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Granting options or restricted stock is a securities transaction. Learn how Rule 701, Rule 506(b), and blue sky laws keep your equity plan investor-ready.

This Technology Assignment Agreement is designed to transfer all pre-incorporation intellectual property from a founder to the startup at or near the time of formation. It ensures the company—not the individual founders—owns the technology, code, designs, and know-how underlying the business. In exchange, the founder typically receives equity, and agrees to cooperate with future filings, recordations, and enforcement. Properly executed, this agreement creates clean IP ownership that investors and acquirers expect from day one.

Here’s a tighter version:

> One of the easiest ways to derail a startup deal is discovering the company doesn’t actually own its own technology. Founders often build the core IP before incorporating, leaving it owned by individuals instead of the company. Investors won’t fund that, and acquirers won’t touch it. A technology assignment agreement fixes this by transferring all pre-incorporation IP to the company—clean, simple, and essential.

Raising capital isn’t just about getting money—it’s about choosing a set of economic and control rights that will shape your startup for years. From SAFEs and convertible notes to Series A and growth rounds, this guide explains the most common venture financing instruments, when founders typically use them, and the tradeoffs that matter before you sign a term sheet.

A practical guide to startup offer letters, founder equity, vesting, IP assignments, option pools, 409A valuations, and equity comp from formation to late-stage.

A practical guide to startup offer letters, founder equity, vesting, IP assignments, option pools, 409A valuations, and equity comp from formation to late-stage.