500 Startups Unveils Their Free KISS Legal Docs

By Alison Fedoris, 1871 intern

Legal fees have long been an issue for startups. On February 22, 2014, CEO Howard Tullman wrote a blog post where he discussed the incredibly high legal fees startups face and how they are a detriment to the startup community. In the post, available here, Tullman wrote that lawyers feel the need to “redraft or reinvent the wheel every time they create a set of totally boilerplate Seed or Series A investment documents,” hurting founders and investors and the entire startup community. This week, 500 Startups took a big step is toward creating a fairer startup-legal relationship.

KISS, an acronym for “Keep it Simple Security,” will have free legal documents for founders and investors. After seeing a lot of people “get screwed over in the past” as well as having “paid a lot of money to lawyers” themselves, 500 Startups General Counsel Gregory Raiten believes that KISS is “one of the best convertible instruments on the market.” With hopes to expand and be adopted by other investors, this new venture looks promising for investors and founders alike.

In Tullman’s post, his last piece of advice is to “get back to building your business.” KISS and the now-available free legal documents are another sign of progress as all in the tech community work to help startups grow and succeed.