Free activities and events in New York City

Startup Legal Fundamentals Workshop “What Founders Should Understand Early”

Published: January 18, 2026; Aithor: Julia Sonrisa

A practical, non-technical workshop on common legal issues startups encounter as they grow.

Startup Legal Fundamentals Workshop

Launching and scaling a startup is hard enough—legal issues often surface quietly, only becoming visible when fundraising, hiring, or closing key deals.

This free, educational workshop is designed to help founders and early startup operators understand the legal landscape startups typically encounter, without diving into legal advice, technical jargon, or paperwork.

Rather than telling you what to do, this session focuses on:

• Common patterns seen across startups
• Where issues tend to arise
• Why timing and awareness matter more than perfection

Whether you’re pre-formation, early revenue, or preparing for growth, this workshop will help you think more clearly about legal risks and tradeoffs before they become expensive or disruptive.

What you’ll learn

In this session, we’ll cover:

• How legal issues typically appear across the startup lifecycle
• Common founder misconceptions around ownership, equity, and control
• Why intellectual property problems often surface during fundraising—not product launch
• How contracts, data, and compliance risks quietly compound over time
• What changes legally when a startup raises capital or scales operations
• How experienced founders and investors tend to think about legal risk

All content is presented at a high level, focused on awareness and education—not instructions or recommendations.

Who Should Attend

This workshop is a good fit if you are:

• A startup founder or co-founder
• A technical founder without a legal background
• An early-stage startup operator (product, engineering, ops)
• Considering fundraising now or in the future
• Curious about legal risks but unsure where to start

Who this is not for

This event may not be a good fit if you are looking for:

• Legal advice specific to your startup
• Document templates or step-by-step instructions
• Answers to fact-specific legal questions
• A pitch or sales presentation

This is an educational session only.

Speaker

Angel Gerdzhikov
Founder & Attorney

Angel has over 15 years of experience working with technology-driven organizations across law firms, in-house roles, defense contracting, and tech transfer. His work focuses on intellectual property, technology, cybersecurity, and data-related risk across the startup and innovation lifecycle.

This workshop reflects common patterns observed across startups—not legal advice for any particular company.

Important disclaimer

This event is for general educational purposes only.

Nothing presented constitutes legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is formed by attending. The content is intentionally high-level and does not address any specific startup’s facts or circumstances. Attendees should consult qualified legal counsel for advice regarding their individual situations.

Time: 2:00 pm EST

Free!

Registration

Detailed information and discussion of the event.