Should I use an incorporation service like Clerky, Stripe Atlas, or an Indian filing platform, or hire a lawyer directly?
For a clean, standard incorporation, a good platform is faster and cheaper than a lawyer and gets the boilerplate right. Use Stripe Atlas or Clerky for a vanilla Delaware C-corp, and a reputable Indian platform or a startup CA for a straightforward Pvt Ltd. Bring in an actual startup lawyer the moment anything is non-standard: multiple founders with unusual splits, a cross-border structure, prior IP from a job, or a fundraise with real terms. The platform sets up the entity; it does not negotiate your SHA.
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This is the honest side-by-side you want before spending a rupee on a Delaware C-corp: Atlas at $500 one-time (files your 83(b) automatically, next-day incorporation, banking plus $2,500 in Stripe credits) versus Clerky at $819 lifetime (unlimited SAFEs, convertible notes, and hiring paperwork for the whole VC track). It states the load-bearing caveat plainly: neither is a law firm, no attorney reviews your docs, so if anything is unusual, talk to a lawyer first.
The India-specific counterpart to the Delaware question, from Razorpay's own founder-incorporation arm. It confirms a Pvt Ltd is fully filable yourself on the MCA portal without a CA, that platforms bundle drafting plus government liaison for less than a traditional CA's fee, and then names the exact cases where you actually need a professional: foreign directors, funding-grade financial projections, and multi-state or international GST and tax compliance.
Jose Ancer is a working startup lawyer, and this is his clear line between what a filing tool handles and what needs actual counsel. He endorses Clerky and Stripe Atlas for standard formation, then draws the hard boundary: do not use a tool (or AI) to negotiate your term sheet, key-employee, or investor relationships, and run a lawyer in the loop so no contextual nuance quietly busts the standardized terms.
