We advise founders and venture-backed companies across the full company lifecycle: formation, founder arrangements, financing rounds, ESOPs, commercial contracts, regulatory readiness, cross-border structuring, and exits.
Formation & Founder Arrangements
Company formation in Türkiye and abroad, founder agreements, equity allocation, vesting schedules, IP assignment frameworks, and the structural decisions that establish a defensible cap-table from day one.
Financing Rounds
Pre-seed through Series B+ financing: SAFEs, convertible notes, priced equity rounds, secondary sales, and bridge financings. Term sheet negotiation, definitive documentation, investor consents, and closing mechanics aligned with subsequent-round expectations.
ESOP & Incentive Structures
ESOP design, option pool sizing, vesting and acceleration architecture, cross-border tax treatment, and ongoing administration. Programs are built to scale across multiple grant cycles and to integrate cleanly with subsequent financing rounds and exit scenarios.
Commercial Contracts
Customer agreements, distribution and reseller contracts, vendor and SaaS arrangements, IP licensing, data processing agreements, and the commercial documentation that underpins day-to-day operations.
Regulatory Readiness
KVKK / GDPR compliance, e-commerce and consumer-protection obligations, sector-specific licensing (fintech, crypto-asset services, gaming, health-tech), and the regulatory architecture required before product launch and ahead of investor diligence.
Flip-Up and Cross-Border Structuring
Delaware C-Corp and Cayman structures for U.S.-investor or global-market positioning, Flip-Up execution, cross-border IP transfers, holding-company architecture, and the tax positioning required to make the structure operate as designed in the post-Flip cap-table and ongoing reporting profile.
Exit Preparation
Due-diligence readiness, founder-side sell-side representation, drag-along and tag-along mechanics, vendor and IP assignment cleanup, employment and ESOP transition planning, and the structural and operational housekeeping required to run a clean M&A process.
Related
See also U.S. Flip-Up & Company Formation, Employment Law & ESOP, Sell-Side Representation, ESOP, and SAFE.
Founder Academy resources
Free, practical checklists for this area: Term Sheet Negotiation Checklist, ESOP Design Checklist, YC SAFE Documents.
Other Practice Areas
The team you will work with in this area
Click a name for the profile.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a startup financing round take to close in Türkiye?
A priced seed or Series A round typically closes in 6–10 weeks from a signed term sheet. SAFE or convertible-note rounds can close in 1–3 weeks because they skip valuation negotiation and most closing conditions. Cross-border elements such as a Delaware topco or foreign-investor approvals usually add 2–4 weeks.
Should we incorporate in Türkiye or set up a Delaware C-Corp?
If your investors and market are primarily Turkish, a Turkish joint-stock company (A.Ş.) is usually sufficient. If you plan to raise from US funds or sell globally, a Delaware C-Corp holding company with a Turkish operating subsidiary — a flip-up — is the structure most US investors expect to see.
What legal documents does an early-stage startup actually need?
At minimum: a founders’ agreement with vesting and IP assignment, employment or contractor agreements that assign IP to the company, an ESOP plan if you promise equity, basic customer terms, and KVKK-compliant privacy documentation. Most other documents can wait until the first institutional round.