I too enjoy the strategy side of the business more than the nuts-and-bolts basics. I’d much rather be sitting in a meeting with a CEO and a white board, thinking through the various strategic decisions and game-theorying the options in front of us. It’s fun, engaging and creative – and one of my favorite parts about being a business lawyer.

And while those other boring items might seem a nuisance at first, not tackling them upfront creates unnecessary risk. In some cases, the risks can be catastrophic. These basic legal requirements are foundational, but you often don’t find out how shaky a poorly-laid foundation is until it’s too late. And, the main reason these risks aren’t addressed is almost always due to cost. Founders often think of these early legal and accounting costs as unnecessary when their precious cash could be better used working on product development or making their first hires. I get it.

To make things easier to conceptualize, I often say that instead of looking at it like you’re “paying a lawyer” or “paying a CPA”, it might be easier to think of it as an insurance payment: you are paying a reasonable and proportionate insurance premium to protect against catastrophic loss in the future.

This is the first of a series of articles outlining the basic legal requirements that need to be in place to de-risk your business. This list applies to both new start-ups as well as currently-operating growth stage businesses. If you haven’t put these steps in place yet, don’t wait. When it’s time to raise outside money, get a bank loan, or go through due diligence to try to sell your company, you’ll be left scrambling without this stuff in place and potentially scuttle your opportunities.

In the next article, we’ll start with a real-life story that perfectly illustrates the dangers to not de-risking your biz upfront.