01 Yadegari Law · Counsel for Startups
Legal counsel for people building the next big thing.
Big Law precision. Wall Street grit. Founder empathy. We've built companies, run legal inside high-growth startups, and know the difference between a risk worth flagging and a risk worth taking.
02 Why Us
We've sat in your seat.
Most lawyers advise startups from the outside looking in. We've run them — hiring, product launches, fundraising, board meetings, the works — from the inside.
Operator-grade experience, not just legal.
Our team doesn't advise startups from the outside — we've operated inside them. Building products, managing teams, and living with the consequences of the calls we made shapes every recommendation we give.
Big Law precision, Wall Street grit.
Big Law-trained, with roots in investment banking. We bring the same discipline to a seed-stage startup that we'd bring to a public company deal.
Too many lawyers think like lawyers.
We don't. Every recommendation is weighed against what it actually costs you — in time, money, and momentum — not just what limits liability on paper.
Founders don't keep business hours.
Text-first, always — a real answer, day or night, not an auto-reply. We meet you in your own tools — Slack, Roam, email, text — instead of a portal you'll forget the password to.
03 Affiliated With FiSolve
Backed by a bench of former regulators.
Yadegari Law PLLC is the independent law firm affiliate of FiSolve, the provider of outsourced compliance, legal, and operations services to the financial services industry. Through that affiliation, our clients get direct access to a bench of former SEC staff and former government regulators — the strategic and regulatory judgment calls that sit right next to the legal ones.
When FiSolve's advisory clients need legal work, that work is handled by Yadegari Law PLLC. You don't need a FiSolve engagement to work with us, though — we take on founders and startups directly, independent of any FiSolve relationship. And as those companies scale, they're bolstered by that same SEC know-how, sitting right alongside their legal counsel.
"Debi helps clients navigate intricate business challenges while balancing legal risk with commercial objectives."
— NathanLegal work runs through us.
Any legal work arising out of a FiSolve engagement is handled exclusively by Yadegari Law PLLC, under a separate legal engagement letter.
No FiSolve engagement required.
We work directly with founders and startups who aren't FiSolve clients — the affiliation adds a bench, it doesn't gate the door.
Yadegari Law PLLC and FiSolve are separate, independently operated entities. Engaging FiSolve for strategic or regulatory advisory services does not create an attorney-client relationship or extend attorney-client privilege. Legal services are provided exclusively by Yadegari Law PLLC.
04 Who We Are
Meet the team.
Debi Yadegari is a corporate and securities attorney, entrepreneur, and strategic advisor who brings a rare combination of sophisticated legal training and firsthand operating experience to her work with founders and high-growth companies.
Debi began her legal career in Big Law and later practiced within the legal group of a leading investment bank, advising on complex corporate, securities, and transactional matters. She then moved from advising businesses to building them herself. As a two-time founder, Debi launched and operated a consumer products company in the food space and later built and scaled an HR technology platform that reached more than 100,000 users worldwide. Those experiences gave her an operator's understanding of the decisions founders face every day — from hiring and equity to contracts, fundraising, risk, growth, and ultimately exit.
Debi later brought that perspective in-house as General Counsel of Cal AI, the AI-powered calorie-tracking company that scaled to $50 million in annual revenue in under two years before its eventual acquisition by MyFitnessPal. Today, Debi serves as outside General Counsel and strategic advisor to a select group of technology companies, working closely with founders on the legal and business issues that matter most as they build, scale, raise capital, hire teams, protect their businesses, and prepare for transformative transactions.
B.A. Economics & Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University
Admitted in New York, New Jersey & Washington, D.C.
Steven Yadegari is a securities attorney, former senior SEC official, seasoned negotiator, and Founder & CEO of FiSolve. His career spans government, private practice, and more than two decades in the financial services industry, giving him a sophisticated understanding of both the regulatory landscape and the business realities facing financial firms and their leaders.
Steven previously served in senior roles at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including within the Divisions of Enforcement and Trading and Markets. Today, he advises clients on complex securities and SEC matters and works alongside the Yadegari Law team on regulatory, transactional, negotiation, and dispute-related matters.
Steven is also a recognized authority on negotiation and dispute resolution, which he has taught for more than 25 years as an adjunct professor at Cardozo School of Law. He brings that expertise directly to client matters, helping founders and executives navigate difficult negotiations, resolve disputes, structure deals, and protect their leverage when the stakes are highest.
Steven currently serves on the SEC's Asset Management Subcommittee for Small Advisers and Funds. His combination of regulatory experience, securities expertise, and decades devoted to negotiation gives clients a uniquely practical perspective on both the rules of the game — and how to navigate them strategically.
05 What We Do
Full-stack legal support, from idea to exit.
The legal work every startup runs into — the day you form your company, and the day you sell it — organized like the schedules of a deal.
Formation & Governance
- LLC formation & corporate incorporation
- Founder agreements, equity splits & vesting
- Bylaws, operating agreements & board/stockholder consents
- Stock purchase agreements & 83(b) elections
- Foreign qualification & multi-state filings
- Corporate governance, board matters & ongoing compliance
- EIN, registered agent & day-one corporate setup
Intellectual Property
- IP assignment — making sure the company actually owns what it has built
- Trademark clearance & registration
- Patent & copyright strategy
- IP licensing & commercialization
- Protecting IP through employees, contractors & strategic relationships
Technology & Commercial Contracts
- SaaS, software licensing & technology agreements
- Customer, vendor & strategic partnership agreements
- Privacy policies, terms of use & data processing agreements
- AI, data use & governance
- NDAs and the everyday contracts that keep a company moving
Financing
- SAFEs & convertible notes
- Priced equity rounds, seed through growth
- Cap tables, investor rights & financing documents
- Term sheet review & negotiation
- Venture debt & alternative financing
- Securities compliance & SEC matters
People & Employment
- Employment, executive & advisor agreements
- Equity and phantom equity compensation plans
- Independent contractor agreements & worker classification
- Employee handbooks & workplace policies
- Hiring, compensation, performance & separation matters
- Building the legal infrastructure for a growing team
Fractional General Counsel
- Embedded, ongoing legal support built around your team
- Strategic counsel for the decisions founders face as they scale
- On-call advice when decisions can't wait for a scheduled call
- Coordination with investors, accountants, specialists & outside counsel
M&A & Strategic Transactions
- Managing a sale from LOI through closing
- Buy-side & sell-side diligence
- Negotiating the deal terms that actually matter
- Earn-outs, escrows & other deal contingencies
- Joint ventures & strategic partnerships
- Acquisitions, asset sales & other strategic transactions
Founder Disputes, Separations & Wind-Downs
- Founder and partner disputes
- Founder, executive & advisor separations
- Equity repurchases, buyouts & ownership restructurings
- Negotiated exits & separation agreements
- Pre-litigation strategy & dispute resolution
- Business breakups, restructurings & orderly wind-downs
- Company dissolutions & final corporate matters
06 Pricing
A fee schedule that fits how startups operate.
No surprise invoices. Every engagement starts with a conversation about scope — then we agree on how you'll pay for it.
| Model | For | How it works | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat Fee | Defined-scope work — formation, a standard financing, a contract review. | Priced up front, before we start. No surprises at invoice time. | Packages begin at $2,500 |
| Hourly | Matters that don't fit a tidy scope. | Billed in clear, transparent increments. | Rates begin at $850/hour |
| Fractional GC | Ongoing, embedded counsel for founders who want a GC without hiring one. | Flat monthly fee covers a defined scope; overage beyond that scope is billed hourly and split, so you're never paying full freight for an unpredictable month. | Monthly rates starting at $5K, with limited hours |
| Equity Arrangements | Select early-stage companies we believe in. | Discounted fees in exchange for equity, structured to satisfy applicable conflict-of-interest and professional-responsibility rules. | Upon negotiation |
Every engagement begins with a no-cost scoping conversation — text, call, or email, your choice.
Start a conversation07 Get In Touch
Text me. I mean it.
The fastest way to reach us is the way you'd reach anyone else you actually needed.