Founders bookmark these guides, print them, and forward them to co-founders mid-negotiation. If we fixed mistakes silently, someone could be relying on a version of a page that no longer exists — quoting a fee we have since corrected, or repeating a dilution formula we have since reworded. So we keep this public log. Every substantive correction we make is recorded here with the date it was made, the page it affected, and exactly what changed. This page is the running record, newest entries first.
Our Corrections Policy
The policy has three rules, and they are deliberately simple. First, we correct promptly. When a substantive error is confirmed, the fix goes live as soon as it is drafted and checked against the primary source — not at the next scheduled review cycle. An error we know about and have not fixed is the worst state a page can be in, so we minimize the time any guide spends in it.
Second, we disclose substantively. A correction that could change a reader's decision — a wrong figure, a misstated rule, a recommendation overtaken by events — gets a dated entry in the log below. Cosmetic fixes do not: spelling, punctuation, a broken link, a reworded sentence whose meaning did not change. The dividing line is whether a founder who read the old version could walk away with a materially different understanding than a founder reading the new one. If yes, it gets logged.
Third, we do not delete history. The log below is append-only. Entries are never removed, and when an entry itself needs clarification, we add a note to it rather than rewriting it. If a page is corrected more than once, each correction appears as its own entry. You should be able to reconstruct what any guide said, and when it changed, from this page alone.
What Counts as a Correction Versus an Update
Not every change to a guide is a correction. A correction means we were wrong: the page stated something inaccurate, misleading, or outdated to the point of being misleading. An update means the world moved — a fee schedule changed, a model document was revised, market practice shifted — and the page was accurate when written but needed to catch up. Updates still get logged when they affect figures or recommendations, because the practical effect on a reader is the same, but the log entry says plainly which kind of change it was. We think the distinction matters for judging how much to trust us: a site with updates is alive; a site with nothing but corrections is careless. You can see which we are from the entries below.
Corrections and Updates Log
August 12, 2025 — Term Sheet Guide (term-sheets.html). Correction. The worked example of a participating liquidation preference described the investor's second bite as applying to "the remaining proceeds after conversion," which conflated participation with conversion mechanics. Reworded to make clear that a participating investor takes the preference amount off the top and then shares pro rata in what remains, without converting. The arithmetic in the example was correct; the explanation around it was not. Flagged by a reviewing attorney during a scheduled re-review.
June 3, 2025 — Incorporation Guide (incorporation.html). Update. Delaware's published filing fee for the certificate of incorporation had been quoted from an older fee schedule. Updated the figure to the current $89 minimum and revised the surrounding paragraph so the total "few hundred dollars" estimate now itemizes the state fee, registered agent cost, and document preparation separately, rather than blending them. Also updated the guide's last-reviewed date.
March 18, 2025 — SAFE Guide (safe-guide.html). Correction. Our explanation of post-money SAFE dilution said the valuation cap "fixes the SAFE holder's percentage of the company at conversion." That is only half the story: the post-money cap fixes the SAFE holders' percentage of the company before the new money in the priced round, so the Series A investment dilutes founders and SAFE holders alike afterward. Rewrote the passage and added a sentence to the dilution waterfall section stating explicitly which bar of the chart is pre-new-money and which is post. Reported by a reader; confirmed against the YC post-money SAFE form.
January 27, 2025 — Due Diligence Guide (due-diligence.html). Update. Added 83(b) election mailing instructions reflecting the IRS's current processing guidance and removed a reference to a filing address that had changed. The core 30-day deadline discussion was unaffected. Treated as an update rather than a correction because the underlying rule was stated correctly; only the administrative detail had moved.
November 14, 2024 — IP Assignment Guide (ip-assignment.html). Correction. A sentence stated that invention assignment agreements signed by contractors "automatically" cover work produced before the agreement date. They do not — retroactive coverage requires express language covering prior work, and some contractor arrangements need a separate present-assignment clause. Corrected the sentence and added a paragraph on the prior-work gap, which is one of the most common diligence findings we describe on that page.
September 9, 2024 — Term Sheet Guide (term-sheets.html). Correction. A typo in the vesting section said the standard founder schedule was a "one-year vest with a four-year cliff" — the terms were transposed. The standard is four-year vesting with a one-year cliff, as stated correctly everywhere else on the site. Fixed, and we audited every other page for the same transposition; no other instance found. Embarrassing, logged anyway.
July 2, 2024 — Incorporation Guide (incorporation.html). Update. Refreshed the Delaware franchise tax discussion to reflect the current authorized-share and assumed-par-value methods and clarified that the minimum tax figures quoted apply to early-stage companies with small authorized share counts. No rule was misstated previously, but the earlier wording made the minimum sound universal; it is not.
May 20, 2024 — Due Diligence Guide (due-diligence.html). Correction. The data-room checklist listed "board minutes for all meetings since incorporation" without noting that written consents in lieu of meetings satisfy the same diligence request. Readers with consent-only governance histories were emailing us asking whether their companies had a gap. They do not. Clarified the checklist item and added a short note on consent hygiene.
April 4, 2024 — SAFE Guide (safe-guide.html). Correction. The description of the discount mechanic implied that a SAFE with both a cap and a discount converts at whichever term the investor prefers. In the standard YC form, conversion uses whichever term produces the lower price per share — more favorable to the SAFE holder by construction, not by election at conversion time. Reworded and added a two-line worked example.
February 12, 2024 — Term Sheet Guide (term-sheets.html). Update. Softened an overbroad claim that anti-dilution protection "always" appears as broad-based weighted average in current term sheets. Market practice in tighter funding environments has included more structured variants. The guide now says weighted average is the most common form and describes the conditions under which harsher terms reappear.
November 30, 2023 — About page (about.html) and contact copy. Correction. An early draft described our reviewing attorneys as "vetted by their state bars." We have no vetting arrangement with any bar association and the phrase implied a credential we do not hold. Removed. Reviewers are described now, accurately, as practicing attorneys who review content in their areas of practice.
June 15, 2023 — Incorporation Guide (incorporation.html) and SAFE Guide (safe-guide.html). Update. Following the March 2023 failure of Silicon Valley Bank and the market disruption that followed, we revised every passage that treated a single banking relationship as a given. Both guides now advise founders to understand where company cash actually sits, to ask about deposit insurance limits and sweep arrangements, and to treat treasury setup as a diligence item rather than an afterthought. The earlier text was not wrong when written; the events of March 2023 made its assumption unsafe to leave unqualified, so we logged it rather than patching quietly.
How to Report an Error
If something on this site looks wrong, outdated, or unclear in a way that could mislead a founder, we want to hear about it. Email research@venturelegalhub.com with three things: the page you are referring to, the specific claim or figure you believe is wrong, and the source you are relying on. Reports that cite a primary source — a section of the Delaware General Corporation Law, the text of the YC SAFE documents, an official fee schedule, an IRS form or publication — can be verified quickly and get priority. Reports based on practice experience are welcome too; they go to a reviewing attorney for judgment, which takes longer but is taken just as seriously.
What happens next: we acknowledge the report, check it against the primary source, and either make the correction — logged above, dated, with the page and the change described — or reply explaining why the page stands. We do not argue with readers by silence. If we are wrong, the log gets an entry and you get our thanks. If the page is right and the confusion is ours to fix with clearer wording, that counts as a correction too, and it gets logged the same way.
One request: this inbox is for errors and sourcing questions, not for advice about your specific situation. We cannot tell you what your term sheet means for your company — that is a conversation for your own counsel. But if a guide on this site told you something that turned out to be wrong, that is exactly what this page and that inbox are for.