First-time founders often don’t think about legal protections - until it’s too late. Handshake deals and gentleman’s agreements might feel like enough in the early days, but when things go wrong (which they often do), a missing contract or unclear equity structure can become costly mistakes for founders.

In this episode of She Talks Business, Sana Khalid sat down with Daria Bolshakova, a legal expert with over 15 years of experience helping founders, startups, and businesses navigate the legal side of growth. In this episode, we’re diving deep into the biggest legal mistakes founders make—from early-stage agreements to co-founder conflicts, investor negotiations, fundraising, and scaling legally.

00:00 Meet Daria Bolshakova 02:43 Common legal mistakes founders make 04:52 Why legal structures matter from day one? 07:07 Fundraising laws and investment instruments 16:15 Crypto tokens 18:20 Startup legal issues: Facebook example 22:19 Legal risks & structures for startup accelerators 25:00 Key learnings from corporate to startup law 27:30 Key legal considerations for investors 33:25 Why fundraising is getting harder 39:54 How founders can legally protect themselves

Connect with: Daria Bolshakova: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dasha-bolshakova/ Sana Khalid: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanakay/

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