For Brisbane and Australian technology founders, this guide helps prepare a focused adviser brief.
A useful legal plan starts with what your company is about to do. A business preparing to hire a developer needs a different brief from one negotiating its first enterprise sale. Avoid treating every possible document as equally urgent.
This is general business information. Local company, employment, tax and regulatory requirements need advice for the relevant jurisdiction.
Build a decision calendar
List the next three business milestones and their target dates: establishing ownership, releasing a product, onboarding a contractor, signing a customer or receiving investment. For each, record the people involved, the countries connected to it and the records you already have.
Use four questions to prioritise work:
- What must be settled before the milestone can proceed?
- Which commitments would be difficult to reverse?
- What information is missing?
- Who can decide, approve and complete the work?
A missing signature on an IP transfer and an unfinished optional policy are not interchangeable tasks. Have an adviser assess the implications instead of ranking solely by document length.
Keep one record of open issues
Use a simple table with issue, business impact, owner, next action and deadline. Add links to signed records, not just drafts. Distinguish “discussed,” “approved” and “completed” so an informal conversation does not become a presumed legal outcome.
For example, before a developer begins work, record the working arrangement, ownership expectations, access permissions and handover requirements. Before a customer signs, record what the product can deliver and which requested terms need review.
Prepare a focused legal brief
Give your adviser the milestone, the decision you need, relevant documents and the constraints. Ask for a scope that identifies advice, drafting, negotiation and completion work separately.
WIPO's startup IP guide is a useful starting resource for understanding how intellectual property fits business planning. It is not a substitute for advice about your ownership position. WIPO: Enterprising Ideas.
Review the plan when the business changes
Revisit the issue list when you change markets, hire in a new country, collect a new type of data or begin fundraising. The goal is a current record of decisions and responsibilities, not a collection of unused templates.
Start with founder agreements, IP ownership or SaaS contracts, according to the milestone ahead.
General information for planning a conversation with qualified advisers. It is not legal advice for your circumstances. Scope, jurisdiction and fees are agreed before any engagement.