E-signatures for startups — founder's guide

Startup founders sign dozens of agreements in the first year. Here's what matters and the sequence to handle them.

The first 30 days

1. Co-founder agreement — equity split, vesting, IP assignment, decision-making 2. Articles of incorporation / ABN registration — legal entity formation (wet ink may be required) 3. Founder IP assignment — assign pre-formation IP to the new company 4. Mutual NDA template — for conversations with prospective hires, advisors, partners

The first 90 days

5. Advisor agreements — typically 0.1-0.5% equity, 2-year vesting 6. First employee offer letter — often tied to first-check fundraise 7. Employment IP assignment — every employee assigns IP to the company 8. First customer contract — MSA + SOW or simplified signed agreement 9. Landlord agreement (if office) — often requires wet ink for lease 10. Bank account signing authority — bank's own forms, usually wet ink

The first fundraise

11. SAFE or convertible note — early-stage angel/pre-seed investment 12. Seed round term sheet — typically wet ink at signing, e-signing for exhibits 13. Stock purchase agreement — Series Seed or Series A 14. Shareholder agreement / investor rights agreement — voting, information, transfer rights 15. Board consent resolutions — often e-signed on DocuSign or SignBolt

Ongoing

• Every new employee: offer letter + IP + NDA
• Every new customer: MSA + SOW
• Every vendor above ~$500: SOW
• Every new advisor: advisor agreement
• Quarterly board resolutions

Platform stack for startups

At seed stage (0-10 employees):

• SignBolt Pro — $9/mo, unlimited envelopes, templates
• SnapPDF Pro — $9/mo, PDF prep
• Total: $18/mo for full document lifecycle

At Series A (10-50 employees):

• SignBolt Business Bundle — $79/mo all-inclusive
• Add: HRIS integration for onboarding automation

At Series B+ (50+ employees):

• Evaluate between SignBolt Enterprise and DocuSign
• SignBolt typically $149-299/mo vs DocuSign $500-2,000/mo

Templates every founder needs on day 1

Save these as SignBolt templates:

1. Mutual NDA — for pre-engagement conversations 2. IP assignment — for contractors 3. Employment offer — for new hires 4. MSA + SOW — for customers 5. Advisor agreement — for advisors 6. Board consent — for company decisions

Common founder mistakes

• Not getting IP assignment from contractors — contractors retain IP ownership by default; your agreement must explicitly assign it
• Using a template from a friend's company — may not fit your state/jurisdiction or corporate structure
• Signing your own MSA as both parties — "Founder Inc. signs MSA with Founder personally" creates legal ambiguity about what the company owns vs. what you own
• Forgetting the board resolution for option grants — option grants without board approval can be challenged

Engaging a startup lawyer

Most first-year legal work is template-able. Good startup lawyers (often $300-600/hour) provide the templates once and let you self-serve subsequent usage.

Budget: ~$5-10k for foundational legal in year one if templated well.

Workflow

1. Lawyer provides Word templates 2. You convert to PDF, prep on SnapPDF 3. Upload to SignBolt as reusable templates 4. Duplicate per engagement, fill variables, send 5. Lawyer reviews final contracts quarterly (reduces cost vs. reviewing each)

Next

• Co-founder agreement checklist
• First employee offer letter template