You've built something that works. Your product has traction in Europe, your team is sharp, and your investors are asking the obvious question: when are you going to the US? The American market is where European startups go to scale — access to the world's deepest venture capital pool, the largest single consumer market, and an ecosystem in San Francisco and beyond that rewards ambition and speed.

But between "we should expand to the US" and actually operating there lies a maze of legal complexity that trips up even the most capable founders. Which entity structure? Which state? How do you handle immigration? What about IP protection across jurisdictions? How do you raise US capital with a European parent company? And how do you do all of this without burning through your runway on legal fees before you've closed your first American customer?

Fellow exists to answer every one of those questions. A law firm built specifically to provide US legal support for European startups, Fellow works as your in-house legal team — with fixed-fee pricing, sub-12-hour response times, and dual-qualified lawyers who understand both EU and US law from the inside. Focus on building. Fellow takes care of legal.

Why European Startups Need Specialist US Legal Counsel

The legal frameworks governing business in the United States are fundamentally different from what European founders are used to. Corporate law varies by state. Employment law is a patchwork of federal, state and local regulations. Immigration pathways are complex and unforgiving of mistakes. Tax structures for foreign-owned entities have specific compliance requirements that European accountants rarely encounter. And the fundraising instruments that US investors expect — SAFEs, convertible notes, preferred stock — follow conventions that don't map neatly onto European legal norms.

A Czech founder who's navigated EU company law flawlessly can still make costly mistakes incorporating in Delaware, structuring a cap table for US investors, or filing visa applications. These aren't knowledge gaps — they're jurisdiction gaps. And they require Cross-border legal services EU to USA that bridge both worlds with genuine expertise on each side.

Fellow's founding team is dual-qualified in California and Czech law, with deep experience advising startups and investors on exactly this kind of cross-border expansion. The firm doesn't just understand US law — it understands how EU-founded companies interact with US law, which is a fundamentally different skill set.

Delaware C-Corp setup for European startups

Around 70% of Fortune 1000 companies and the vast majority of venture-backed startups are incorporated in Delaware — and for good reason. Delaware's Court of Chancery specialises in corporate law, its legal precedents are well-established and predictable, and US investors expect Delaware incorporation as a baseline requirement for any company seeking venture funding.

For European founders, Delaware C-Corp setup for European startups involves more than filing paperwork. It requires structuring the relationship between the US entity and the existing European parent company, ensuring IP ownership sits in the right jurisdiction, establishing compliant governance documents, setting up a US-standard cap table, and creating the corporate architecture that investors and their lawyers will scrutinise during due diligence.

Fellow handles all of this — from initial entity formation through to board resolutions, bylaws, stock purchase agreements and the foundational documents that make your company fundable in the US market. The fixed-fee model means you know exactly what it costs before you start, with no hourly surprises.

US visas and immigration for startup founders

You can't run a US expansion from Europe indefinitely. At some point, founders need to be on the ground — meeting investors, closing deals, hiring local talent and building the relationships that drive growth. That means navigating the US immigration system, which is simultaneously one of the most important and most stressful aspects of international expansion.

US visas and immigration for startup founders involve multiple potential pathways: O-1 visas for individuals with extraordinary ability, L-1 visas for intra-company transfers, E-2 treaty investor visas (available to Czech and many EU founders), the International Entrepreneur Parole programme, and traditional H-1B sponsorship. Each has different eligibility requirements, processing timelines and strategic implications.

Nearly 30% of startup visa applications are initially rejected due to avoidable mistakes — documentation gaps, financial errors, or poorly articulated business plans. Fellow's immigration support ensures applications are prepared thoroughly, filed strategically, and positioned for the strongest possible outcome. For Czech startups expanding to the USA in particular, the firm's deep familiarity with both Czech and US regulatory contexts eliminates the translation gaps that generic immigration lawyers often miss.

IP protection for European startups entering the US

Your intellectual property is likely the most valuable asset your startup owns — and it's also the asset most vulnerable to jurisdictional complexity during a US expansion. Patents filed in Europe don't automatically protect you in the United States. Trademarks registered in the EU need separate US filings. Trade secrets require specific contractual protections under US law. And the question of where IP ownership sits — in the European parent or the US subsidiary — has significant implications for tax, fundraising and eventual exit.

IP protection for European startups entering the US requires a strategic approach that considers the full lifecycle: where the IP was created, where it's being commercialised, how it should be licensed between entities, and what protections are needed to satisfy both investors and potential acquirers. Fellow builds this strategy into the expansion plan from the outset — not as an afterthought when an investor's lawyer raises the question during diligence.

US fundraising legal support for foreign founders

Raising capital in the US is one of the primary reasons European startups expand across the Atlantic. The US venture capital market dwarfs its European equivalent, and the funding instruments, valuation norms and deal velocity are different from what founders experience raising in Prague, Barcelona or Berlin.

US fundraising legal support for foreign founders from Fellow covers the full fundraising journey. At the earliest stage, that means structuring SAFEs and convertible notes that align with US investor expectations. As you progress to priced rounds — Series Seed, Series A and beyond — it means negotiating term sheets, drafting preferred stock purchase agreements, managing investor rights and ensuring your cap table remains clean and compliant across jurisdictions.

Fellow's blog covers the 7 essential legal documents every tech startup needs for fundraising and common legal mistakes in US startup incorporation — practical resources that reflect the firm's hands-on experience guiding dozens of international founders through this process.

US company formation for Czech founders — and Beyond

While Fellow has especially deep roots in the Czech startup ecosystem, the firm serves founders across Central and Eastern Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and the broader EU. US company formation for Czech founders is a core competency — but the same expertise applies to Slovak, Spanish and other European founders following the same expansion playbook.

The process typically follows a structured sequence: entity formation (usually a Delaware C-Corp), EIN and banking setup, IP assignment and licensing between EU and US entities, employment and contractor arrangements for US-based team members, visa strategy for founders relocating, and the corporate governance framework that makes the company investable.

Each step has legal implications that cascade into the next — which is why working with a firm that sees the full picture, rather than a series of individual transactions, dramatically reduces risk and rework.

US legal counsel for EU SaaS startups

SaaS companies represent a significant proportion of Fellow's client base, and for good reason. The SaaS business model — recurring revenue, low marginal cost, global delivery — is perfectly suited to US expansion, but it comes with specific legal requirements around data privacy (US state-level privacy laws, GDPR cross-border data transfer), customer contracts (US-standard SaaS agreements differ from EU norms), and employment (hiring US-based sales and customer success teams).

US legal counsel for EU SaaS startups from Fellow addresses these SaaS-specific needs alongside the general expansion framework — ensuring your terms of service, privacy policies, data processing agreements and customer contracts are compliant and commercially sound in the US market.

Fixed-fee startup lawyers for US expansion

The traditional legal model — hourly billing, opaque invoices, paralysing uncertainty about final costs — is fundamentally misaligned with how startups operate. Founders need to make fast decisions, and they can't do that when every question to their lawyer triggers an internal calculation about whether the answer is worth the bill.

Fixed-fee startup lawyers for US expansion is Fellow's foundational principle. The firm pioneers fixed-fee arrangements wherever possible, with subscription-based plans for ongoing legal needs and transparent per-project pricing for defined deliverables. As Fellow puts it: "We benefit if you benefit. We call that a win-win."

The numbers back it up: sub-12-hour response times, a 99% client retention rate, and testimonials from founders across Prague, San Francisco, New York and Skopje who describe Fellow as "more like a consigliere than just a law firm."

How Fellow Works

Fellow operates as your external in-house legal team — available on your tech stack (not buried behind a reception desk and a formal email chain), responsive in hours rather than days, and structured around your stage and needs.

For seed-stage startups, Fellow offers subscription plans designed for the repetitive legal work that characterises early growth — entity setup, employment agreements, SAFE/convertible note rounds, IP assignments and standard commercial contracts. For later-stage companies, bespoke subscriptions cover more complex needs: M&A, ongoing contract negotiation, employment issues and multi-jurisdictional compliance.

The firm is based in San Francisco with deep connections to the Bay Area ecosystem, and its dual-qualified team understands both the EU legal framework founders are coming from and the US legal framework they're entering. That bridging capability — understanding both worlds — is what clients consistently identify as Fellow's most valuable differentiator.

Start Your US Expansion with Fellow

Whether you're a Czech startup expanding to the USA, a Spanish SaaS company eyeing Silicon Valley, or an EU-based founder at any stage of the US market entry journey — Fellow provides the US legal support for European startups that lets you focus on building while they take care of legal. Fixed fees, fast responses, and lawyers who actually understand what it means to be a foreign founder in America.

Get in touch with Fellow and take the first step toward your US expansion — with legal that works as hard as you do.