Clerky was purpose-built to provide legal services for high-growth startups. In the fast-moving world of startups, legal missteps can be costly. A flawed stock issuance or a missed IRS election can delay or even derail funding or acquisitions. That’s why so many high-growth startups begin their journey with Clerky, the online legal service purpose-built for high-growth startups. Founded by former startup attorneys Darby Wong and Chris Field, Clerky has quietly become the default online legal service for Silicon Valley’s most ambitious founders. Clerky startups have raised over $100 billion in venture capital and are now worth an aggregate of $500 billion. They include some of the biggest names in tech like Coinbase, Instacart, and DoorDash. We sat down with Darby to talk about the origin of Clerky, how it earned the trust of top startup law firms, and what’s ahead for the company. What inspired you to start Clerky? When Chris and I were practicing startup law at the Orrick law firm, we had a lot of clients who tried to save money by getting legal paperwork done online, with low-quality lawyers, or on their own. Unfortunately, this always resulted in a bunch of legal problems that we had to bill them a lot of money to fix, often at a point when they could least afford the delay. We started Clerky to fix that problem—not by replacing lawyers, but by making it easy for startup founders to follow the same best practices used at top startup law firms. The idea was to let founders get things right from the beginning, using software designed specifically for the legal needs of high-growth startups. MORE FOR YOU Anonymous Hackers Expose Putin’s Secret Data—Publish Trump File Apple iPhone 17 Pro: Latest Leaks Claim To Show Updated Design Google Confirms Gmail Update—Stop Using Your Password Now What makes Clerky different from other online legal services? Most online legal services are designed for general small business use cases like consulting businesses or e-commerce sites. Clerky is different—we focus exclusively on high-growth startups. But what really sets us apart isn’t just who we serve, it’s how focused we are on helping startups avoid problems in legal due diligence. Because of our experience, we know what’s required for documents to hold up in diligence, audits, and even litigation. We built our products to reflect the best practices and expectations of top-tier startup law firms. That’s why startup attorneys, who are generally skeptical of online legal services, recommend Clerky to their clients. The workflows we support aren’t just legally valid—they reflect what startup attorneys would actually do themselves. What kind of high-growth startups are using Clerky? We have startups across nearly every sector that venture capital touches, from SaaS and fintech to AI, digital health, consumer—you get the point. Internally, we maintain a market map of our customers, and it’s striking how broadly they’re distributed across the startup ecosystem. That breadth is a reflection of how foundational our product is—no matter the industry, startups need a solid legal infrastructure to build on. But it’s not just the range, it’s the quality. Clerky startups have raised more than $100 billion in venture capital and are now worth over $500 billion. That’s an incredible amount of value creation and we feel privileged to be a part of that. The best startups choose Clerky because they know how important it is to get their legal foundation right from the start, and they value having tools that reflect the same best practices used by the top startup law firms. Clerky seems to be especially popular with Y Combinator startups—why is that? Y Combinator has an incredibly high bar for the companies it backs, so we’re proud to share for the first time that 50% of YC startups in each batch are Clerky customers. That kind of adoption speaks to how much top startup founders, and the people who support them, trust Clerky to get things right from the beginning. A lot of YC companies actually use Clerky before they get into YC, while others hear about Clerky from YC itself or other YC companies. Over time, we’ve also worked closely with YC to make sure our platform supports the legal standards and operational expectations that are important to them and their companies. Some of the best startup attorneys in the world work at YC and they are great to work with. What does Clerky offer today? We support everything from formation to fundraising to hiring, including incorporation, stock plan adoption, seed financing paperwork, advisor and consultant agreements, NDAs, board consents, and charter amendments. We also offer collaboration tools that let startup attorneys work directly with their clients on the platform. That helps ensure legal oversight, while making it easier for attorneys to provide cost-effective service that scales. That's especially important when working with early-stage startups. For startup founders, this means being able to move quickly, at their own pace, without cutting corners. And for attorneys, it means being able to serve more clients without sacrificing quality. Beyond the product itself, a big part of what makes Clerky work so well is the ecosystem that surrounds it. Our partner network helps founders move faster and get more value out of the platform, whether it’s perks partners offering discounts on essential tools, banking and fintech partners streamlining account setup, or API partners enabling seamless integrations with cap tables, bookkeeping systems, and other key workflows. This ecosystem is only possible because of how popular we are with high-growth startups. Clerky is used by many of the most promising startups in the world, and that makes partnering with us a high-signal way for other companies to reach those startups. As a result, we’ve been able to build a uniquely broad and valuable set of partnerships. Tell me more about how Clerky works with banks and fintech platforms. Clerky startups can open a business bank account in just a few clicks after getting their formation paperwork done. We pass structured legal information through our API to help pre-fill bank or fintech account applications, saving founders time and reducing errors. Once the account is set up, we receive wire instructions back from the bank or fintech, which can be used to pre-fill fundraising paperwork, making the entire process seamless and smooth. We also support pre-EIN bank account setup through select partners, which is especially helpful for startups that aren’t eligible to get an EIN through the IRS website and have to apply by fax. Applying for an EIN by fax is a huge pain and routinely takes weeks or even months. Without a bank account, startups can’t accept investor funds or set up payroll, so being able to move forward while waiting on the IRS is a big advantage. We’ve been able to build the largest partner ecosystem of banks and fintech platforms of any online legal service in the world, thanks to how popular Clerky is with high-growth startups. For our partners, it’s a high-signal way to reach the next generation of billion-dollar success stories right at the moment they’re getting started. What’s next for Clerky? We’re continuing to invest in the core platform and expanding the range of startups we can help. We're a great fit for most startups, but there are still a lot of small niches with more specialized legal needs. We have some exciting developments in the works to help serve those kinds of startups more effectively. It’s a natural evolution of our mission: making top-tier startup legal paperwork more accessible, no matter what kind of startup you’re building or where you’re building it. We regularly publish updates to our offerings on Clerky.com. Related Articles: The Complete 35-Step Guide For Entrepreneurs Starting a Business What Should I Name My Startup? 13 Smart Tips 17 Tips for Entrepreneurs Starting a Business Best Business Websites: 17 Sites You Should Be Reading Regularly Copyright © by Richard D. Harroch. All Rights Reserved. About the Author Richard D. Harroch is a Senior Advisor to CEOs, management teams, and Boards of Directors. He is an expert on M&A, venture capital, startups, and business contracts. He was the Managing Director and Global Head of M&A at VantagePoint Capital Partners, a venture capital fund in the San Francisco area. Richard is the author of several books on startups and entrepreneurship as well as the co-author of Poker for Dummies and a Wall Street Journal-bestselling book on small business. He is the co-author of a 1,500-page book published by Bloomberg on mergers and acquisitions of privately held companies. He was also a corporate and M&A partner at the international law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. He has been involved in over 200 M&A transactions and 250 startup financings. He can be reached through LinkedIn. Editorial StandardsForbes Accolades