It depends (no more).
We design and run the Legal Operating System for Swiss startups with Silicon Valley ambitions.
Discover:
What We Do
Our Expertise
How We Do It
Our Approach
Trusted by leading founders, investors and ecosystem partners
Meet the Founder
Combining deep legal expertise with entrepreneurial insight to enable founders and investors to build lasting ventures.
Marco Fehr, Attorney-at-Law
Founder & Managing Partner
I started my own business while still at university and have been growing in the startup world ever since. Along the way, I've seen ventures from every angle: as a founder and first employee, as a legal partner to ambitious entrepreneurs and as an early-stage investor myself. This mix gives me a unique perspective on what truly drives venture success.
At Fehr Legal, our top priority is providing actionable advice based on real-world data and case-specific circumstances. We start from what is "market standard" and only deviate when data or specific context indicate that alternatives are worth exploring. This approach allows most legal matters to be resolved quickly, using proven templates and reserving customization for edge cases or when it truly matters.
In recent years, I've helped founders and investors resolve complex stakeholder disputes, structure financings and follow-on rounds, and protect ownership in high-stakes negotiations. My mission is simple: provide the legal Operating System for Swiss founders and investors with Silicon Valley ambitions.
Who We Work With
Founders and investors building Swiss ventures for scale.
We are a fit if:
- You are building or financing a venture from pre-seed to Series B.
- You value practical, outcome‑driven guidance over academic theory or endless "it depends".
- You make decisions based on data and probabilities and expect your legal counsel to do the same.
- You want clarity, speed, and ROI‑measurable results in every deal you close.
Client Profiles
Daniel Koss
Former top-ranked gamer turned entrepreneur and investor. Built Switzerland's first influencer marketing agency and created Creable, the world's largest influencer database with 300M+ profiles. Today, Daniel runs Koss Capital, a private fund investing in AI and technology infrastructure, backing portfolio companies with both capital and media reach.
Daniel Koss
Founder, Koss Capital
Former top-ranked gamer turned entrepreneur and investor. Built Switzerland's first influencer marketing agency and created Creable, the world's largest influencer database with 300M+ profiles. Today, Daniel runs Koss Capital, a private fund investing in AI and technology infrastructure, backing portfolio companies with both capital and media reach.
Why Most Legal Advice Fails Startups
Growing companies need legal support that adapts with them.
No clear guidance when a decision is needed.
You ask your legal counsel for a decision and get a memo or - even worse - "it depends" as a response. No recommendation, no go/no‑go, no next step.
Legal advice that ONLY works on paper.
Your lawyer provides textbook answers that collapse in real‑world settings because they ignore time constraints, budget limitations, case specifics, and venture market norms.
Time delays that kill your startup.
Waiting weeks for legal feedback puts your plans on pause and your investors waiting.
Legally sound advice that turns into poor business decisions.
Dead equity and dilution problems arise when no one on the legal team has the business insight or cap table experience to flag them early.
Misaligned incentives and the principle-agent problem.
In practice misaligned incentives and the principal–agent problem show up as slow blame-averse guidance when what you need is opportunity-driven advice.
The Legal Operating System
We run the Legal OS for Swiss startups with Silicon Valley ambition. It eliminates venture killers and creates measurable ROI across four pillars: capital, time, wealth, and risk.
4-Pillar ROI Framework
Capital Efficiency
Cost savings today and in the future.
Time Efficiency
Time savings today and in the future.
Wealth Creation
Stronger valuation and better protection of founder and investor upside.
Risk Management
Avoiding venture killers and bad surprises at funding or exit.
How the Legal OS Works
Legal OS is your operating system for legal decisions. It combines data-backed legal modeling, pattern recognition from venture deals, and ongoing legal ops so you avoid venture killers and see clear ROI.
Strategic Assessment
A holistic analysis of your business model, stakeholders, and growth plan to identify structural risks and eliminate venture killers early.
Deliverables include:
- • Strategic Assessment Report
- • Founder Alignment & Cap Table Map
- • Venture Killer Diagnosis
- • Deal & Fundraising Readiness Score
Legal Architecture
We define the legal priorities and scope together based on your business model, fundraising timeline, budget, and risk appetite. You get a tailored Legal OS roadmap with clear, achievable next steps.
Deliverables include:
- • Personalized Legal OS roadmap
Implementation and Automation
We turn your Legal OS roadmap into reality. We design (or clean up) your legal architecture and embed it into the tools your team already uses.
Deliverables include:
- • Clean equity, governance, and contract structure
- • Templates and clause libraries matched to your GTM
- • Playbooks and decision trees for founders and key staff
Fractional Legal Operator
We run your legal ops and deal execution as an embedded partner. You get senior legal strategy, speed, and clarity without in-house headcount.
Deliverables include:
- • Priority support for fundraising and strategic deals
- • Regular Legal OS and venture-killer reviews
Our Most Requested Deliverables
Startups are hard and legal is just one piece of the puzzle. Our role is to make that piece align with your business strategy and company stage.
We find and fix the legal & structural risks that make startups unfundable or unscalable.
Ownership and control drive venture outcomes. We design both to maximize expected value for founders or investors.
Pricing Philosophy
Pricing Principles: Fixed- and Value-Based Pricing
We do not favor traditional hourly billing.
That's why we've developed fixed and value-based pricing models for our core services that align with a company's growth stage and strategic priorities. We think this ensures that attorney-client incentives are aligned and that we have skin in the game.
How Pricing is Determined
Discovery Call
We assess your needs and objectives.
Scope Definition
We identify key deliverables, timelines, and next steps.
Proposal
You receive a fee quote.
Execution
We start executing.
Note:
Our approach to pricing doesn't make our services cheaper. It makes them more transparent and client-centric. We focus on quality, precision, and execution speed, not on time spent. You get legal expertise designed to drive real business results.
Standard Hourly Rates
Hourly rates still apply in specific situations where objectives, metrics or scope cannot be defined in advance.
Legal Rate
CHF 375
(excl. VAT)
Admin Rate
CHF 175
(excl. VAT)
Case Studies
Real situations, real outcomes.
Founder Departure after Series B
Context
"Max" reached out after deciding to leave a company he had built with his co-founder "Peter." Both founders owned roughly one-third of the shares, while the rest was held by institutional and corporate investors. According to the Series B shareholders' agreement, no founder vesting remained but a buyback clause at nominal value (!) applied if a founder voluntarily terminated their employment.
Challenge
The clause created an existential conflict. Max needed to avoid triggering the buyback clause, while Peter (and the investors) couldn't afford a departing founder holding one-third of the company. Emotions were high, trust was low, and the legal framework strongly favored the investors.
Approach
The first step was to de-escalate. We shifted the conversation from what's fair to what outcomes are realistic and what to optimize for. By mapping Max's priorities – reputation, liquidity, and future upside – and modeling several scenarios under the existing shareholders' agreement, we identified which trade-offs created the best expected value.
Outcome
After structured negotiations, the parties agreed on a buyback of 15% of Max's shares. Peter could reallocate equity to new key hires, investors saw a stable transition, and Max preserved his reputation and network. Both of which he now leverages in new ventures.
Insight
Dead equity kills startups. But fairness is often the wrong question. In co-founder departures, clarity about priorities and expected outcomes matters more than perfect information.
Client Testimonials
"Dear Mr. Fehr, I have to thank you [...]. In my opinion, you do an excellent job, as I can see from our collaboration and the results, but also from the comparison with other lawyers we have worked with. I think your work is characterized in particular by the highest level of precision and reliability, but also by your knowledge of interpersonal dynamics and a general intelligence and competence across the board. That is a rare combination."
— C.R.
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