General Counsel: Build

The General Counsel Build Plan establishes a rock-solid legal foundation for your business from day one. For one simple monthly fee, you get comprehensive legal support that includes unlimited attorney access for all your legal questions and guidance, plus our essential document suite with all the foundational legal documents your business needs. You’ll also receive dedicated fundraising support to help secure investment and navigate funding rounds, along with one contract review each month.

$3,500 / month

General Counsel is everything you need to get through your next round cleanly.

Denee Reaves| Third Sector Capital

Scope of Services

ADVICE
Unlimited Calls
Unlimited Emails
FORMATION
Incorporation
GOVERNANCE
Legal Health Check
Corporate Clean Up
Ready To Raise
FUNDING
SAFE
Convertible Note
EMPLOYMENT
Employment Agreement
Independent Contractor Agreement
Advisor Agreement
CIIAA
Separation Agreement
EQUITY MANAGEMENT
Stock Plan
Stock Grant
Stock Option Grant
Cap Table Management
COMMERCIAL & IP
Master Service Agreement
SaaS Agreement
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
Mutual NDA
Unilateral NDA
CONTRACT REVIEW
Contract Reviews Per Month	1
PRICING
Monthly Fees	$3,500
Savings	50%

They help us solve problems we don’t even know we will have.

Chinwe Onyeagoro | CEO

Grow is best for:

SEED STAGE STARTUPS

BOUTIQUE CONSULTING FIRMS

BOUTIQUE AGENCIES

MID-SIZED BUSINESSES

We focus on:

100 Day Promise

We promise to get your legal house in order within the first 100 days. First, we put out any existing legal “fires”, then we draft your custom contracts so you’re equipped to grow with confidence.

Why entrepreneurs like you love General Counsel:

Peace of mind.

As a founder, your attention is stretched. We make sure nothing slips through the cracks, so you avoid costly mistakes. Since we don’t bill you in 10-minute increments, you can reach out any time without breaking the bank.

As an entrepreneur I have a billion fires to put out. With General Counsel, legal is one I don’t have to deal with.

Dave Levin | COO, Hala Systems

Get smart.

You don’t know what you don’t know. But we do. We’ve helped hundreds of entrepreneurs like you grow. Kyle brings his personal experience as an entrepreneur as well as his professional experience teaching entrepreneurship at some of nation’s best law schools to help you move from confusion to clarity.

A lot of bigger firms don’t take the time to invest in explaining and educating you. Westaway met me at my comfort level.

Tara | CEO, loT Company

Save time.

Close deals fast. The billable hour incentivizes to over-lawyer every deal and slow down your momentum. By having a clear understanding of your specific needs, we focus on the negotiating the issues that really matter. Our approach results in less back and forth, so that you can close deals quickly and move forward.

General Counsel helps us empower our sales team to close deals fast.

Manoj Dadlani| CEO, Cosmosid

FAQ

Which General Counsel Plan is best for me?

The beauty of our General Counsel plans is that each one is designed to match your startup’s current stage and legal needs.

Build is perfect for pre-revenue founders and very early-stage startups who need to establish their legal foundation with essential documents and ongoing attorney support as they develop their MVP and initial business operations.
Launch works best for pre-seed startups ready to go to market who need increased contract support to handle their expanding deal flow with early customers, partners, and vendors while maintaining comprehensive legal protection.
Grow is ideal for seed-stage startups experiencing significant growth who require more contract reviews and equity management capabilities to support their expanding team, employee stock options, and growing investor relationships.
Scale is designed for mature startups including Series A/B companies ready for rapid expansion who need the flexibility and comprehensive legal infrastructure of in-house counsel without the overhead costs, including robust corporate governance as they scale.

The key is matching your plan to both your current funding stage and the volume of legal work you’re handling. As your startup grows and raises capital, you can easily upgrade to access more support.

Unlimited calls and emails, really?

Yes really. The whole point of General Counsel is to be there when you need us. By removing the billable hour, we’ve made it frictionless for you to reach out to us on issues big and small. This completely changes the dynamic of the relationship from transactional to partnership.

This seems a little too good to be true. How can you make this work?

We work smarter, not harder. Because we designed the firm specifically for entrepreneurs, from day one we’ve been relentlessly focused on the efficient delivery of quality legal services. Our model is built on the 3 Ps: (1) Partner – Each General Counsel client is paired with a Partner with 10+ years experience in startup law. (2) Paralegal – The partner is supported by a Senior Paralegal with 20+ years of experience. (3) Process – We’ve invested in automation (and are exploring AI) to make our process quick, smooth and highly accurate.

What is not included in General Counsel?

We’ve been working with founders for over a decade. From our experience, General Counsel covers about 90% of a startup’s legal needs. Although issues like regulation, taxation, international structuring and M&A are not included within the scope of General Counsel, everything listed above is included. When projects are out of scope, we often work with our General Counsel clients on a per project basis.

How do you calculate the cost savings?

Our cost savings are based on the price to get the services on a per-project basis here at Westaway. If numbers excite you, check out this Google Sheet that gives an itemized breakdown for each General Counsel Plan. All calculations are based on our publicly available transparent pricing list averaged over 12 months. Of course, keep in mind that our prices tend to be 20-40% less than most startup law firms, so the cost savings compared to those firms will be significantly greater.

What types of contracts are included under contract review?

Contract review includes reviewing, editing and negotiating any contract that is 20 pages or less with any counterparty.

What is a startup General Counsel?

A startup General Counsel is a strategic legal advisor who partners with the senior leadership team to steer a young company through critical legal matters. More than just an in-house lawyer, a General Counsel helps shape overall strategy and advises on key legal issues from incorporation to funding to intellectual property. With deep expertise across corporate law, a General Counsel guides startups through major milestones like raising capital, hiring talent, drafting contracts, and establishing policies and procedures. An adept startup General Counsel understands both the legal and business implications of strategic decisions, allowing them to provide tailored guidance on mitigating risk while enabling growth. By leveraging legal knowledge and instincts, a trusted General Counsel empowers leadership to build the strongest legal foundation possible in the early days of a startup.

Why do startups need a General Counsel?

Startups need a General Counsel to provide expert legal guidance from day one. An experienced startup GC becomes a strategic advisor, getting to know the business to offer tailored advice. Over time, the GC builds valuable institutional knowledge that informs wise counsel as the company grows. Rather than scrambling to find legal help when needs arise, startups benefit enormously from having a startup General Counsel ready to steer them through the twists and turns in the road ahead. With a trusted legal partner, founders can focus on innovation while mitigating risk.