San Jose Startup & M&A Attorney
Building in the heart of Silicon Valley — and operating across state lines? Most San Jose founders juggle separate lawyers in every state. Accord & Shield is licensed in California, Texas, and Arizona, giving you one firm for formation, financing, contracts, and the exit.
Most business attorneys in San Jose are generalists — a little of everything, mastery of nothing. We’re the opposite. Accord & Shield is a boutique business law firm built for founders and growing companies: the formation, financing, contracts, and exit work that decides whether a startup scales cleanly or hits a wall when it matters most. If you’re building something in San Jose, this is the kind of counsel you want in your corner early.
Built for How Founders Actually Operate
A startup isn’t a smaller version of an established company — it’s a different animal, moving fast and making decisions today that an investor or acquirer will scrutinize years from now. The value is in your idea, your code, your equity split, and your contracts. Get those right early and everything downstream is easier; get them wrong and you pay for it during a financing or a sale, at the worst possible moment. We focus on exactly four areas where founders need real depth:
San Jose sits at the heart of Silicon Valley — the densest concentration of technology talent and capital in the world, home to Adobe, Cisco, Broadcom, and countless others. For founders building in that environment, the bar is high: investors and acquirers expect clean cap tables, airtight IP assignments, and structure that holds up to the most sophisticated diligence.
Formation & founder equity
Entity selection, founder agreements, vesting, option pools, and clean cap tables — structured for the company you intend to become, not just the one you are today. Doing it right beats untangling it during diligence.
Fundraising, SAFEs & notes
SAFEs, convertible notes, and priced rounds each carry different tradeoffs for dilution and control. We help founders choose and paper the instrument that fits their stage — without the terms that haunt the next round.
SaaS & tech contracts
MSAs, subscription agreements, DPAs, licensing, and NDAs — the liability caps, IP ownership, data rights, and assignability terms a future buyer checks line by line. Built to protect you now and survive diligence later.
M&A & the exit
Sell-side and buy-side deals, structure, earnouts tied to performance, and the reps and warranties that allocate risk. The companies that exit cleanly are the ones built diligence-ready from the start.
Raising soon, or just getting started? A short conversation early can save an expensive cleanup later. We offer a free 15-minute consultation for founders in San Jose and across AZ, CA & TX.
Book a Free Consultation →One Firm, Licensed in Arizona, California & Texas
Tech companies rarely stay inside one state’s borders — a San Jose startup with a dev team in Texas and a founder in Arizona is the norm, not the exception. Our attorney is admitted in Arizona, California, and Texas, so you get one firm and one relationship across the three states where your team, customers, and investors actually are. For a growing company, that means one engagement, one point of contact, and consistent counsel in all three states.
One firm for the whole journey
Most founders end up with a different lawyer at every stage. We stay with you from the first filing to the final signature.
Form
Entity, equity & IP set up right
Raise
SAFEs, notes & priced rounds
Scale
Contracts, hiring & compliance
Exit
M&A, earnouts & clean close
Boutique focus, not a generalist
The reasons growing companies pick a dedicated business attorney over a do-everything firm.
We focus on business law
Not personal injury, not family law — business law, done deeply. The high-value work gets a dedicated attorney, not a generalist’s afternoon.
Diligence-ready from day one
We set you up so a future buyer’s lawyers find clean paper, not surprises. Better terms, faster closes when the offer comes.
Counsel invested in your growth
Transparent pricing, efficient scoping, and a long-term relationship — legal counsel that knows your business, works like part of your team, and is in your corner from formation to exit.
Three states, one relationship
Licensed in AZ, CA & TX — where your customers, team, and investors actually are. One firm instead of three.
“A sophisticated attorney whose work product speaks for itself… you need a flexible, deep-thinking lawyer who uses every resource to get you to the best set of protective documents from both the legal and tax perspective. Nadine is such a sophisticated attorney.”— Tom M., Google Review
Testimonials reflect the personal experiences and opinions of individual clients. They do not guarantee, predict, or warrant a similar outcome in any other matter. Each legal matter depends on its specific facts, circumstances, and applicable law. No attorney-client relationship is formed by viewing this website or contacting the firm unless and until a written engagement agreement is signed.
Startup & M&A Counsel Across the West
One firm, licensed in Arizona, California & Texas — serving founders in every major market across all three states.
From formation to exit. One firm.
Founder-first counsel across the whole journey — formation, financing, contracts, and the exit — in Arizona, California & Texas.
Related Services & Nearby Locations
Startup Law in San Jose: What We Actually See
San Jose sits at the center of Silicon Valley’s enterprise and hardware economy — semiconductors, infrastructure software, deep tech, and engineering teams spinning companies out of larger employers. That last part matters legally: California has specific rules about employee-created inventions, and the cleanliness of a spinout — what the founding engineers built, when, and on whose resources — is often the first thing acquirers and investors examine.
It is also why so much of our San Jose work is M&A-adjacent: confirming the company actually owns its IP, papering the technical co-founder who built the product before anything was signed, and preparing companies for the diligence a technology sale will put them through. When a South Bay company is heading toward a transaction, our M&A practice handles the deal from letter of intent to closing — and California’s shifting rules are tracked in our 2026 California business law update.
California-licensed, multi-state by design. Nadine Deeb, Esq. is licensed to practice law in California, as well as Arizona and Texas. The firm works with San Jose companies remotely and by appointment — the same way most of our California clients already work with their vendors, advisors, and teams.
San Jose Startup & M&A FAQs
Do I need a startup lawyer in San Jose if I’m pre-revenue or pre-funding?
Often yes — and earlier is cheaper than later. The decisions made before revenue (how you form the entity, how founder equity vests, who owns the IP, what your first contracts say) are the ones a future investor or buyer scrutinizes most. Fixing them later, mid-diligence, is far more expensive than getting them right up front. A short conversation early can save a painful cleanup down the road.
What does business formation cost?
It depends on the scope. The right structure depends on your goals (raising money, bringing on co-founders, planning an eventual sale), so we confirm what your matter involves in a free initial consultation and are transparent about fees before you engage us.
Can you help if my team or customers are in other states, not just California?
Yes — that’s a core reason founders choose us. Our attorney is licensed in Arizona, California, and Texas, so a San Jose startup with a dev team in Texas and a founder in Arizona can work with one firm instead of stitching together separate lawyers in each state. Multi-state operations are the norm for tech companies, and we’re built for it.
What’s the difference between a SAFE, a convertible note, and a priced round?
They’re three ways to raise early money. A SAFE and a convertible note both let investors put in money now and convert to equity later (a note is debt with interest and a maturity date; a SAFE is simpler and not debt). A priced round sells equity at an agreed valuation now. Each has tradeoffs for control, dilution, and complexity — we help founders pick and paper the one that fits their stage without creating problems for the next round.
When should a startup start thinking about an exit?
Sooner than most founders expect — not because you’re selling now, but because the habits that make a company easy to sell (clean cap table, clear IP ownership, organized contracts, documented decisions) are easiest to build from day one. Companies that operate diligence-ready from the start command better terms and close faster when an offer eventually comes. We help you build that way without slowing you down.
Building Something in San Jose?
Whether you’re forming your company, raising your first round, or planning an exit, we’ll help you build on a foundation that holds. Founder-first counsel for startups across Arizona, California & Texas.