[View this page on Briefcase](https://nextbriefcase.com/use-cases/founders-and-startups) Use cases for founders and startups # Build the company on a legal foundation you understand and control. The company needs legal infrastructure from the moment the founders divide ownership, contribute intellectual property, accept money, hire someone, promise a customer something, sign a vendor agreement, or give another person authority to act. 27 named situations in 6 groups In this domain ## Explore what preparedness looks like. A founder creates legal consequences from the first conversation about ownership through financing, hiring, commercial growth, governance, acquisition, succession, or wind-down. The same pattern runs through all of them. Establish the record, understand the choices, preserve control, execute deliberately, and stay ready for the next consequential moment. These examples are a starting point for the many situations a company meets as it takes shape and grows. 01 · 5 situations ### Formation, ownership and founder control - The handshake before incorporation The situation Two founders have agreed to split the company evenly but have not decided vesting, roles, decision rights, departure consequences, or what happens at deadlock. With Briefcase Briefcase surfaces the decisions that belong in the founder agreement, explains why each matters, records the founders' choices, and prepares the agreement to review and sign. - Control hidden inside ordinary paper The situation A founder focuses on valuation while voting thresholds, protective provisions, board composition, drag-along rights, and information rights quietly reshape who controls the company. With Briefcase Briefcase connects each term to the decisions it controls, from voting thresholds to drag-along rights, and compares the proposed structure with what the founder said matters most. - Contributions nobody documented The situation Code, a domain, customer relationships, cash, and prior work enter the company informally. With Briefcase Briefcase inventories each contribution, names the ownership question it raises, and keeps the record. - The cap table as a legal record The situation Equity promises live in email, a spreadsheet, and unsigned grant paperwork. With Briefcase Briefcase reconciles promises with approvals and signed documents, and exposes the gaps. - Founder departure before anyone planned for it The situation A founder leaves while holding unvested equity, company access, confidential information, and disputed IP. With Briefcase Briefcase surfaces the agreements that govern the departure, coordinates what has to happen, and keeps the decision record. *** 02 · 5 situations ### Fundraising and investor readiness - Understand the term sheet before the clock starts The situation A founder receives a short deadline and a term sheet where the economic terms and the control terms move together. With Briefcase Briefcase explains each term in context, shows how they interact, and prepares the questions or revisions. - The standing fundraising room The situation The company maintains a diligence-ready record before outreach begins. With Briefcase Briefcase keeps the record organized, flags gaps, and opens investors only what is chosen. - Investor questions answered from the source The situation An investor asks about revenue concentration, IP ownership, a material contract, or the forecast. With Briefcase Briefcase answers from the materials that investor may see, cites the source, and routes the rest to an owner. - Parallel diligence without disclosure sprawl The situation Several investors review the company at once with different access, expiration, and follow-up needs. With Briefcase Briefcase keeps one company record, opens a scoped room per investor, tracks requests, and records what each party saw. - Closing as coordinated work The situation Financing documents, signatures, consents, conditions, and post-closing obligations cross founders, counsel, the board, and investors. With Briefcase Briefcase sequences the work, executes the final documents, preserves the exact versions, and moves every continuing obligation into the standing record. *** 03 · 4 situations ### People, equity and intellectual property - The first employee package The situation The company needs an offer, confidentiality and invention assignment, equity documents, and policy acknowledgments that reflect the choices the founder makes. With Briefcase Briefcase explains the decisions, prepares the offer, assignment, equity documents, and acknowledgments, routes them for review, executes them, and keeps the completed record. - Contractors who built the product The situation Contractors built critical parts of the product before anyone signed an assignment. With Briefcase Briefcase ties each contributor's work to its agreement, surfaces the gaps, and coordinates the fix. - Equity deadlines that outlive onboarding The situation Vesting, exercise, election, approval, and expiration dates sit scattered across plans and grants. With Briefcase Briefcase makes the full document set answerable and keeps every consequential date visible to the person who owns it. - A policy that has to work in practice The situation A handbook rule, security policy, approval process, or leave procedure affects several functions. With Briefcase Briefcase makes the materials answerable, routes each question to the right policy and owner, and keeps the exceptions. *** 04 · 5 situations ### Customers, vendors and routine agreements - The contract you sign every week The situation The company needs an NDA, contractor agreement, statement of work, referral agreement, or other routine contract. With Briefcase Briefcase gathers the business terms, explains the choices that matter, prepares the structure chosen, and supports review and signature. - The customer paper that changes the risk The situation A customer substitutes its own MSA with broader indemnity, security commitments, service levels, or ownership terms. With Briefcase Briefcase compares it against the company's own position and policies, explains every difference, and coordinates the negotiation. - Vendor obligations across functions The situation Procurement signs terms that create work for security, finance, privacy, legal, and operations. With Briefcase Briefcase pulls each obligation into the record, assigns an owner, watches the dates, and keeps the clause attached. - Renewal before leverage disappears The situation An auto-renewal, termination window, price increase, or minimum commitment approaches. With Briefcase Briefcase surfaces the clause and the deadline, shows the paths, and prepares the notice or negotiation. - One promise, several documents The situation Sales materials, the order form, MSA, security exhibit, privacy terms, and implementation plan describe the same commitment differently. With Briefcase Briefcase reads them together, surfaces every inconsistency, names the owner of each, and preserves the approved position. *** 05 · 4 situations ### Governance and cross-functional operations - The board room that remembers The situation Directors need the packet, prior decisions, approvals, conflicts, and open work without access to the entire company workspace. With Briefcase Briefcase prepares the meeting, provisions access, answers questions from the authorized record, records the decisions, and carries the tasks forward. - Policies, procedures, and playbooks as operating intelligence The situation Leadership, people, finance, legal, security, sales, and operations each hold part of the answer. With Briefcase Briefcase connects the governing materials in one permission-aware room, so leaders can ask what applies and assign it. - The incident that tests the preparation The situation A security event, workplace complaint, customer escalation, regulatory inquiry, or business interruption activates several playbooks and agreements at once. With Briefcase Briefcase opens a controlled response room from the standing foundation, identifies the obligations that apply, preserves the evidence, assigns owners, and keeps the decision log. - Professional judgment without surrendering the company record The situation Outside counsel, an accountant, a security advisor, or another specialist needs a defined slice of the issue. With Briefcase Briefcase invites the professional into a scoped room with the relevant record, and keeps the work in the company's foundation. *** 06 · 4 situations ### Diligence, acquisition, exit and wind-down - Diligence-ready before the buyer appears The situation With a clean, answerable record, the company answers an acquisition, financing, audit, or strategic partnership without weeks of reconstruction. With Briefcase Briefcase maintains the standing record, surfaces the gaps as they appear, and opens the scoped external room the moment the opportunity arrives. - Change of control across every contract The situation Customer, vendor, financing, lease, licensing, and equity documents each set their own consent and termination consequences. With Briefcase Briefcase reads them together, identifies every required consent and counterparty, and coordinates the closing plan. - Founder, employee, and investor interests at exit The situation Waterfalls, preferences, acceleration, option treatment, retention, and board approval interact. With Briefcase Briefcase makes the controlling documents understandable together and preserves each authorized decision. - An orderly wind-down The situation The company must address employees, taxes, creditors, customers, vendors, data, assets, filings, and retained obligations in the correct sequence. With Briefcase Briefcase coordinates the work in sequence, prepares the communications and documents, preserves the approvals, and keeps the founders' personal exposure visible. Through lines ## What stays true across every situation here. - The founder often discovers the missing agreement, approval, assignment, or control right when an investor, employee, customer, or acquirer supplies the deadline. - The company record and the founder's personal legal life intersect without becoming one data set. - The document you sign on day one governs the day you leave. ## Other domains Other domains - [Personal and family](https://nextbriefcase.com/use-cases/personal-and-family) - [Business and teams](https://nextbriefcase.com/use-cases/business-and-operator) - [All use cases](https://nextbriefcase.com/use-cases) Pilots start as early as October 1, 2026.