about every last detail of legal compliance. Founders in Asia are more willing to accept “that’s just the way it is” when trying to understand (or not understand) a legal rule. In the U.S. the emphasis is on wanting to know the why.
Context: In fact, I often have explained to founders in Asia, you want to try to understand the why even more because it informs how to comply in a vacuum where laws are left vague and more open to interpretation.
3. Safety in Numbers
Similarity: Founders place a high degree of value on getting practical advice, and this draws a lot of experience on what other founders do in similar situation.
Context: In Asia, it takes a lot of experience to judge the risk and know what others do in the face of so much uncertainty.
4. Bootstrap State of Mind
Similarity: Founders in both countries will try to keep costs down, but appreciate efficient advice on what they really need.
Context: Sometimes founders will try to draft non-essential legal documents on their own, but need counsel for the important ones. This is universal.
5. Docs
Similarity: Companies have more and more similar legal documents, for example the use of YC SAFES, although many documents such as ESOP-related ones have specific US tax complexities.
Context: SAFEs started out from YC in the US but have become more and more the norm in place of convertible notes or certainly priced rounds.
6. Trust
Similarity: Founders mostly want to work with someone they trust. They also want to work with someone who has seen a lot of situations in their career and can offer a bit more than just legal advice from time to time when they really need it.
Context: For better or for worse, trust for expats in Asia can result in part from working with another expat with similar cultural and language backgrounds. For US founders, a familiarity with founder pain points is what its about – and acting as a sounding board in general. That comes less from network introduction and more from 1:1 interaction.
*This blog may be considered attorney advertising. It is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.