Privacy by Design Beats Retrofit Compliance: Shanti Hubbard on Legal Infrastructure That Scales and Avoiding Expensive Mistakes with IP Ownership and Contractor Misclassification

Shanti Hubbard co-founded Chan Hubbard PLLC in 2014 after years practicing at nationally premier law offices, including Skadden Arps and the Bronx Defenders, where she started her legal career as a public defender fighting for clients in the courtroom. Today, based in Brooklyn, she advises startups and growth-stage companies on the legal infrastructure they actually need—not the overkill they don't.

With over 10 years of experience, Shanti has managed trademark portfolios of 500+ marks, negotiated enterprise-level SaaS agreements (MSAs, DPAs, SLAs), supported clients through Series A/B financings and M&A due diligence, and counseled businesses through data breach incidents and regulatory response. She's seen the patterns: founders who jump into product development without securing IP, companies that misclassify workers and face expensive consequences, and early-stage teams that accept unreasonable liability in their first enterprise deal because they don't know what actually matters.

In this conversation, Shanti breaks down how legal infrastructure should scale with your business model (not a one-size-fits-all checklist), why privacy by design costs far less than retrofitting compliance later, and the most common mistakes around contractor agreements and equity arrangements that derail financings and acquisitions. If you've been told you need "proper legal infrastructure" but have no idea where to start—or you're worried about accepting unreasonable terms just to close your first big deal—this is the practical framework you've been missing.

Building Legal Infrastructure for Growth-Stage Companies - IP, SaaS, and Commercial Transactions

With over 10 years advising startups and growth-stage companies, you've managed trademark portfolios of 500+ marks, negotiated enterprise-level SaaS agreements, and supported clients through Series A/B financings and M&A due diligence. For female founders scaling their businesses, what legal infrastructure should they prioritize at different growth stages? When should founders invest in formal IP protection versus focusing resources on product development? How should they approach negotiating their first enterprise SaaS deals (MSAs, DPAs, SLAs) without getting buried in legal costs while still protecting their interests?

Legal infrastructure should scale with your business model and level of regulation. Companies in highly regulated industries—such as healthcare, fintech, and education—should expect higher upfront legal spend to ensure regulatory compliance from day one. In less regulated spaces, legal infrastructure tends to grow as the company scales: more customers, employees, partnerships, and revenue increase your exposure and make formal policies, contracts, and protections essential.

On IP protection, invest early. Intellectual property is often a startup's most valuable asset, and it's one of the first diligence points investors review. If you jump straight into product development without securing IP, you risk not fully owning what you've built. Fortunately, early-stage IP protection doesn't always require a massive budget. NDAs, confidentiality and invention-assignment agreements, trademarks, copyrights, and provisional patents are relatively accessible and can meaningfully protect your value. A short consultation with an IP attorney can help map out what you have, what needs protecting, and how to prioritize spend.

For your first enterprise SaaS deal, focus on understanding and managing risk—not perfecting every provision. If your first customer is a large enterprise, you may have limited negotiating leverage. The goal is often to close the deal without accepting unreasonable liability. Early founders should identify key risks—such as indemnity for data breaches—and put systems in place to mitigate them, including strong data security practices and cyber liability insurance. Working with counsel experienced in lean, early-stage negotiations can help you focus on what actually matters while keeping legal fees proportional to the opportunity. As your company enters into more enterprise agreements, you and your counsel can track recurring contract issues. If every enterprise customer pushes for the same indemnity carve-out or SLA metric, build a negotiation playbook.

Data Privacy and Breach Response - Navigating Regulatory Risk

Your practice includes counseling clients on regulatory and contractual risk related to data incidents and breach response, as well as compliance with evolving privacy laws. For female entrepreneurs building tech companies or handling customer data, what proactive steps should they take to minimize data privacy risk before a breach occurs? When a data incident does happen, what's the proper framework for responding to protect both customers and the business? How should founders balance privacy compliance requirements with the practical realities of running a lean startup?

Minimizing data privacy risk starts with 'privacy by design.' This means identifying what data you collect, ensuring you have consent, and using, sharing, and storing that data according to your privacy policy and applicable laws. Limit retention—don't store more data than necessary—and implement access controls so only employees who need the data can use it. Technical safeguards and written data retention policies should be in place before onboarding your first customers.

When an incident occurs, respond based on law and contract. Most companies are legally required to notify customers within a specific time frame, and enterprise contracts often impose their own notice obligations. Founders should evaluate (1) what their customer agreements require, and (2) which state, federal, or international laws apply. Cyber insurance can be a valuable partner here—many providers offer breach coaches, forensic investigators, and templates to streamline response.

To balance compliance with startup realities, build privacy into your product early rather than bolting it on later. It costs far less to design good data hygiene from the beginning than to retrofit compliance when scaling or entering regulated markets.

Employment Law Essentials - Contractor Classification and IP Ownership

You've advised clients on employment compliance, contractor classification, and structuring contractor IP ownership. For female founders building their first teams, what are the biggest legal risks around hiring contractors versus employees? How should they structure agreements to ensure they actually own the IP that contractors create? What are the most common mistakes you see early-stage companies make with employment contracts, non-competes, and equity arrangements that come back to haunt them during fundraising or acquisition discussions?

Misclassifying workers can be a very expensive early-stage mistakes. Classifying someone as an independent contractor when they legally qualify as an employee can trigger back taxes, wage claims, benefit liabilities, and even criminal penalties. Rules vary by state, so don't assume a federal definition protects you everywhere.

To protect IP, your contractor agreements must include clear ownership language. Founders should use written agreements with two key components: (1) "work made for hire" provisions and (2) assignment clauses that transfer all intellectual property rights created during the engagement to the company. This is market standard, and reputable contractors expect it.

The top mistakes that derail financings or acquisitions include:

Hiring without written agreements.

Contractor agreements missing IP assignment provisions.

Granting equity without vesting schedules, repurchase rights, or board approval.

Using unenforceable non-competes or copying templates that don't match state law.

Fixing these issues later often requires additional compensation or negotiation leverage, and investors routinely flag them during diligence.

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