Legal advice for start-up businesses

If you’re considering launching a new business, then you’ll no doubt know just how much time and work will be involved. One area of business that start-ups commonly overlook is law, so we’ve put together some legal advice that you should take into consideration.

Agree on ownership with co-founders

Ownership is one of the biggest and most contentious aspects of start-up businesses, so make sure that you and your co-founders know where you stand. If you overlook this, you can run into major problems with your business, so consider your founder agreement as a “prenup” where every member of the team understands what belongs to them.

Although you don’t need to go to a solicitor to make a founder agreement, you should at least create a written document that you can refer back to should anything go wrong.

Register your company

Once you’ve agreed on a name and you’re ready to start trading, you should register your business so that you comply with the law. It doesn’t take long to set up a company; you just need to check out the company registration section of our website, where digital businesses can be registered from just £15.99.

We take the pressure out of submitting your business to Companies House and offer a free .co.uk domain name and email address when you sign up.

Consider intellectual property

If you’ve created a product or service that you want to protect, then you should consider intellectual property law and take out the appropriate cover. Patents allow you to prevent others from making or selling a product that’s too similar to yours, but they can take up to two and a half years to be processed, so it pays to act fast.

Copyright, on the other hand, allows you to protect art, copy, music, software and music, while trademarks do not need to be registered in advance as they come into effect as soon as you use your brand, logo or another marketing device in a public space. By making sure you understand intellectual property law before you launch your business, you’ll save yourself thousands of pounds

Think about your name

When you register a company, you don’t necessarily have to trade under that name, which is great if you’re planning on launching more than one brand. However, you must legally disclose the ownership of your business, mention the business name and company number, and place the official address on your business website, so bear this in mind before starting.

Check for licensing

Before you launch your business, check to see whether you require a licence to trade, as obtaining one can sometimes be time-consuming and costly. Most companies need a general business licence, but some will require additional licensing if they were to work with children, the vulnerable, with alcohol or with harmful substances.

You can find out more about this on the licence finder section of the government website.

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This post was written by Chris Beck