For business lawyers and the founders they help
Know the matter before your free first call
Business lawyers send new clients a Tellbrief link. The founder answers about 30 plain questions. The lawyer checks the names for conflicts, then reads a brief with what’s changing, the issues to raise and the documents to ask for.
If you’re a lawyer
Your first three briefs are free, then $40 a brief, never more than $99 a month. We set up your link with you. It goes in your booking confirmation, and nothing else at the firm changes.
Run an accelerator or startup program? It’s free for your founders.
If you run a business
No lawyer yet, or yours doesn’t use Tellbrief? Make the brief anyway and take it to any lawyer.
- About 30 questions
- Free
- No account or card
Your draft stays in this tab, not in our database, until you download or send your brief. You read it first and decide who sees it.
We’re hiring our first employee, who starts next month. We offered a salary and some equity. Until now, freelancers built our app and designed our logo.
- What’s changing
- First employee, starting next month
- Records to have ready
- Any offer you’ve made or discussed, including pay and equity
- Worth asking
- Does the company own what contractors and early contributors made?You didn’t mention this
A national retailer wants our sauces in 40 stores by spring, and they sent us their vendor agreement. A contract manufacturer makes the sauces from our recipes.
- What’s changing
- First national retailer, 40 stores by spring
- Records to have ready
- Terms from retailers or distributors
- Worth asking
- How do we protect what we keep secret when others need to see it?You didn’t mention this
We’re raising our first outside money this month. An angel investor sent us a draft SAFE to sign.
- What’s changing
- First outside investment, closing this month
- Records to have ready
- Any draft agreement, term sheet or letter from the other side
- Worth asking
- What should we clean up in our ownership records and earlier SAFEs or notes before we close?You didn’t mention this
How it works
- What’s changingAbout 29 leftWhat’s prompting this now?Preparing to launch or openSelling through retail / wholesale / a distributor✓Signing a larger B2B customer
Answer the questions
About 30 questions. Most take one tap.
Open the sample brief (PDF, opens in a new tab)Read your brief
You read the whole brief before anyone else sees it. Your lawyer gets the same brief, plus the points to raise on the call.
- Your briefReadyReady for the first callYour situationQuestionsRecordsPDFExample-Co-brief.pdf
Take it to your lawyer
Download it and bring it to the first call, or send it ahead. If a law firm gave you its Tellbrief link, it goes to them, and they check names for conflicts before reading it.
Next Your lawyer can read it before you meet, so the call can start with your questions. Tellbrief doesn’t keep a brief you download.
What’s in your brief
The business background, what’s changing and the question you want to ask your lawyer.
Your situation
What the business does, what has happened and what you’re unsure about, based on your answers.
Questions worth asking
Points to discuss with the lawyer, including anything you haven’t worked out yet.
Records to have ready
Agreements, company records and other documents the lawyer may ask to see.
No lawyer yet? Your brief works with any lawyer you call. The American Bar Association lists lawyer referral services by state (opens in a new tab).
Situations it covers
Each has its own page showing the questions a brief raises and the records to have ready.
Common questions
Is this legal advice?
No. Tellbrief helps you get your facts in order before your first conversation with a lawyer. It isn’t a law firm, it doesn’t draft documents, and using it doesn’t make anyone your lawyer. Legal advice comes from a licensed lawyer, once they agree to take on your matter.
What does it cost?
Your brief is free. Tellbrief’s price is for law firms that use it with their own clients. If you hire a lawyer, the scope and fee are between you and them, and Tellbrief takes no share.
Who reads my brief?
Whoever you give it to. You download it as a PDF, and Tellbrief doesn’t keep it. If a law firm sent you its Tellbrief link, the brief goes only to that firm, and they check the names for conflicts before reading it.
What situations does it cover?
Most of what a growing business runs into, from forming the company to raising money, hiring, customer contracts and disputes. If yours doesn’t fit, choose “Something else, or not sure” when you send. See every situation.
How long does it take?
About 30 questions, depending on your answers. Most take one tap, and the four that ask you to type are optional.
Why do you ask for names?
Only when you send your brief to a law firm. Lawyers check for conflicts before they read about your business, so when you send, you add the names involved, your email and what it’s about. Your brief stays locked until the lawyer clears the names, and if they can’t, it’s deleted unread.
What happens to my answers before I send?
Your draft is saved in this browser tab, not in our database. To pick follow-up questions, the site reads your answers as you go and doesn’t keep them.
How long do you keep my brief?
If you only download it, we don’t keep it. If you send it to a law firm, names and briefs are encrypted before they’re stored. Conflict-check records are deleted 45 days after the last step, and the lawyer’s copy 14 days after it reaches them. The privacy page lists everything Tellbrief keeps, sends and deletes.
Do you track me or sell my information?
No. There are no ad trackers, analytics scripts or cookies, and we don’t sell your information or use it for ads.
Can’t I just ask an AI chatbot?
You can, and it may give you general answers. Tellbrief asks the questions a lawyer would ask about your business and puts your answers into a brief, with a list of records to bring. It doesn’t give legal advice.
Does Tellbrief use AI?
No. Fixed rules pick the questions and put your answers into a brief. No answers, briefs or call notes go to an AI model.
Get ready for the first call
It’s about 30 questions, most of them one tap. You read the whole brief before anything is sent, and it’s yours to keep.
Start your briefFree. No account and no marketing email.