Start Smart Legal Series

Whether you’re launching a side hustle, exploring a social impact idea, or just curious about the legal side of startup creation, the Start Smart Legal Series is the perfect place to begin. This series of interactive seminars introduces you to the fundamentals of starting a brand-new business venture. You will learn everything from how to protect your ideas to creating a team and building a strong foundation for success.

Led by local legal experts, each session breaks down a key topic in clear, practical terms. You don’t need any prior experience, just an interest in learning how to bring an idea to life. Come to one session or attend the whole series, whatever works for you! These workshops are open to students and community members and are designed to support early-stage ideas and curious minds alike.

Let your journey begin with a smart start.

Fall 2026 Sessions (all sessions are virtual)

Introduction to Startup Law

September 15, 5:00-6:15 P.M.

In this session, our startup law team will present a lightning round of the key legal needs and issues for a startup: founders’ agreements, equity splits, company formation, handling IP, raising capital, building a team, etc. Then, you will get to ask YOUR most pressing legal questions. This session will be the basis of future Start Smarts, which will go into each of the issues more in depth.

How to Form Your Startup Company

September 29, 5:00-6:15 P.M.

Learn the basic legal issues involved with new company formation, including choice of entity (LLC, C-Corp, social enterprise options such as non-profit 501c, Benefit Corporation, B Corps certification, and other company structure alternatives), basics of founders’ agreements, splitting equity, and employee vesting. Participants attending this session will be invited to work with Pitt Law in developing a “legal roadmap” and checklist to guide them in applying the concepts to their startup idea.

Attendance at this workshop is required for this hands-on opportunity with Pitt Law.

Starting a Business with an F-1 Student Visa

October 13, 5:00-6:15 P.M.

Students with a Visa can legally start businesses as well as work on a startup team. Come learn the details of how to do this without violating your student status and immigration options after graduating.

How to Handle Your (and others’) Intellectual Property

October 27, 5:00-6:15 P.M.

Intellectual Property is an asset to be protected. This session will cover how to deal with IP issues, including:

Different ways to protect your company’s IP (copyrights, trade secrets, patents, trademarks, etc.)
Difference between a provisional patent and a formal patent filing
Developing a patent strategy
How to handle IP created by class projects when one or more of the student team members want to pursue commercialization
Tips on searching the US Patent Office Database (for prior ‘art’ e.g., existing patents)
What to expect after filing a patent (time and expenses)