Audience

This handbook is written for U.S.-based startup founders. If you're a startup founder based elsewhere, much of the content in this handbook may still be relevant. This will be especially the case if your startup will be set up like a U.S.-based startup. However, some parts may not be applicable. Unfortunately, there's no way to tell what parts those are without an analysis of your particular situation.

Also, the word startup means different things to different people. For the purposes of this handbook, we use the term to refer to:

• companies that are designed to grow fast or
• companies that might raise (or that have raised) money from an accelerator or venture capital firm (commonly referred to as VCs).

Many startups will fall into both of these categories. Some companies may not fall under either category, but still want to model themselves (from a legal perspective) after startups in order to leverage the legal ecosystem around startups. This handbook should be useful for founders of such companies as well.