Ask HN: Does having the right corp lawyer help you find investors?

The VC introductions are an invaluable asset offered by the large law firms in the startup area - if your business model is capital-intensive, you will find no better way to open doors to this type of funding.

The big-firm model is highly VC-focused, though, and can be somewhat inflexible for bootstrapping types of ventures. It all depends on where your company is at.

Lawyers and investors aren't particularly tightly linked in Silicon Valley, so I wouldn't consider their investor community in making a decision about using them. Besides, if the investor were tightly linked to the lawyer, you couldn't count on the lawyer to represent your best interests in a financing with that investor.

Larry Sonsini can help you meet investors, but if you can get Sonsini to represent you, you're probably already past the hurdle of meeting investors. Look instead at the quality of their work and what they will cost you.

That's true. A lot of intros to investors come through lawyers.

The best introductions to VCs come from entrepreneurs who made them millions. Lawyer intros are definitely lower on the list, but far better than cold calling.

Deferred costs is a fair deal. Of course, the bill will be large once you have to pay it, but at least it's deferred. Just make sure that it's truly deferred forever. If it's deferred for 6 months or funding (whichever comes first), it's a bad, bad, deal. Debt bankrupts companies.