Before You Sign: 10 Clauses Every Founder Should Understand
Before You Sign: 10 Clauses Every Founder Should Understand
The legal terms you agree to in your earliest financing rounds can have lasting implications for your company, your fundraising journey, and your ownership. Yet many founders sign SAFEs, convertible notes, and financing documents without fully understanding the provisions that matter most because they focus too much on the check size.
Join us for an interactive practical discussion on the legal considerations every founder should understand before raising capital.
Keynote
Colin Kirby, Foley Hoag, Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Fochair
Colin will walk founders through the most important legal provisions in early-stage financing documents, explaining what they mean in practice, which terms deserve closer attention, and how founders can avoid common mistakes before they become costly.
Fireside Chat
Following the keynote, Victoria Yampolsky from The Startup Station will moderate a panel with three founders and one investor for a candid discussion on legal trends in today's fundraising market, including:
Current trends in SAFEs and convertible notes
Valuation caps and discount rates across today's market
Founder-friendly vs. investor-friendly terms
Common legal mistakes that delay or complicate fundraising
Critical clauses that founders should understand before signing
When walking away from a deal is the right decision
Fireside Chat Panelists
Chad McClennan - President & CEO, Koios Medical, a healthcare AI company developing FDA-cleared software that helps radiologists improve cancer detection and diagnostic accuracy. A recognized voice in healthcare innovation, Chad frequently speaks on AI in medicine and delivered a TEDx talk on the future of machine learning in radiology.
Breen Sullivan - Co-Founder and CEO of The Fourth Effect, the operating system for work outside the org chart—helping professionals build portfolio careers and companies find, engage and manage outside expertise. A former General Counsel and C-suite executive at high-growth companies, she brings more than a decade of experience to the intersection of the future of work, governance and inclusive wealth creation
Julio Marquez - Co-founder and Managing Partner of New York Bay Capital (“NYBAY”), a financial advisory boutique specializing in cross-border investments based in New York City, with offices in Miami, Houston and Toronto, and presence throughout Latin America and in several cities around the world.
Michele Costa - Founder of GoSadi, the infrastructure layer for community-driven digital commerce — starting in the $34B+ needlecraft market.
Who is this event for?
Early-stage tech startups preparing to fundraise or actively fundraising, with MVP or market-ready / early-revenue traction.
Event Schedule:
6:00 – 6:30 PM: Networking
6:30 – 6:40 pm: Keynote
6:40 - 7:20 pm: Fireside Chat
7:20-8:00 pm: Networking
We've never believed in maximizing headcount in a room, we believe in maximizing the right conversations. Every gathering, we focus on intentional connections over crowded rooms, and tonight's match list is the next step in that.
🔗 Your curated match list
We analyzed attendee profiles to identify the 5 people you should actually make a point of meeting tonight: founders building in adjacent spaces, investors active in your sector, operators worth knowing. Each match comes with a quick "why" and a conversation starter built in.
Already registered? Just head to https://yorkseed.co/intro/before-you-sign-nyc the day of our event, log in with the first name + email you used on Luma, and your matches will be ready.
Supported by
This event is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, investment, or tax advice.
Our Hosts:
About The Startup Station
The Startup Station is a CFO advisory and financial education platform for early-stage startups. We help early-stage founders build investor-ready financials and tell their funding story with confidence. In the past decade, we’ve helped 150+ founders raise over $50M and educated 20,000+ entrepreneurs worldwide. The Startup Station also runs Speed Pitch, an exclusive investor-founder matchmaking event series for early-stage startups where founders are matched with 3 investors by sector, stage, and check size.
Yorkseed
Yorkseed is a global capital network and venture platform for founders, investors, and institutional partners. Through Yorkseed Connect, members access a vetted network, deal flow, capital intelligence, and venture tools designed to support better fundraising, investing, and decision-making. For allocators, Yorkseed extends into Valois, its dedicated layer for family offices, LPs, and institutional capital.
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The right rooms. The right people. The right tools for every step of the journey, including the ones you have not thought about yet.
All attendees are encouraged to join Yorkseed Connect this week to access Connection Intelligence and better understand who you're meeting. 1 month complimentary access to Yorkseed Connect. Redeem: https://app.yorkseed.co/eventofferWe look forward to seeing you there.