The essentials of start-up law

The aim of this book is to provide a concise, practical overview of the law applicable to start-ups. Its aim is to provide the reader with the keys to :

• an in-depth understanding of the legal process involved in setting up a start-up
• acquire the legal reflexes essential for the long-term survival and development of a start-up
• analyze the main legal issues the start-up will have to face and adopt the best strategy.

The book is structured into 4 parts and 10 chapters, each designed to be read independently.

The start-up, a special kind of company

What is a start-up? Defining this American concept is no easy task. According to Steve Blank, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Stanford University, a start-up is "a temporary organization in search of an industrializable, profitable business model for growth". While start-ups do not fit into a strict definition, they are distinguished from other companies by the existence of certain specific characteristics:

• A strong capacity for innovation. Two main types of innovation can be identified: incremental innovation, which aims to improve an existing product, service or predecessor (e.g. the evolution of the I-Phone); and diruptive innovation, i.e. bringing radically new products or services to market (e.g. the advent of the cell phone).
• Strong growth potential. It's a company that's just starting out ("start") and whose main aim is to rise ("up"). To support its growth, the company will need to find new financing and investors (fund-raising).
• A specific creative mindset. The Silicon Valley motto "creativity, freedom, solidarity" illustrates the startup mindset.
• Constant adaptation and flexibility. In order to remain competitive, many start-ups have developed a continuous innovation process based on "lean start-up", a process that enables projects to be launched rapidly through an approach based on learning by validation, experimentation and iteration.

The rise of start-ups in France and Europe

Although the first start-ups appeared in the late 1990s, the phenomenon entered a new era with the digital revolution and the advent of Web 2.0 (social networking, collaborative tools, etc.). Today, these companies operate not only in the high-tech sector, but also in a wide variety of sectors, such as e-commerce, transport, healthcare, travel, etc. In this universe, we find both small structures and "unicorns", start-ups valued at a billion dollars or more (Blablacar, Vente-privee.com, Zalando, etc.), whose fund-raising activities are increasingly important. In France, the public authorities have been working for several years to create an ecosystem conducive to the development of start-ups. For example, the French Tech initiative launched in 2013 aims to support and accelerate the international growth of these companies.

The law applicable to start-ups

Focused on financial, commercial and communication aspects, young start-up founders all too often neglect the legal aspects, without realizing that mistakes can have serious consequences, particularly in terms of civil and criminal liability. The creation and management of a start-up call on different branches of law: business law, intellectual property, contract law...

The expertise of legal professionals is often invaluable. This requires a clear understanding of the competence of each of them, in order to secure all these legal aspects.