For many startups, the first outside capital does not come from a venture capital fund or institutional investor. It comes from people who already know and believe in the founders: parents, siblings, friends, colleagues, mentors, and other members of the founders’ personal and professional networks.

This is commonly called a friends and family round, or an F&F round.

But there is an important legal point founders often miss:

There is no federal securities-law exemption called the “friends and family exemption.”

For startup founders raising private capital, one question appears repeatedly:

Who can legally invest in my company?

For many startups relying on Regulation D, particularly Rule 506(b), the answer often turns on whether prospective investors qualify as “accredited investors.”

On September 30, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission took several steps that could eventually change the private-market landscape. The SEC proposed amendments intended to expand retail access to private-market investment strategies and, separately, requested public comment on additional ways individuals might qualify as accredited investors.

One of the most significant concepts under consideration is straightforward: Should someone be able to demonstrate that they are sophisticated enough to participate in private offerings based on knowledge or professional credentials rather than primarily on wealth?

One of the earliest—and potentially most consequential—decisions startup founders make is how to divide ownership of the company.

Shareholder disputes can transform a successful business relationship into an intensely adversarial conflict. Former friends, co-founders, family members, or longtime business partners may suddenly find themselves fighting over financial information, management decisions, distributions, compensation, corporate opportunities, or control of the company.

Launching a fintech company in the United States presents an unusual legal challenge: there is no single “fintech license” and no single regulator responsible for determining whether a financial technology product may lawfully operate.

Raising capital from private investors can provide startups and growing businesses with access to funding without pursuing a traditional public securities offering. However, founders often encounter an important securities-law concept early in the fundraising process: the accredited investor.

Developing a mobile application involves far more than writing code, designing an interface, and preparing for launch. Before an app reaches consumers through Apple’s App Store or Google Play, developers must address an increasingly important part of the launch process: the legal documents governing the relationship between the app, its users, and their data.

For most mobile applications, two documents are particularly important: the Terms of Service (also called Terms of Use) and the Privacy Policy.

These documents should not be treated as generic templates added to an app shortly before submission. Apple and Google impose requirements concerning privacy disclosures, data collection, account functionality, subscriptions, user-generated content, and other features that may directly affect what an app’s legal documents need to address.

Just as importantly, an app’s Privacy Policy must correspond with what the application actually does.