Ashtons Legal has been with Akcela since the very beginning. As our founding legal partner, they provide the legal foundations that every startup needs to get right from day one.
Why legal matters from day one
Most founders don't think about legal structure until they have to. By then, it's often too late to do it cleanly — and the cost of fixing problems after the fact is dramatically higher than getting it right from the start.
The legal issues that trip up startups aren't obscure edge cases. They're fundamental questions that every company faces:
Share structure. How many shares do you issue? What classes? What rights does each class carry? If you have a co-founder, how do you split equity — and what happens if one of you leaves after six months? Get this wrong and you'll spend thousands fixing it later, or worse, face a shareholder dispute that kills the company.
Founder agreements. A co-founder relationship is like a marriage — it needs a clear agreement about roles, responsibilities, decision-making authority, and what happens if things don't work out. Most founders skip this conversation because it feels uncomfortable. Every lawyer who works with startups has seen the consequences of that avoidance.
IP assignment. If you're building a technology product, the intellectual property needs to belong to the company — not to you personally. This sounds obvious, but without a formal IP assignment agreement, there can be ambiguity about who owns what. Investors will spot this in due diligence and it will stall your fundraise.
Employment contracts. Your first hire needs a proper employment contract, not a handshake. Employment law in the UK is detailed and the consequences of getting it wrong — particularly around unfair dismissal, restrictive covenants, and equity compensation — can be severe for a small company.
Investment round documentation. When you raise through SEIS or EIS, the investment needs to be properly documented — subscription agreements, shareholder agreements, articles of association, and compliance certificates. Ashtons Legal has structured multiple SEIS rounds for Akcela portfolio companies and understands the specific compliance requirements.
What Akcela founders get through the partnership
Through the partnership, Akcela portfolio companies get access to legal support that's calibrated for the early-stage context. Ashtons Legal understands that a startup's legal needs are different from an established business's legal needs — the budgets are smaller, the timelines are shorter, and the decisions are often being made for the first time by founders who've never dealt with corporate law before.
The partnership covers company formation and share structure guidance, shareholder and founder agreements, IP protection and assignment, employment law basics for early hires, and investment round documentation. All delivered by people who understand the startup context and can explain complex legal concepts in plain English.
A founding partnership
This isn't a transactional relationship. Ashtons Legal has been part of the Akcela story from day one, supporting the incubator's development as well as individual portfolio companies. They've attended Akcela events, contributed to workshops, and provided guidance that has directly helped companies get investment-ready.
That long-term commitment is what makes a partnership genuine rather than just a logo on a website. When a founder in the portfolio needs legal advice, they're not calling a general enquiry line — they're speaking to someone who already understands their company, their stage, and the specific challenges they're facing.
How this fits the ecosystem
Legal support is one of many specialist areas that early-stage founders need access to — alongside investment preparation, business model validation, and community connections. Akcela's partnership model brings together specialist organisations so that founders don't have to build these relationships from scratch.
Thank you to the team at Ashtons Legal for their continued support. It makes a real difference to every company in the portfolio.
If you're building a tech-enabled company and want access to this kind of structured support, apply to the Akcela programme or get in touch. You can also learn about what a business incubator does or explore SEIS investment.
