Regulatory Compliance & Legal Risk Management

Regulatory compliance and risk management for technology companies — FTC enforcement, state regulators, sector-specific frameworks, and the operational systems that turn compliance into competitive advantage.

Startup Central

Accounting Services Agreements: What Startups Need to Know Before Signing

Many startups and small businesses outsource bookkeeping and tax work long before they hire an internal finance team.

Health Tech

Negotiating HIPAA Business Associate Agreements with Digital Health Vendors

HIPAA's statutory floor for BAAs is lower than most covered entities realize. This guide covers what to demand in BAA negotiations with digital health vendors — from permitted use scope and AI training prohibitions to breach notification, audit rights, and PHI disposition at contract end.

EdTech

Parental Consent UX Patterns That Pass FTC Scrutiny

COPPA requires verifiable parental consent before you collect data from children under 13 — and a checkbox doesn't cut it. Here's what the FTC actually enforces, which consent mechanisms are approved, and a practical UX checklist for EdTech product teams.

Health Tech

FDA Regulation of Software as a Medical Device: A Founder's Guide to SaMD Pathways

FDA regulates software as a medical device based on what it does, not what it looks like. This guide covers the SaMD definition, IMDRF risk classification, 510(k)/De Novo/PMA pathways, FDA's PCCP framework, and clinical evidence requirements for founders.

Hardware Founders

Semiconductor Export Controls: What Engineers and Hardware Founders Need to Know About the EAR

The EAR reaches inside US chip labs, R&D teams, and employee rosters. ECCNs, the deemed export rule, Entity List obligations, October 2022 China chip rules, and a practical compliance checklist for semiconductor engineers and hardware founders.

Streamers

COPPA on YouTube and Twitch: What Streamers Actually Need to Know

After Disney's $10M FTC settlement, COPPA enforcement is hitting creators directly. What streamers need to know about Made for Kids, Twitch's age rule, the 2025 Final Rule, and the contract terms to push for in brand deals.

Streamers

FTC Endorsement Rules for Streamers: What to Disclose and How

An FTC compliance guide for streamers on Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, and Kick: what counts as an endorsement, the "clear and conspicuous" disclosure standard, format-specific rules for live/VOD/Shorts, streamer-specific pitfalls, and what FTC enforcement actually looks like under the 2024 Final Rule.

EdTech

COPPA's April 22 Amendments: What Changed for EdTech Operators in 2026

The FTC’s 2025 COPPA Final Rule took effect April 22, 2026 with no grace period. Here’s what changed for EdTech operators: new biometric and geolocation data categories, data minimization and retention requirements, unbundled consent mechanics, and an expanded verification menu.

EdTech

Drafting Direct Notice Under COPPA: What EdTech Operators Need in Their Disclosure

COPPA requires a direct notice separate from your privacy policy — two documents with two different legal functions. Here's what EdTech operators must include, from the statutory checklist to the 2025 amendments.

EdTech

Mixed-Age Audiences and COPPA: What EdTech Founders Must Do When Teens Use Your Platform

COPPA's April 22, 2026 deadline has passed. Most EdTech platforms with teen users are already out of compliance with the amended rule's mixed-audience requirements. What triggers the obligation, what the general audience defense covers, and how to design a consent flow that survives FTC scrutiny.

Health Tech

Telehealth Across State Lines: What Digital Health Founders Need to Know Before Expanding

Expanding your telehealth platform across state lines triggers licensing, privacy, and prescribing obligations in every state where your patients are located. This guide maps the federal framework, state licensing compacts, state privacy laws, and DEA controlled substance rules.

Startup Central

Why Legal Oversight of Your Startup Cap Table Is Non-Negotiable

Early-stage teams often treat the cap table as “whatever’s in Carta” or a living spreadsheet.

Digital Presence & Online Policies

Who Needs to Care About the FTC’s Endorsement Guides (and Why)

The FTC's Endorsement Guides (16 C.F.R. Part 255) are the rulebook for modern word-of-mouth marketing.

Business Formation & Corporate Governance

Legal Compliance and Strategic Stock Issuance for Startups: A Practical Guide

Issuing stock is one of the first consequential legal and financial decisions a startup makes.

Health Tech

Women's Health Data Privacy After Dobbs: An Operator's Playbook for Period-Tracking, Telehealth, and Reproductive-Health Apps

Dobbs reshaped the threat model for women's health, fertility, and telehealth operators. A practical guide to the four legal regimes that touch your data, the new state-actor adversaries, and the engineering and policy changes operators should make this quarter.

Legal Tech & Automation

Use Data Science to Turn Legal Questions into Better Business Decisions

Startups and growing businesses face increasingly complex legal decisions — contracts at scale, privacy and security obligations, employment issues,…

Streamers

DMCA Counter-Notice Playbook: How Streamers Fight Copyright Strikes (And When Not To)

A copyright strike on Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, or Kick can take down your video in hours and threaten your channel. The DMCA counter-notice is your statutory tool to fight back — but it's a sworn legal document, not a support ticket. Here's how the mechanics work and when to use them.

Streamers

Platform ToS Surprises: What Streamers Learn the Hard Way About Bans, Demonetization, and Appeals

Platform ToS agreements let Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok ban, demonetize, or remove your content with little notice and limited recourse. Here's what the contracts actually say — and how to protect yourself.

Game Studios

Age Ratings and COPPA: What Indie Studios Need to Know

If your game is aimed at kids or teens — or even if you didn't intend it that way but kids play it anyway — age ratings and COPPA compliance are not optional. Here's what applies to indie studios and what compliance requires.

Game Studios

The Digital Services Act and Your Game: What Indie Studios Have to Do

The EU Digital Services Act has been in force since February 2024. If your game has in-game chat, UGC, or cloud features serving EU players, your studio may have direct DSA obligations — even as a small indie studio. Here’s what the law requires, and where smaller studios get a break.

Game Studios

Lootbox Laws by Jurisdiction: What Indie Studios Must Know Before Launch

Lootbox regulation is a patchwork — what's legal in the US may get your game pulled from Belgium, and the Netherlands has issued million-euro fines. Here's the jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction breakdown indie studios need before launch.

AI Law

AI Startup Legal Compliance: Where Tech Law, Privacy, and IP Intersect

AI-native and data-intensive product design is now the default: LLM features ship behind a toggle, analytics run continuously, and customer data flows…

Business Formation & Corporate Governance

Startup Stock Issuance: A Practical Guide to Equity Operations and Compliance

For most startups, equity isn't a one-time legal event — it's the operating system you use to pay people, keep teams aligned, and raise capital.

AI Law

FTC's 2026 AI Disclosure Rules: What Every Creator Must Change This Quarter

The FTC's 2026 enforcement priorities single out four creator-disclosure failures and add a new layer for AI-generated endorsements. Here's a plain-English breakdown plus the five changes to make in your content workflow this quarter.

AI Law

AI-Washing Litigation in 2026: What Public-Company GCs Need to Know

On Jan 14, 2025, the SEC charged Presto Automation with the first public-company AI-washing action. Four enforcement surfaces — SEC, plaintiffs' bar, FTC, and EU AI Act — now scrutinize every public AI claim. The GC's pre-clearance workstream is the answer.