The start-up safety net

When Sudharsan Lodha attended an entrepreneurship programme in 2012, he discovered that of the 75 companies attending, almost 40-50 had legal issues of some sorts. “Some of the entrepreneurs had no clue what a term sheet or an NDA was,” says Lodha. “When you start a business, there are many tax, compliance and legal requirements and an entrepreneur cannot handle everything.” Coming from a family of lawyers, addressing this growing need seemed an obvious choice. So he and his sister, Priyanka Chopra, both lawyers, decided to launch Yourstartupsolutions (YSS), a one-stop shop for all legal, tax and secretarial needs of a start-up, right from the time of incorporation to the time of going public. 

YSS’ team of one chartered accountant, two company secretaries and seven lawyers provides services such as incorporation, IPR, taxation or investor agreements. YSS works either for a fee on a per transaction basis or on a retainer basis, where it provides the entire spectrum of legal, secretarial and tax services for an annual fee. Starting out with some five clients, friends Lodha made while attending the entrepreneurship programme, YSS now has around 30-35 clients, including IIT Madras’ incubation cell. Next up, pitching services to other incubators, accelerators and VC and offering services to their portfolio companies. After that will come cross-border services for firms looking to raise money or setting up shop overseas.