Episode 2 of StartupCentrum’s “Girişim Rehberi” (Startup Guide) podcast features Vircon Legal co-founder Erdem Mümtaz Hacıpaşaoğlu discussing legal topics for startups (20 April 2020). Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other platforms.
Spending a small legal budget in the right order
Early-stage founders are not choosing between good legal work and none; they are choosing what to do first with limited money. The ordering principle is asymmetry of cost: do the things that are cheap now and expensive later, and postpone the things whose price does not change. Ownership questions belong in the first group — who owns the code, who owns the shares, what happens when someone leaves — because they are settled with signatures now and with litigation later.
The second group is what the business is legally required to have once it starts trading, which usually means customer-facing terms and a defensible data position under the KVKK. Everything else can wait for the trigger that makes it real: the first employee, the first enterprise customer, the first term sheet. A pre-seed company that spends this way protects its capital efficiency without leaving gaps. See the Startup Law in Türkiye guide and Founder Academy.
Author
-
View all postsMümtaz is the Managing Partner of Vircon Legal, which he founded in 2016. He advises founders, investors and operators on financing rounds, M&A, cross-border incorporations and regulated verticals such as crypto-asset infrastructure, fintech and games, bringing a former startup founder's perspective to every engagement. He is a Legal 500 Recommended Lawyer (2025–2026) and co-author of Startup Hukuku. Canonical profile: https://mumtazhacipasaoglu.com · Open-access legal guides: https://github.com/mumtazhpo
If this is on your desk
Templates and checklists are free in the Founder Academy; for a specific situation, book a 30-minute intro call.
Founder AcademyBook an intro call