Legal Compliance for MVP Launch

[maygrace]

Launching an MVP in a couple weeks for a social network mobile app. Have been working hard and super excited but unsure everything we need to be compliant with any legal/privacy issues. We're going to send it to family and friends but because of the social nature, we want to make sure that we aren't exposed to something silly.

Anyone have any trusted resources for such a launch? I was planning to just copy and modify T&C and Privacy Policy from another app in the space and send it to a lawyer friend to look over. Any and all help would be appreciated!

 

[bluegill_04]

@maygrace Hey! Congrats on the launch. I’m a YC legal tech founder and I would encourage you to hire an attorney to draft your required policies. You’ll need:

• Privacy Policy
• California Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service
• End User License Agreement (EULA)

The work of copying and pasting and getting a lawyer to review is still considerable. With the same time and money spent, you could hire an attorney from a platform like Upcounsel to get this done for you within days for several hundred dollars. Also consider adding these acknowledgements clearly during the user sign up process (add a checkbox for acknowledging ToS and PP) as the first action when they sign up.

 

[maygrace]

@bluegill_04 Thanks so much!

 

[marinda]

@maygrace I’d say, copy other existing policies from competitors until you have decent amount of users. No point of paying lawyers on something people may not use. While we are all optimistic about our app, the reality is, getting users to use it is not easy especially another social networking app..

Also, compliance is more than just policies or terms and conditions. It’s about your internal controls on e.g. how you use and safeguard customer data, etc…

 

[maygrace]

@marinda Oh yeah, I'm very much sober about our chance and any realistic risk. Just figured maybe someone had written a blog post or something about it and could copy/paste some boiler plate.

Thanks!

 

[janananner]

@maygrace If you’re a consumer app and your customers don’t require it, move fast and break things. Do Compliance later. On the other hand, if you’re selling enterprise software to a customer that has strict cybersecurity requirements, you need to implement security and compliance to make the sale.

 

[childofchrist46]

@maygrace Hi, DM me. I have a recommendation for a lawyer who helped with another social network app, and they have been very happy with him.

Good luck!