This is a checklist curated by Crimson Legal Limited to cover all early stage startup decisions and documentation from a legal and practical perspective. This checklist may not be copied, transformed, adapted or amended nor used for any commercial purposes by any third party without the prior written consent of Crimson Legal Limited.
| Checklist | Description |
|---|---|
| Structuring | Think about structuring and how you wish to set up the business before you get a license. |
| Licensing | The UAE has over 60+ regulators and jurisdictions to choose from. The activity and |
| Special Permissions or Consents | Check if your business requires additional licenses, permissions or consents |
| Co-founders agreement / Shareholders agreement | Discuss with your legal advisor |
| Board resolutions forms | Create forms in advance and record decisions taken by founders in writing |
| Domains | Typically the company should own the domain and pay for it |
| Website Hosting | Typically the company should own the website hosting and pay for it |
| Emails hosting | Typically the company should own the emails hosting and pay for it |
| Branding, Marketing and Social Media |
|
| Accounting Software | Use reliable software to track your accounts. Register with FTA if you meet the discretionary threshold and start issuing tax invoices in the right format |
| Any other automation software required | At founder’s discretion |
| Intellectual Property | Do you have intellectual property related to your business that needs to be recorded or registered? |
| Checklist | Description |
|---|---|
| Capitalization Table | This is not necessarily a legal form but incredibly helpful to founders. A cap table is basically a document listing your company’s equity distribution and securities (if any). This includes your share distribution, options, warrants, etc., and who owns each. It should be simple, organized, and up to date in Excel type format or there are some nice software available too. |
| Laws applicable to your business | Understand and know the laws applicable to your business |
| Fundraising documents | Terms sheets for investments. Type of capital raise, SAFE or Convertible Notes? Or any other model? |
| Employer Documents | Policy or Handbook for Employees, Employee communication forms, Employee performance review forms, NDAs and contract for employees |
| NDAs with third parties |
|
| Insurance Policies | Most foreseeable risks can be protected either by contract or insurance. Please discuss with your insurance advisor |
| Website Terms and Conditions + Privacy Policy | DO NOT copy paste and create these to suit your own business. Ask advice from a lawyer if you need to. Do not rely on your website designer |
| Agreements with Consultants and Suppliers | Create strong contracts with enforceable dispute resolution provisions. Include rights, obligations, remedies and exit strategy. Seek advice from your legal advisor to draft or review these documents |
| Checklist | Description |
|---|---|
| Advisor agreement (if applicable) | A typical advisor agreement defines the startup-advisor relationship. It typically sets forth the advisor’s incentive equity amount and type (i.e. options or restricted equity grant) and a vesting schedule, if any provided. More importantly, the Advisor Agreement should include, or have attached, various terms and conditions. Depending on how involved the advisor will be with confidential information and the development of the company’s products or services he may also need to be provided with invention assignment agreement |
| Selected Board of Advisors/ Consultants | Lawyers, Financial Advisors, Technical Advisors, Insurance Advisors |
| Internship Contracts | Create a form for all interns to sign |
| Development Agreements / Statement of Work | All developers should sign a contract and ensure that all work being created is automatically assigned to the Company and not retained in developer’s name/account |
| Power of Attorney | Consider issuing power of attorney to a trusted individual for any unforeseen situation |
