In last week’s Startup essential Workshop “Building an Investable Venture” organized by venturelab, Karim Maizar talked about aspects of financing and how to avoid legal pitfalls for your startup. Karim is Partner at Kellerhals Carrard Zurich, they provide a startup helpdesk for legal advice.

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In the first part of the workshop, Karim explained different ways of financing your startup. He gave much personal advice about Business Angels (“Be aware of what kind of Business Angel you are talking to”) and Crowdfunding (“The more people are involved, the more complicated it gets”).

se2In the second part he discussed the legal framework that startups should be aware of, such as corporate housekeeping, intellectual properties and legal forms for startups.

The workshop gave a great overview about different legal aspects. While some regulations are specific for Switzerland, it is always good to keep in mind how this will change if you go international. I liked the examples Karim gave from his experience. My takehome message is that no matter in what stage your startup is, do not forget the legal aspects and in case of doubt get in touch with a specialized lawyer.

The Startup Essentials are a great format for young and ambitious entrepreneurs. Loads of success have already participants from the last semester course like Clara Beck from TapTools, Tauras Sinkevicius from WedMap or Raphael Gindrat from BestMile.

Register here for the next free workshops with Venture Capitalist Alexander Stoeckel from BrainsToVentures AGwith whom we talked a few moths ago – or the final workshops in the coming weeks at ETH Zürich or EPFL Lausanne.

You want to jump into the next workshop session? Register at http://www.venturelab.ch/se

A report by ETH Entrepreneur Club (written by Jonas Peschel).