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Fractional Attorney for Technology Start Ups and Growth Stage Businesses, Charlotte Corporate Counsel

Every contract is a financial decision.

Finance-trained outside counsel for startup and growth-stage technology companies: SaaS and enterprise contracts, contractor agreements, IP ownership and governance.

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19 articles · Updated Oct 30, 2026

19 articles

What Charlotte writes about

5 stories, one view each

Each story is one position Charlotte takes, an essay that makes the case, and short answers to the questions people ask about it.

Story 1

Making sure a technology company owns what it creates, across contractors, collaborators and resellers

A technology company owns what it creates only if its contractor, collaboration and licensing paper says so, and shares it only on terms it set.

Why CharlotteOwnership is one of her four focus areas, covering IP assignment, licensing, collaboration terms and the confidentiality and data access agreements signed with the people building the product.

Questions it answers
  • Does a company own what a contractor builds without an assignment clause?
  • Should a technology company share source access with resellers?
4 pages

Story 2

Writing the SaaS paper a sales team can actually use

Commercial contracts are revenue instruments, so they should be drafted to protect margin and keep the deal moving, not only to allocate blame after something goes wrong.

Why CharlotteHer practice is built around drafting and negotiating the agreements that carry revenue, and clients describe a SaaS agreement rewritten so deals close faster.

Questions it answers
  • Is a SaaS agreement a shield or a sales tool?
  • Which clauses in a SaaS order form cause the most negotiation cycles?
  • Should a startup write its own SaaS paper or sign on customer terms?
3 pages

Story 3

Building the legal infrastructure at formation that still holds up at the next round

Governance built correctly at formation costs a company far less than the cleanup that diligence forces later.

Why CharlotteShe positions the work as legal infrastructure rather than documents, and builds governance at formation so it survives the diligence that comes with the next raise.

Questions it answers
  • Which formation shortcuts get re-opened in a later raise?
  • Is structure built at formation cheaper than cleanup later?
  • Should two founders paper vesting at formation or wait for a priced round?
4 pages

Story 4

Analyzing AI privacy obligations one processing activity at a time, not once at collection

Privacy compliance should be analyzed for each AI-enabled processing activity, because a lawful collection does not make the next use of the same data lawful.

Why CharlotteShe wrote the startup guide to this analysis and works the GDPR and CCPA role questions for companies that keep pointing new AI features at data they already hold.

Questions it answers
  • Does a lawful collection notice cover later uses of the same records?
  • Is one privacy assessment at collection enough for a product adding new features?
  • Should a startup re-run its privacy analysis every time it points a new feature at held data?
4 pages

Story 5

Reading a contract the way a finance professional reads cash flows: where the margin actually leaks

A contract review that does not price the deal misses the risk that matters: the clause that quietly moves margin, payment timing or collection risk.

Why CharlotteShe practiced corporate finance law at large firms before launching the practice, leads with a finance-trained approach to risk allocation, and describes finance law as the place she learned to build on top of an idea.

Questions it answers
  • Where does margin actually leak in a signed software contract?
  • Does a liability cap matter more than payment timing for a startup's cash position?
  • Is a long payment term worse than a weak indemnity for a startup's cash flow?
4 pages

Start here

Story 1

Making sure a technology company owns what it creates, across contractors, collaborators and resellers

A technology company owns what it creates only if its contractor, collaboration and licensing paper says so, and shares it only on terms it set.

Story 2

Writing the SaaS paper a sales team can actually use

Commercial contracts are revenue instruments, so they should be drafted to protect margin and keep the deal moving, not only to allocate blame after something goes wrong.

Story 4

Analyzing AI privacy obligations one processing activity at a time, not once at collection

Privacy compliance should be analyzed for each AI-enabled processing activity, because a lawful collection does not make the next use of the same data lawful.

Story 5

Reading a contract the way a finance professional reads cash flows: where the margin actually leaks

A contract review that does not price the deal misses the risk that matters: the clause that quietly moves margin, payment timing or collection risk.

About the author

Charlotte

Fractional Attorney for Technology Start Ups and Growth Stage Businesses, Charlotte Corporate Counsel

She is the practice: the Georgia-licensed, finance-trained attorney founders call to draft the revenue contracts, negotiate the enterprise deals and build the legal structure a technology company grows into.

Writes about

  • Analyzing AI privacy obligations one processing activity at a time, not once at collection
  • Writing the SaaS paper a sales team can actually use
  • Reading a contract the way a finance professional reads cash flows: where the margin actually leaks
  • Building the legal infrastructure at formation that still holds up at the next round
  • Making sure a technology company owns what it creates, across contractors, collaborators and resellers

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