In February 2011, I incorporated a business. I was sitting on the couch in my living room and did not ask for any legal help from a professional.
I filled out a copyright application the same way. It just seemed that I could do it myself without engaging an expensive, overpriced lawyer for my bootstrapped company.
Big mistake. Big...big mistake. Instead of taking a few months, the copyright process ended up taking over 1.5 years with all the mistakes I made. And it hurt: several months ago, we could have really used it when a competitor directly copied our intellectual property.
Having a good relationship with an attorney who knows your industry, or who has worked with startups can be an invaluable asset when you're getting started. With my most recent company, I actually had the assistance of the IIT-Chicago Kent Law School Startup Clinic with incorporation and intellectual property...the difference was night and day in terms of comfort and security in knowing I was doing what was best for the business.
Chicago has a lot of attorneys who specialize in early stage startup legal issues (and many have rates that don't break the bank). I've learned this since recently and hope everyone reading this will take advantage of these resources instead of thinking legal work is too expensive at the beginning.
If you want to learn more, check out the Fall Startup Summit on Sept 22nd. It's an opportunity to hear about issues from top startup attorneys, as well as meet them and ask questions face-to-face in a non threatening environment.
