Today, in commemoration of our 4th Anniversary which coincides with World IP Day annually, we are delighted to launch ‘Minimum Legally-compliant Product (MLP), the legal health checkup for startups.

While MLP finely aligns with this year’s theme of World IP Day, IP and SMEs: Taking Your Ideas to Market, MLP broadly looks at the legal health of your startup beyond intellectual property.

The Problem

At Infusion Lawyers, amongst other clients, we have worked closely with startups in the last 4 years. Over the years we find that in trying to launch and run startups, startup founders want to run lean startups. In running lean, a good number of these startup founders—especially in developing countries—end up relegating the legal health of the startup to the background. Whether due to a lean purse or other pressing needs or priorities, startups just want to launch an MVP, iterate, and build traction. We can worry about legal issues later, they often say. Consequently, legal or regulatory compliance is either relegated to the bottom of the priority list or completely absent. This is a recurring problem in the startup ecosystem, especially in Africa.

The Solution

This is where Minimum Legally-compliant Product (MLP) comes in. MLP addresses legal and regulatory risks that could portend threats to the health or survival of a startup.

While a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is described as the most basic version of the product that a company plans to launch in order to get feedback from the target market, MLP ensures that an MVP is legally compliant before launch. MLP is the legal version or legally safe version of MVP.

The idea of MLP first came to mind at Infusion Lawyers in 2020. This was while one of our team members took up a product-counsel role at a software-development company that develops both mobile and web solutions for businesses across various industries.

The Benefits 

Not only will startups operate viable business models or apply viable technologies that consumers will love but also boost investors’ confidence knowing that these startups are safer. Particularly in business environments where policy and regulations are uncertain, unclear, or unreliable, a startup with an MLP is significantly de-risking its business.

With an MLP, startups enjoy a legal-compliance checkup tool that ensures that the common legal issues startups often face or miss are diagnosed early and solutions proffered before it is too late. Using a business and legal checklist that we have been applying and iterating over the years, MLP Checkup is about the legal health of your startup. In a short time, we believe that MLP will become a standard in the startup ecosystem.

Conduct MLP Checkup for your startup today.

To mark our 4th anniversary, MLP Checkup is currently available to all startups free. To request that a free MLP Checkup be conducted for your startup, simply complete and submit the MLP Checkup Form below. This special offer lasts 30 days, closing 25 May 2021. Infusion Lawyers reserves the absolute right to determine eligibility to access MLP Checkup throughout the offer period. All information you share with us will be treated with strict confidentiality and subject to our privacy notice.